During COVID, our library continued to provide storytimes through short videos. It was my duty to learn to produce these videos, filming myself for children’s storytimes at first, then my coworkers in the Youth and Family department. While I was glad to get to do a tabletop RPG/D&D video that was filmed as a Zoom broadcast with a coworker and a PowerPoint I’d made, there was one thing I never got to do which was ancient games.

I love games. They’re near and dear to me. Everything from video games to Dungeons & Dragons style role-playing games. My library director gave me a chance with a program idea that went along with my love of games and history: Ancient Games. We bought several board games that have been around for centuries and people came out to learn some history and play some games, and it was a hit. Sadly it fell by the wayside during the pandemic and I’d always wondered why I didn’t do something more for it. After all, the games are by and large exceedingly simple. Some paper and pens, maybe some coins, and you could play just about all of these games.

With the lockdown over, Ancient Games has made a comeback. Even so I think it would be fun to have videos on our web site detailing the games for people curious about them. I picked up one of the more simple games, Nine Men’s Morris, and put together a video teaching people how to play it at home. I was able to make the graphics simply by using PowerPoint and making it an overlay layer in the program that I’d used during the pandemic for video editing, DaVinci Resolve. It’s a bit clunky, but it’s familiar. I’m hoping when I have more spare time I can get some practice in with the Adobe suite of software, while I have access to it.

In the end, I think the video came out well. If I’d had more time, I would have loved to include a 5-10 minute section as either a separate video or as part of this video to teach about the history of the game and where the game has popped up across Europe – usually carved into the floors and steps of churches, perhaps by bored monks or children.