What’s on your bookshelf?
An algorithmic game
In this game, players use a set of algorithms to find random words in a random book from their bookshelf, and use those words to make up a sentence/story. Behind the fun gaming experience, we can get a sense of who the players are, because one thing is for sure: everyone reads different kinds of books.
This game can also be played similarly on a larger scale. For example, each library has its own classification system to categorize their books, and that means numbers. We can use an online random number generator site and find random books/words this way. This random sampling experience could tell us about what kind of books the library holds. We can also do this with multiple libraries and compare the results.
Version 1: Tabletop
You’ll need:
- Two dice
- A deck of poker cards
- Books (preferably a bookshelf full of books)
- Penny’s Bookshelf game cards
Recommended number of players: 1-10
Rules:
- Get a book from your bookshelf by rolling dice. Ex. If you rolled a six, get the sixth book from the left.
- Shuffle the poker cards and place the deck faced down.
- Get the top three cards from the deck, they represent numbers. You will use these numbers to land a word in the book.
- The 1st number represents the page number
- The 2nd number represents the line number
- The 3rd number represents the word number
- Ex. if you get 10.13.6, go to page number 10, count from the top and stop at the 13th line of that page, then count until the 6th word in that line
- On the occasion of letter cards: A=1, J=11, Q=12, K=13, B&W Joker = 51, Color Joker = 52
- On the occasion of the number being larger than what it presents on your book, simply go down to the next line/page/word and keep counting
- Pick a transparent “word card” and write down the word in one of the rectangles.
- Repeat step 3-4 for five times. You should have 5 words in the end, all rectangles filled.
- Pick a “theme card”. This determines what kind of sentence/story you should make up.
- Now you have 10 seconds to make up a sentence/story. Remember to use ALL five words!
- In the next round, it becomes more challenging! Repeat the process of getting words, but from a different book. After filling all the words in on a “word card”, overlay with the “word card” from the previous round. The transparent quality of the cards should allow you to see through, now you have to use ALL 10 words to make up a story! (The next round will be 15, 20…)
Version 2: University Library
You’ll need: a computer and internet connection
Pratt Library uses the Dewey Classification system to categorize their books.
Class 000 – Computer science, information, and general works
Class 100 – Philosophy and psychology
Class 200 – Religion
Class 300 – Social sciences
Class 400 – Language
Class 500 – Science
Class 600 – Technology
Class 700 – Arts and recreation
Class 800 – Literature
Class 900 – History and geography
“The classification’s notation makes use of three-digit numbers for main classes, with fractional decimals allowing expansion for further detail” (Wikipedia).
For example: 688.4. P397 Cigarette lighter by Jack Pendarvis
n. n. n = Class number. Division number. Section number
Rules:
1. Go to the Pratt Institute Libraries website and select “Books”
2. Click on the “Keyword” dropdown and select “Call no.”
3. Use an online random number generator site to get a number between 0 – 900, this is the Class number
4. Go back to the library site and type the Class number in the search bar, click “Search”
5. Use the online random number generator again to get a number between 0 – 900, this is the Division number
6. Keep the Division number in your mind and scroll through the search results on the first page. Find one result that has the closest Division number to your random number. (Division numbers vary a lot, so it’s okay if you can’t find the exact match)
7. Click on that entry. You should see the book title, author, publication information, etc. Record the last word of the book title.
8. Repeat this process 5 times. You should have 5 random words in the end.
9. Now you have 10 seconds to make up a sentence/story. Remember to use ALL five words!