Library Staff Directory
Posted Sep 23, 2025
Hello Shorewood community! I’m your resident board gamer Michael Smith, discussing some more board games in anticipation for our upcoming days of Shorewood Shuffles, our board game night hosted at the library on select Thursdays. Today I’m covering Really Loud Librarians, Chunky Monkey Business, and Dragonwood, all of which will be available to play at our next Shorewood Shuffles event.
Really Loud Librarians
Our featured game for September 25th is Really Loud Librarians from the creators of Exploding Kittens. It is a party game for two or more players and is a “Merciless word-shouting game” in which players race to be crowned the loudest librarian. Players are split into two teams and compete in a race around a Word Track. The first team up flips over a sand timer then proceed to guess words related to the category cards that begin with the next three letters on the Word Track (For example, if the category card was “Ice Cream Flavors” and your next three letters were M, I, and G, you could guess Mint, Irish Cream, or Green Tea to move one, two, or three spaces around the track respectively). After both teams have a chance to shout out some words, the team that moves the furthest around the track wins a point. The first team to get 12 points wins the game. Really Loud Librarians is a fun little head-to-head word smith game perfect for anyone who spends their days reading. Be sure to come to our feature board game night on September 25th to find out what it's all about!
Chunky Monkey Business
Chunky Monkey Business is a 3-8 player word guessing game similar to the popular New York Times Connections game. The game consists of a chunky rubber monkey and a handful of cards with the words “Chunky” “Monkey” and “Business” on the back, along with three different prompts to read off each card. The reader selects one prompt to read out loud to the players, avoiding the ‘Connector word’ which is located in between two phrases and links the first and last phrase together (ex. Down for the count Dracula) a player who thinks they have the right answer grabs the chunky monkey from the center of the table and announces their guest. If they get the connector word correct, they get the card. If they are wrong, the reader gets the card. If all players are stumped, the reader can begin to slowly read out the connector word until someone makes a guess. The first player to collect three cards that spell out “Chunky Monkey Business” wins! Chunky Monkey Business is a very simple game of fun wordplay that is sure to be entertaining to word lovers and anyone who appreciates a groan-worthy pun.
Dragonwood
Dragonwood is a 2-4 player game in which players journey through a magical forest infested with monsters, treasures, and dragons all to earn the most victory points. Dragonwood is a combination of strategic card use and lucky dice rolls. The main deck consists of Adventurer Cards with the colors of blue, purple, red, orange, and green all numbered 1-12. By playing Adventurer cards in three different combinations, Strike (in a row numerically), Stomp (all the same number), or Scream (same color), players can have an opportunity to capture a Dragonwood Card based on a dice roll equal to the number of cards used in a Strike, Stomp, or Scream (ex. If you played a Scream with four cards you would roll four dice). The resulting value must be equal to or greater than a Dragonwood Card’s threshold if a player used a Strike, Stomp, or Scream to capture the card. If a player does not want to capture a card that can always draw one card from the Adventurer deck and add it to their hand. The Dragonwood Cards consist of ferocious creatures, helpful enchantments, and disastrous events that shake up the board state. When the deck runs dry, the player with the most victory points wins the game. Dragonwood’s art is seeped in fairy tale mythology with bow-wielding elves and green globs of living slime, and its gameplay is simple yet allows a player to think and consider a strategy of getting quick captures or saving up to get an especially beneficial card, makes for an engaging game that anyone looking for something new is sure to enjoy.
written by Michael Smith, Library Clerk
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