Board games are coming to a SCRL branch near you

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The South Central Regional Library is beefing up its catalogue with something new this winter.

Staff were recently able to use some excess funds to purchase a couple dozen brand new board games that can be taken out by patrons.

“We previously had a few games in Winkler and Morden in the past, but those were mainly for in-library use,” says Raina Teigrob, office manager for the Winkler branch and branch administrator in Miami.

“In Miami, we had a patron come in and donate a bunch of old board games that she’d had, and that got me thinking about the fact that we could do board games … it’s something you do see in other libraries.”

The pandemic pushed the idea back a few  years, but when funds became available recently, cataloguing technician Joanna Dueck says they jumped at the opportunity.

“It seemed like a really good thing to add to the collection for people to borrow so they don’t have to spend money to try a new game out,” she said. 

The stack of games runs the gamut from classics like Clue to a range of modern hits, including Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, Dixit, Mysterium, Carcassonne, 7 Wonders, Codenames, Cascadia, and many more.

“We got some more popular names that people would recognize, but also some that you might have never heard of,” Teigrob said, noting they also have a few kid versions of games like Ticket to Ride. “We even have a few one-player games that you can play solo, which is really cool.”

You can search the full list of available games by heading to scrl.mb.libraries.coop and searching for “board games” under the “toys, puzzles, and equipment” category.

Teigrob said they plan to continue to grow the collection, both with future purchases of new games and, hopefully, donations of gently used games from the community.

“We’re hoping to get a lot more of the classic games, standard games by donation and then we can really focus on putting the money into newer, unique type of games,” she said.

“Right now I think we’re at 34 games to start with, and this is just our first purchase of games,” Teigrob said. “In the new year we’ll be buying more.”

If you’d like to make a game donation, reach out to your local SCRL branch.

As far borrowing the games go, it works the same as any other library loan.

“It will be a three-week checkout, like a book would be,” Teigrob explained. “So it’s enough time for people to really get into it.”

While most people think books when they think of their local library, the modern SCRL catalogue is quite a bit more extensive, Teigrob said, and they’re always looking for new things to add.

“I think there’s a lot of education we could still do on what libraries all offer,” she said, noting SCRL also has a huge puzzle collection, not to mention DVDs,  audiobooks, CDs, and more.

“I think catering to a different crowd is always a good thing,” she said. “Not everyone wants to read or enjoys it even, so this helps us bring in people that want something different.”

Teigrob said they’re  hoping the various branches can start hosting board game nights to give people a chance to come in and try out a few of the titles.

“So there’s that element  as well of bringing in new people and put forward new programming too.”

Ashleigh Viveiros
Ashleigh Viveiros
Editor, Winkler Morden Voice and Altona Rhineland Voice. Ashleigh has been covering the goings-on in the Pembina Valley since 2000, starting as cub reporter on the high school news beat for the former Winkler Times and working her way up to the editor’s chair at the Winkler Morden Voice (2010) and Altona Rhineland Voice (2022). Ashleigh has a passion for community journalism, sharing the stories that really matter to people and helping to shine a spotlight on some of the amazing individuals, organizations, programs, and events that together create the wonderful mosaic that is this community. Under her leadership, the Voice has received numerous awards from the Manitoba Community Newspapers Association, including Best All-Around Newspaper, Best in Class, and Best Layout and Design. Ashleigh herself has been honoured with multiple writing awards in various categories—tourism, arts and culture, education, history, health, and news, among others—and received a second-place nod for the Reporter of the Year Award in 2022. She has also received top-three finishes multiple times in the Better Communities Story of the Year category, which recognizes the best article with a focus on outstanding local leadership and citizenship, volunteerism, and/or non-profit efforts deemed innovative or of overall benefit to community living.  It’s these stories that Ashleigh most loves to pursue, as they truly depict the heart and soul of the community. In her spare time, Ashleigh has been involved as a volunteer with United Way Pembina Valley, Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Pembina Valley, and the Canadian Fossil Discovery Centre.

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