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Welcome to the Library
Inside the box of Really Loud Librarians, you’ll find a board, team figures for Gertrude and Wilfred, a circular chain, category cards, letter tiles, and scoring tokens.
What really makes this game shine is its visual appeal. The librarians’ slot into a chain that moves around a lettered racetrack, creating an interactive experience as you try to outpace the other team. The board is cleverly designed with indents, so the chain glides smoothly around the track and stays in place. The built-in scoring track keeps things neat, even when the game gets frantic!
Ready, Set, Library!
Before the game begins, players split into two teams and pick a librarian—Gertrude or Wilfred. One thing I love about this game is that the teams don’t have to be even, which is a nice touch if you’ve got an odd number of players. Next, teams choose a number between 1 and 4 to select a category, this adds replayability as each team uses different prompts. Slot your first librarian into the chain and place them over the letter "R," leaving "E," "L," and "S" exposed, ready for the race to begin.
Shelve your doubts for later
Once the sand timer flips, you have 1 minute to shout out as many answers as possible. The more answers you give, the faster your librarian moves around the board. The team whose librarian moves the farthest wins a point and gets closer to victory.
The other team will pull out a category card and read it aloud. Then, the shouting starts. The trick is to come up with words that not only fit the category but also start with the letters on the board. Of course, the further along the chain the letter is, the more spaces your librarian will leap, sending you zooming ahead.
But trust me, in the heat of the moment, your brain will betray you. In one round, the category was ‘desserts,’ and someone on our team panicked and shouted ‘Sahara’ which resulted in our team falling apart with laughter - safe to say we didn’t win that round! It’s these wild, frantic moments that make the game so much fun.
Each round, bonus letters are drawn, and if you use one of these highlighted bonus letters in your answer, you earn an extra point if your librarian wins the race. It’s a great way to catch up, but it also adds to the chaos - suddenly every word in the English language starting with the bonus letter ‘P’ disappears from your mind!
The first team to reach 12 points wins, but honestly, this game is so quick and hilarious, you'll probably want to play best out of three.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Really Loud Librarians is a super fun, easy to pick up game. We played it at my nephew’s birthday party, and it was a hit with everyone, no matter their age or skill level. It’s the perfect length for a quick game, but you can easily play multiple times, mixing up teams or stopping whenever you feel like it. While it's playable with two, the chaotic energy that makes the game great is lost at that player count, so I wouldn’t recommend it for smaller groups.
The categories are varied, though some were definitely harder than others, adding a bit of luck to the mix. The bonus points for using specific letters helped balance this, giving teams a chance to catch up when they got an easy category. But again, this was down to the luck of the draw.
In terms of production, the game is well-made with nice components, though I was a bit disappointed by the flimsy cardboard scoring tokens. They didn’t quite fit with the rest of the design and felt a little cheap, book-shaped tokens would’ve been a great way to tie them into the theme.
All in all, Really Loud Librarians is a game that’s impossible to shelve once you’ve started. It’s a great choice for a birthday party, large gathering, or even as an ice breaker at a work event. Just be warned, things will get loud, but even librarians need to let loose sometimes!
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