On July 28, please join TeenLIVE, NYPLarcade, and MyLibraryNYC for Summer Reading Games Day 2018! This all-ages event celebrates play, literacy, and games at the New York Public Library.

Last year, we hosted our first-ever Summer Reading Games Day as a way to build upon the success of International Games Day and the fun of summer reading. This year, activities will include games for all ages (5 and up) and admission is free and open to the public.

Bring a family member, friend, or classmate, and we will see you on Saturday, July 28 from 11 AM to 5 PM in the Celeste Bartos Forum of the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. The nearest entrance is located on 42nd Street near 5th Avenue. RSVP via Eventbrite to get your free ticket!

GOROGOA (Buried Signal, 2017) is an imaginative, hand-drawn puzzle game, which took its creator (Jason Roberts) five years to make. The game presents an evocative, wordless narrative revolving around a boy, a dragon, and five colored apples. However, its intuitive mechanics elevate this simple story to something whimsical and magical, as players drag one of four panels across the screen to combine or replace another. An experience quite unlike any other, GOROGOA is a game for everyone.

CELESTE (Matt Makes Games, Inc., 2018) is a challenging, pixel art platformer about a young woman climbing a mysterious mountain. On her journey, Madeline encounters quirky friends, her evil twin, and her personal and very real struggles with anxiety and self-doubt. Made by the creators of TOWERFALL, CELESTE is one of the most original, heart-felt, and maddeningly-difficult games of this year. 

THE LAST GUARDIAN (SIE Japan Studio, 2016) was designed and directed by Fumito Ueda, best known for his work on SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS (1995) and ICO (2001). Despite its lengthy, 9 year development process, the puzzle platformer still retains his vision. A boy and a mythical half-cat, half-bird creature (named Trico) negotiate physical obstacles as well as past traumas to progress side-by-side through a beautiful, ruined world.

SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS (Bluepoint, 2018) is a reimagined version of the PlayStation 2 classic, originally released in 1995. The protagonist Wander, roams a forbidden land with his horse Argo, seeking to defeat sixteen fearsome colossi in order to bring the young Mono back to life. SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS is a meditation on scale, sacrifice, and the nature of good and evil.

NEW YORK VIDEOGAME CRITICS CIRCLE will join us from 12:30 - 1:00 p.m. for an engaging panel discussion featuring titles from Summer Reading Games Day! Panelists will include: Christopher Byrd (The Washington Post), Allegra Frank (Polygon), Harold Goldberg (All Your Base Are Belong To Us), Scott Stein (CNET) and Sherri Smith (Tom’s Guide).

NINTENDO LABO at the library! Explore cardboard-based, maker projects (called Toy-Cons) which incorporate creativity, engineering, and games. Make a fishing rod, house, motorbike, piano, or RC-car with us from 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. Play with the various cardboard creations listed above from 2 - 5 p.m. or design your very own!

Please feel free to contact Thomas Knowlton at thomasknowlton@nypl.org if you any questions. You can also follow us on Twitter (@nyplarcade) to learn about upcoming NYPLarcade events.

NYPLarcade is an opportunity to play, watch, and discuss independent, experimental, and thought-provoking games in a library setting. Think of it as a book club, but for video games.

TeenLIVE programs are sponsored by the Andreas C. Dracopoulos Family Endowment for Young Audiences.