Librarians (Kids)

A while ago I made the game Librarians. While fine, I thought a simpler version was possible, which would be playable by kids and actually teach alphabet/language. So … Librarians: Kids.

What’s the idea?

The strong core of Librarians. (Cooperatively play books into bookshelves, keeping them in the right order and grouped together by genre for max points.)
But with even simpler rules.
With far simpler card designs. (Less busy, less moving parts, …)
Without any other text on the cards. (You just have that first letter + full title. Actions/Genre is an icon, and nothing else is on the card.)
- I can reuse aaalll those action + genre icons I made here.
- OR I use that “book below everything” style idea that I neglected for the base game. (In other words, every icon has this bit below it with pages and underside of book, perhaps also a bookmark sticking out.)
Focusing on famous children’s books + including my own books.
- Using my own books should be especially useful for filling in the harder letters. Use upcoming book titles of mine, or even change them, if needed.

The rules

Objective

You win by emptying the deck. (Otherwise, the fewer cards you have left, the “better you did”.)

You lose if someone has to take a turn ( = they have cards in their hand), but they can’t.

The Table

There are 3 bookshelves.

They always point to the right (A-Z), and they are always the left edge of the board (you place cards to the right, never both sides)

DIFF: This means fewer cards + fewer duplicate letters
DIFF: It means a shorter game + less overwhelming
DIFF: Fewer shelves and a consistent easy direction to play with

On your turn

On your turn, play 1 card.

DIFF: Not 2 cards, and not “at least”

Cards per shelf must be in alphabetical order. (No letter can appear more than once.)

DIFF: No double letters, no stacking.

“Matches” are 3-in-a-row. (Clear colors/genre still.)

DIFF: Smaller matches, icons for actions, way fewer genres. Each one can be toggled individually in settings, so you can have really minimal material if you truly want.

Material (Cards/Books/Genres)

Every genre/color just has 9 cards. By including 6 of them, you get slightly more than 3 full alphabets, which is a great number of total cards. (For a simpler game, just include fewer colors.)

The letters are distributed in a way such that any combination of cards will have a nice spread through the alphabet.
Can I do some smart algorithm for that? “Randomly assign letters such that all have been used, and there’s at least X alphabet distance between letters within a set.”

There are only 6 genres/colors. They have very core, basic actions depicted with icons.

GREEN: Play a card.
BLACK: Remove a card.
BLUE: Swap a card.
RED: You instantly lose. (EXCEPTION: Triggers immediately.)
PURPLE: Stack a card. ( = play on top of another) (only with the same letter?)
YELLOW: One player shows their hand.

Share the cards (used in the match) among the players. (Place it faceup before you.)

At any time, during your turn, you can execute the powers on such cards.
(Once done, discard the card used.)

@IDEA (for tighter control on difficulty): Pick however many sets of cards you want. Divide by two, round up, and that’s how many shelves you should use.

EXAMPLE: You use 5 colors. That means 5 / 2 = 2.5 = 3 shelves.

NOTE: Might want a different name than that to actually appeal to kids. Perhaps Bookworms? (Bibliophile is correct but probably sends completely the wrong message.)

A while ago I made the game _Librarians_. While fine, I thought a simpler version was possible, which would be playable by kids and actually _teach_ alphabet/language. So ... Librarians: Kids. ## What's the idea? * The strong core of Librarians. (Cooperatively play books into bookshelves, keeping them in the right order and grouped together by genre for max points.) * But with even simpler rules. * With far simpler card designs. (Less busy, less moving parts, ...) * Without any other **text** on the cards. (You just have that first letter + full title. Actions/Genre is an icon, and nothing else is on the card.) * I can reuse aaalll those action + genre icons I made here. * OR I use that "book below everything" style idea that I neglected for the base game. (In other words, _every_ icon has this bit below it with pages and underside of book, perhaps also a bookmark sticking out.) * Focusing on famous children's books + including my own books. * Using my own books should be especially useful for filling in the _harder_ letters. Use upcoming book titles of mine, or even change them, if needed. ## The rules ### Objective You **win** by emptying the deck. (Otherwise, the fewer cards you have left, the "better you did".) You **lose** if someone has to take a turn ( = they have cards in their hand), but they **can't**. ## The Table There are 3 bookshelves. They always point to the right (A-Z), and they are always the left edge of the board (you place cards to the right, never both sides) * DIFF: This means fewer cards + fewer duplicate letters * DIFF: It means a shorter game + less overwhelming * DIFF: Fewer shelves and a consistent easy direction to play with ## On your turn On your turn, play 1 card. > DIFF: Not 2 cards, and not "at least" Cards per shelf must be in alphabetical order. (No letter can appear more than once.) > DIFF: No double letters, no stacking. "Matches" are 3-in-a-row. (Clear colors/genre still.) > DIFF: Smaller matches, icons for actions, way fewer genres. Each one can be toggled _individually_ in settings, so you can have really minimal material if you truly want. ## Material (Cards/Books/Genres) Every genre/color just has **9 cards**. By including 6 of them, you get slightly more than 3 full alphabets, which is a great number of total cards. (For a simpler game, just include fewer colors.) * The letters are distributed in a way such that _any_ combination of cards will have a nice spread through the alphabet. * Can I do some smart algorithm for that? "Randomly assign letters such that all have been used, and there's at least X alphabet distance between letters within a set." There are only 6 genres/colors. They have very core, basic actions depicted with icons. * GREEN: _Play a card._ * BLACK: _Remove a card._ * BLUE: _Swap a card._ * RED: _You instantly lose._ (EXCEPTION: Triggers immediately.) * PURPLE: _Stack a card._ ( = play on top of another) (only with the same letter?) * YELLOW: _One player shows their hand._ Share the cards (used in the match) among the players. (Place it faceup before you.) * At any time, during your turn, you can _execute_ the powers on such cards. * (Once done, discard the card used.) @IDEA (for tighter control on difficulty): Pick however many sets of cards you want. Divide by two, round up, and that's how many _shelves_ you should use. * EXAMPLE: You use 5 colors. That means 5 / 2 = 2.5 = 3 shelves. NOTE: Might want a different name than that to _actually_ appeal to kids. Perhaps _Bookworms_? (_Bibliophile_ is correct but probably sends completely the wrong message.)