Abstract
For many students, library instruction is viewed as a dry lecture about things they already know. This can lead to students "tuning out" in class or failing to become engaged. Games can be a solution to the apathy students feel by modifying the challenge of a task, allowing for access to a student’s flow state by increased engagement and focus (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990).
Initially developed in 2017, Search&Destroy is a competitive card game designed to enhance library instruction, introducing students to library databases and building search skills for college level research. For the last 9 years the development team and hundreds of other librarians have been using the game to replace basic library instruction. The game requires students to create search strings using cards they are dealt and use those searches in the library’s own discovery layer, doing so multiple times to reinforce the game’s learning objectives. Students play in direct competition with each other, plotting and crafting, all while learning the ins and outs of library searching.
This work builds on attempts at digital game-based learning by taking a new approach to focus on tabletop games and game based learning over gamification (Fatta, Maksom, Zakaria, 2019). Tabletop games reduce barriers for instructors, as they do not need to facilitate technology for every student and allows a library instructor to act more as a facilitator rather than the “sage on the stage” (Hanghøj, Brund, 2011). Tabletop games also have the benefit of demanding that students work together to manage play, leveraging the teamwork among peers that leads to increased learning (Johnson, Johnson, & Stanne, 2000). Despite being analog, tabletop games still support the four major foundations of game based learning, motivational, cognitive, affective, and sociocultural (Plass, Mayer, & Homer, 2020).
In 2025 the team worked to create new editions of the original game. This includes, Search&Destroy: Biomedical, intended for library instruction by health sciences librarians and Buscar&Destruir: Edición Español, a complete Spanish language translation of the game, intended for any Spanish classroom but also library instruction in Spanish Immersion programs. Spread only by word of mouth, the original Search&Destroy has over 700 copies in circulation at over 300 locations on 5 continents and the new editions are spreading rapidly as well.
In this session the game’s designers will explain Search&Destroy’s physical design, game mechanics for players, and internal functionality. They will also reflect on the project’s growth into multiple editions and discuss best practices for teaching with games in the library classroom.
Attendees will discuss learning outcomes they would like to address with game-based learning in their own classrooms, and play the original Search&Destroy to see how the card game interfaces with library databases while competing to win against other librarians.
References
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The psychology of optimal experience. New York, NY: Harper and Row
Fatta H, Maksom Z, Zakaria MH. (2019) Game-based Learning and Gamification: Searching for Definitions. International journal of simulation: systems, science & technology. 10.5013/IJSSST.a.19.06.41
Hanghøj, T. (2011). Teacher roles and positionings in relation to educational games. ECGBL 2011 Proceedings. https://doi.org/10.2307/JJ.608141.9
Johnson, D. W., Johnson, R. T., & Stanne, M. E. (2000). Cooperative learning methods: A meta-analysis. Minneapolis, MN:University of Minnesota Press.
Plass, J. L., Mayer, R. E., & Homer, B. D. (Eds.). (2020). Handbook of game-based learning. MIT Press.
