Blog Post
SUMMER GAME 2026: It's GO TIME!!!!!!
by emjane
Are you hydrated? Did you carbo-load? Have your walking shoes on and your code-writing notebook ready??? Because it is time to GO! Summer Game 2026 is starting RIGHT NOW!!!!
And the best way to get started is to check out our GETTING STARTED badge series! GO! will give you a hands-on TUTORIAL on completing badges and earning points.
Speaking of GO, you can GO to all of our library locations and collect LOTS of Building Codes (and don’t forget those GIANT BANNER CODES outside too!). And while you’re there, pick up your EXPLORER’S GUIDE for finding and recording codes aplenty!
Plus, PLAY our new and improved version of Scatterlog! (Still coming to you EVERY DAY of summer game)
And EVERY DAY, you can also earn points by:
- Logging what you Read, Watch, and Listen To
- Rating & Review items in our catalog
- Downloading items from the catalog
Not to mention those points you get from ATTENDING AADL events! Or playing Points-O-Matic! Or finding LAWN and LIBRARY codes.
That’s right, you can CREATE your very own Lawn or Library Code! Pick up signs at the library, or REUSE yours from last year (but don’t forget to register or re-register your code!!!!!)
There’s SO MUCH MORE to come this summer. Stay tuned for Badge Drops every Friday at noon, write those Important Summer Game Dates in your planner, and browse the Summer Game Shop before it opens on July 10.
Getting Started Badge Series
It’s Summer Game Season, folks!!!!! We’ve been waiting months to say this… THANKS for PLAYING!!!!
Blog Post
Get Your Lawn & Library Codes Starting June 9
by richretyi
The Summer Game starts on Tuesday, June 9, which is also the first day you can create your Lawn and Library codes!
First and foremost, if you're planning to have a Lawn or Library code this year, even if it's the same code you used last year, PLEASE REGISTER YOUR CODE. If you don't register your code, people can't get the points!
You can stop by the info desk at all AADL locations to pick up a Lawn code or a Library Code between June 9 and August 9, or reuse your Lawn sign from last year!
Blog Post
The 2026 Summer Game Starts June 9!
by richretyi
BEHOLD! The 2026 Summer Game artwork by the wonderful and talented Noah Camp.
Stay tuned for more updates this spring, including key dates to watch out for!
Blog Post
Summer Game 2026: COMING SOON!
by richretyi
Mind if we just drop these here? 👀
The Summer Game starts Tuesday, June 9. First badge drop Friday, June 12. Stay tuned for more details!
Blog Post
SG 2025 Stats Are In!! Take a PEAK!!!
by SaraP
Peak summer has passed but, statistically peaking, our MOUNTAIN of Summer Game players, points, and prizes grows taller each year! SG 2025 was SO BIG that it was granite some air time on both Michigan Public’s Stateside and NPR’s Morning Edition! We had things SLATEd to be BIGGER and BETTER THAN EVER, but if you tried to track just how SEISMIC the shifts were this year, it would look something like this (and we saved the best for last) . . .
BADGES: SGHQ created 240 different MAGMA-NIFICENT BADGES this year. We weren’t really quartzing any fame here (a 5% grade on this gentle plateau), but players EARNED 497,202 badges this year—expanding by over 26% from last year!!!! Almost a HALF A MILLION!!! Y’all were FIRE!!!
LAWN & LIBRARY CODES: The increase in L&L codes this year was MORE than a GNEISS surprise!! Topping out at 3,559 player-created codes in lawns and at libraries—a STAGGERING 65% over last summer—it’s clear that SG fans have really lost their MARBLEs for this aspect of the game!!! :D
OTHER CODES: If you’re looking for some jaw-dropping stats, you dolomite want to consider that we happened to make 3 less codes than we did last year, but our CORE 2025 players (i.e. all of you) accomplished a truly aSTONEishing FEAT: you redeemed those codes about 50% MORE times than last year. How many is that?? It’s 4,265,267 total code redemptions!!!!
POINTS: You could argue this is the whole point of the game. We would argue it’s about having FUN! But our players are nothing if not a TUFF group of competitors, explorers, and collectors. Points PEAKED this year at an all-time high of 583,351,525 points earned across the whole game! That’s also nearly a 50% rise over 2024. NO PRESSURE for next year!!!
MOST POPULAR: As usual, the big code MOUNTed on the sides of AAATA buses was hard to ignORE! That code and it’s Spot TheRide badge rolled right to the top of the list with 10,336 redemptions! Curious about what kind of L&L codes players created?? Here’s a snapshot:
Cat-related—241
Dog-related—216
Book-related—118
Tree-related—47
Gardener-related—35
Dragon-related—30
Bird-related—22
Panda-related—19
Unicorn-related—18
Fishermen-related—18
PLAYERS: We saw record-breaking numbers LAST YEAR, with 14,672 players (a nearly 14% increase), and had high hopes going into 2025. But Y’ALL ABSOLUTELY ROCKED THIS YEAR, with a staggering 17,416 players earning points in Summer Game 2025!!! That’s more than an 18% increase over last summer and engagement on a SHALE that makes us feel positively SEDIMENTal . . .
Basically, we couldn't have reached such HEIGHTS without EACH and EVERY one of you and we LAVA you a whole lot!!!!!!!!!!!
See you next year and THANKS for PLAYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Blog Post
GAME OVER!
by SaraP
And that’s a WRAP! Summer Game 2025 is officially over. But wraps aren’t alllll bad! Some are like a warm hug to all the best ingredients in your summer game sandwich and…wait a minute…didn’t we already do sandwich puns a couple years ago?? We should really think of something butter for the stats post coming later this week!
In the meantime, we know many of you are CHOMPING at the bit for prizes! So lettuce remind you that the last day to order prizes is Labor Day (Monday, September 1st)!!! Check out our online menu (aka The Summer Game Shop!) this week to get some fresh swag!!!! We don’t do delivery, but we do do prize pickups!
Speaking of prize pickups, keep an eye on your email for all things prize-pickup-related! We send emails when you place an order, when it’s ready for pickup, when/if you missed your pickup window, and if you request a re-delivery. If you haven’t gotten that “ready for pickup” email, your order isn’t ready yet. WHY??? Well, mostly t-shirts! Every t-shirt is made-to-order based on your tastes! Prize pickups at libraries will continue into the fall and then we’ll send an email to anyone with missed prizes still in storage about a final opportunity to request re-delivery to a library location. After that, all prizes will remain in storage for pickup at the AALF (our offsite logistics facility) through December. Details in the emails!!!
While you’re waiting for prizes (or even if you’re not) now is a great thyme to harvest your LAWN CODE SIGN and store it until next year in a cool dark place (like the garage)!!! Honestly any place will do as long as it’s not your lawn—those poor signs have been bacon out there all summer!! Might as well clean them off now, too, to save yourself some elbow grease next summer, because codes need to be registered every year and you might need to pick a new one!
Now we’re off to crunch some numbers for later this week. But a tiny little taste test tells us that the secret ingredient that made this Summer Game a 5-star, top-rated, newsworthy experience is YOU! A truly HAMBITIOUS and RECORD-BREAKING 17,415 players (up over 17% from last year) scored a WHOPPING 583,351,525 points this year!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s been an absolute delight dishing out this much SUMMER FUN and LIBRARY MAGIC—we can’t wait to cater to all our hungry fans in 2026!!!! :D
THANKS for PLAYING!!!!!
Blog Post
Badge Drop #11: A Fairytale Ending
by SaraP
Once upon a time, it was the LAST BADGE DROP and FINAL WEEKEND of the Summer Game. Actually…that time is NOW! And the jolly picklefairy godmother of the game is here to wave their magic wand of encouragement!!!
Whether you’re a puzzle princess, eligible badge-lor, lawn-code connoisseur, or local eggsplorer, there might be a Completionist Badge in this drop made just for you!! Already earned one and wondering where it is? At your next points-earning action, all of your earned Completionist Badges will be awarded to you!!!!
If the shoe fits, or you’re simply looking for a few good points, then slipper into gear because the LAST DAY TO PLAY is THIS SUNDAY, August 24, before midnight!!!
Speaking of Sunday…there’s no better to way to say The End than by attending the GAME OVER GALA—ALSO THIS SUNDAY from Noon-3pm! So bippity boppity into your trend-setting SG finest and head Downtown for the event of the season! You’ll be glamouring to enjoy a microcosm of everything that makes the Summer Game magical—puzzles, codes, points, prizes, and players like you—all in your favorite place to be: the library! Do you have a princely sum of leftover points in your shop balance?? Check out our gala Auction Catalog, featuring household goods, toys, art prince…er…prints, various bags and carriers, and more! PLUS, for all you Scatterlog domaineers, the last new Scatterlog puzzle releases on Sunday, too!
Just remember, when the clock strikes twelve on Sunday night—POOF!!!—the Summer Game will be OVER and SG Headquarters will turn back into a little pumpkin full of wild animals (aka librarians and, occasionally, mice). You can still order prizes from The Summer Game Shop through Labor Day—Monday, September 1.
Now, hurry!! Your SG carriage awaits!!!
BADGE DROP #11
Despite the magic wand, we can’t time travel. But we can step just outside of summer break to share a game-over post and some superior stats next week—stay tuned! Spoiler: YOU, Dear Players, are the REAL Summer Game magic! So have a SUPER MAGICAL weekend and, as ever…
….THANKS for PLAYING!!!
Blog Post
Badge Drop #10: The ALMOST Grand Finale
by SaraP
Hear ye, hear ye!
Summer Game Headquarters calls upon each Goodly Player, where’er they may be—near the heart of DOWNTOWN to the farthest reaches of the district—to behold an abundance of PINTERESTING and FUN points of fact in this, our TENTH, badge drop of the summer!
But be warned! In one week’s time, we shall bestow upon ye the ULTIMUTT and final badge drop of The Game, replete with COMPLETIONIST BADGES! But what, pray tell, is a Completionist Badge? BEHOLD, Fair Players, the FITTING culmination of the LIFE of a Summer Game badge series: a badge of honor earned by vanquishing all TEN badges in a few exhalted series!!!
Yet, as ye be DIPPIN’ into this last full week of our ANCIENT Summer Game tradition, take COURAGE in knowing thine own true self! Pursue ONLY the points contained herein that CALL to you—for what is a Summer Game if not a gathering of diverse minds, a perfect UNION of opportunity AND choice, a metaphorical feast of DISHES fit for ANY palate??
HARK now! All's well that ENDS well and the end of Ye Olde Summer Game is nigh! Thus we humbly remind all our devotees that the LAST DAY TO EARN POINTS and badges is the 24th day of August of the year 2025!!! Please double-checketh for Important Summer Game Dates HERE!
Now, lest we tarry upon these sundry details too long, we extend an early invitation to attend the GRAND finale of it all: The GAME OVER GALA—to be conducted on the last-most day of The Game as the bells strike the noon hour. Be there or be declared square!!!! (We KID thou in good sport, but do hope for your presence!)
If your ‘ye-olde English’ is a little rusty, here are the important bits stated plain & simple:
- Completionist Badges (for the badge series that have them) drop next Friday
- Sunday, August 24 is the LAST day to play and earn points!
- Sunday, August 24 is also the day of the Game Over Gala and we'll drop a badge for beforehand!
And now, MAKE HASTE, Fair Players, and cast thine eyes to the wonders before you!!!!
BADGE DROP #10
And THANK THEE WELL for PLAYING!!!
Blog Post
Badge Drop #9: We’re RADIO FAMOUS now!!!
by emjane
Did you TUNE in to hear about our TOWN on Morning Edition earlier this week? And not just Ann Arbor, but specifically SUMMER GAME?!?! PALS, it’s like the radio is throwing a not-so-TINY PARTY just for us (and that “us” includes the more than 16,000 of you playing!!!)
We feel like SWAN IN A MILLION! First NPR, what’s next? The GLOSSIES? Fine ART??? WHAT ABOUT the moon?????? You never know where in the WORLD Summer Game will turn up.
But no need to SEARCH to find the Summer Game! It’s noon on Friday, so we’re here waiting for you AND HAVING A MARVELOUS TIME!!!
We’ll pause this RHAPSODY to give one important bit of info. This Sunday, Aug 10, is the LAST DAY to create your Lawn and Library Code!!! So if you’ve been waiting to PLANT that sign on your lawn, get to it!
Speaking of getting to it…here’re the badges you’ve SO PATIENTLY been waiting for!
BADGE DROP #9
Summer Game may be getting some extra attention this week, but y’all are the real MVPs. THANKS for PLAYING!!!!!!
Blog Post
Badge Drop #8: Another Week at Camp Summer Game
by emjane
Good afternoon, campers!! We’ve got another SUPER weekend ahead of us at Camp SG. Whether you’ve been living the LIFE OF THE ARTY in the craft cabin or plan to BELT IT OUT in the talent show, we’re excited to see what you’ve got!
Okay, okay, we’re just being SILLY SKELLIES, there is no Camp Summer Game, but we aren’t just WEAVING TALES about getting to see your talents. This Sunday is our 20th(!!!!!!!) LEGO Contest, so HOP on over to the Sheraton on Sunday (get the details on the event page) and show off your brick creations!!! (And earn a badge and get some POINTS!!!!!!)
And, FRIENDS, it may seem like Summer Game lasts FUREVER but we’re in the final month of the game, which means your last chance to make Lawn and Library Codes is August 10. So put your BEST FOOT FORWARD with that code that’s bouncing around your brain, GRAPPLE with getting that great pun to work in 12 characters or less, and HOOK your friends and neighbors into getting those 100 points!
BUT I’M A BADGE fan, you say! Don’t worry, we’ve still got badges for you through the end of the game, including some RIGHT HERE:
BADGE DROP #8
So let’s ROCK and roll and earn some points! THANKS for PLAYING!!!!!!
