SOM Library: Tabletop Game and Jigsaw Puzzle Collection: Home

Tabletop Game and Puzzle Collection

The Library has a collection of tabletop games and jigsaw puzzles for School of Medicine students, faculty, and staff to use in the library or check out and take home.

Games and puzzles have a variety of benefits:

encourage collaboration
improve critical thinking and problem-solving skills
improve cognition and visual-spatial reasoning
lower stress
provide opportunities to have fun

Where is the collection located?

The games and puzzles are available in the Information Commons area on the first floor of the Library (on your left when you walk in the front doors).

Feel free to take a study break and play a game or work on a puzzle right here in the library! There's even a designated table for puzzles in progress or for collaborative gaming.

Want to borrow a game or puzzle?

Find a game or puzzle you are interested in taking home for a fun game night with friends and family?

Bring the game or puzzle up to the circulation desk to check it out.
Games and puzzles loan for 7 days.
Make sure you return all game pieces, instructions, etc.
Please return games and puzzles at the circulation desk, not via the book drop!

Examples from the Puzzle Collection

Dogs that are Gamecock fans watching a game on tv

Anatomy Puzzles

The brain (Eurographics human body puzzle)
1000 pieces (finished puzzle size: 19 ¼ x 26 5/8)

The human brain is a complex and fascinating part of our anatomy, Learn about the different regions of the brain and about brain surgery. Strong high-quality puzzle pieces. Made from recycled board and printed with vegetable based ink. This superior quality puzzle will delight and educate all at the same time.
The circulatory system (Eurographics human body puzzle)
1000 pieces (finished puzzle size:19.2 x 26.6 inches)

The circulatory system is an organ system that passes nutrients, hormones, blood cells, etc. to and from cells in the body to help fight diseases and help stabilize body temperature. Strong high-quality puzzle pieces. Made from recycled board and printed with vegetable based ink. This superior quality puzzle will delight and educate all at the same time.
The heart (Eurographics human body puzzle)
1000 pieces (finished puzzle size: 19 ¼ x 26 5/8)

The heart is the engine that brings blood and air everywhere in our body. Learn about this fantastic machine with this strong high-quality puzzle. Made from recycled board and printed with vegetable based ink. This superior quality puzzle will delight and educate all at the same time.
The muscular system (Eurographics human body puzzle)
1000 pieces (finished puzzle size: 19 ¼ x 26 5/8)

Learn about the muscles of the human body. Features details of the head, the neck and the hand. Strong high-quality puzzle pieces. Made from recycled board and printed with vegetable based ink. This superior quality puzzle will delight and educate all at the same time.
The skeletal system (Eurographics human body puzzle)
1000 pieces (finished puzzle size: 19 ¼ x 26 5/8)

The human adult skeleton consists of 206 bones. Details of which are offered in four languages. Strong high-quality puzzle pieces. Made from recycled board and printed with vegetable based ink. This superior quality puzzle will delight and educate all at the same time.

Featured Game/Puzzle

The skeletal system (Eurographics human body puzzle)
1000 pieces (finished puzzle size: 19 ¼ x 26 5/8)

The human adult skeleton consists of 206 bones. Details of which are offered in four languages. Strong high-quality puzzle pieces. Made from recycled board and printed with vegetable based ink. This superior quality puzzle will delight and educate all at the same time.

Tabletop Games

Abalone classic
Designers: Michel Lalet, Laurent Levi
2 players
Duration of play: 20 min.

Go full steam ahead and join the international community of abolone fans! Two camps face off across a hexagonal board containing black and white marbles. Your objective: push six opposing marbles into the rails along the edge of the board. Sharpen your attack and refine your defense. Observe, plan... and weigh up your options at every move!
Azul
Designer: Michael Kiesling
2-4 players
Duration of play: 30-45 min.

Azul invites you, a tile laying artist, to embellish the walls of the Royal Palace of Evora. Introduced by the Moors, "azulejos" (originally white and blue ceramic tiles), were fully embraced by the Portuguese, when their king Manual I, on a visit to the Alhambra palace in Southern Spain, was mesmerized by the stunning beauty of the Moorish decorative tiles. The king, awestruck by the interior beauty of the Alhambra, immediately ordered that his own palace in Portugal be decorated with similar wall tiles.
Codenames
Designer: Vlaada Chvátil
2-8 players
Duration of play: 15 min.

Two rival spymasters know the secret identities of 25 agents. Their teammates know the agents only by their Codenames. The teams compete to see who can make contact with all of their agents first. Spymasters give one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. Their teammates try to guess words of the right color while avoiding those that belong to the opposing team. And everyone wants to avoid the assassin. Codenames: Win or lose, it's fun to figure out the clues. - Container.
Codenames Duet
Designers: Vlaada Chvátil, Scot Eaton
2 or more players
Duration of play: 15 min.

You and your partner are on a secret mission to a crowded city. Your objective: to contact 15 agents while avoiding a band of enemy assassins. You know the agents that your partner can contact safely. Your partner knows the agents you can contact safely. By giving each other one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the table, you try to find all the agents before your turns run out. -Czech Games
Fire in the Library
Designers: Tony Miller, John Prather
1-6 players
Duration of play: 15-30 min.

Despite the best efforts of you and your fellow Librarians, a fire threatens the sum of all human knowledge. You must save as many precious tomes from the flames as you can before the consuming inferno collapses the Library forever. Fire in the Library is a press-your-luck game about saving books from being burned. Push the odds and channel your courage, earning Knowledge Points and Bravery Points which are needed to win the game. The player with the highest combined point total when the game ends is the winner!
The Hunger Games District 12: a game of strategy
Designers: Christopher Guild, Bryan Kinsella, Andrew Parks
2-4 Players
Duration of play: 30 min.

You and up to three other players are residents of District 12 trying to eke out an existence. Are you able to use your wits to survive or are you required to take Tessera and put your name once more into the drawing for The Hunger Games? Based on the bestselling book and move, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, work with or against your fellow players, but in the end it's the one who has acquired the most food, fuel, clothing, and medicine while avoiding becoming a tribute who wins this game. May the odds be ever in your favor!
I Dissent: A Game of Supreme Opinions
Designer:Jonathan Gilmour
3-9 players
Duration of play: 30 min.

Players preside over the court of public opinion and rule on hot button topics of the day. In each round all players will vote to agree or disagree on a topic. Be on the side with the most votes to score points. The player with the most points after 7 rounds is the winner! However, being on the side with the most votes takes skill. Watch out for players switching sides or playing a Dissent card to get ahead. You may find yourself on the wrong side of a vote and not scoring any points at all.
Jenga
Designer: Leslie Scott
1-8 players
Duration of play: 15 min.

Take turns pulling and stacking the blocks, but be careful not to topple the tower!
King of Tokyo
Designer: Richard Garfield
2-6 players
Duration of play: 30 min.

A game for 2 to 6 players where you play as mutant monsters, rampaging robots, or even abominable aliens battling in a fun, chaotic atmosphere. Roll dice and choose your strategy: will you attack your enemies? Heal your wounds? Improve your monster? Stomp your path to victory!
Loaded Questions Party: An Epic Party Game
Designer: Eric Poses
4-6 players
Duration of play: 30-60 min.

Friends, family, random strangers... it's party time! Race around the board guessing which player wrote which answer while writing your own creative responses to 232 hilarious and highly loaded questions. With simple rules, no right or wrong answer, and exciting twists to the original game play, Loaded Questions Party is your answer to an epic and memorable game night!
Magnetix X-treme Combo: Magnetic Building Set
1+ player
Duration of play: 10 min.

Use your imagination and create countless shapes for endless hours of fun. You can create triangles, squares, and bars, as well as complex mathematical shapes, physics and chemistry models.
Mancala
Designer: William Julius Champion Jr.
2 players
Duration of play: 10 minutes

"Mancala" is a general name which applies to a group of very old Asian and African games in which stones or seeds were moved from cups on a game board or holes in the ground.
Mysterium Park
Designers: Oleksandr Nevskiy, Oleg Sidorenko
2-6 players
Duration of play: 30-45 min.

Welcome to Mysterium Park, with its cotton candy, its circus and its dark secrets. The park's former director disappeared a few years ago, but the investigation turned up nothing. Since that night, weird things have been happening on the fairgrounds, As psychics, you're convinced that a ghost haunts this carnival. You're now intent on giving it a chance to reveal the truth. In this cooperative game, the ghost sends visions with illustrated cards. The psychics try to interpret them in order to rule out certain suspects and locations. They, they'll seize their only chance to piece together what happened to the director. You have only six nights before the carnival leaves town.
MythBusters: The Game
Designer: Forrest-Pruzan Creative
2-6 players
Duration of play: 15-45 min.

Can a penny kill someone if you drop it from the Empire State Building? Do sharks really go for blood? Is it possible to sail a boat made entirely of duct tape? If you know the answers, you've got a leg up in this hilarious high-flying, myth-busting trivia game!
On the Dot: The Super Spotted Brain Teaser
Designer: Dominique Bodin
1-4 players
Duration of play: 5-15 min.

Arrange four transparent squares so that they all overlap to perfectly duplicate the pattern of dots shown on a selected pattern card. You can play solitaire or against others.
Operation
Designers: Marvin Glass, John Spinello
1-6 players
Duration of play: 15 min.

Is there a doctor in the house? Cavity Sam is feeling under the weather! Can you operate and make him feel better? Make him better or get the buzzer!
Pandemic
Designer: Matt Leacock
2-4 players
Duration of play: 45 min.

As skilled members of a disease-fighting team, you must keep four deadly diseases at bay while discovering their cures. You and your teammates will travel across the globe, treating infections while finding resources for cures. You must work as a team to succeed. Pandemic is a cooperative game, all players win or lose together. The clock is ticking as outbreaks and epidemics fuel the spreading plagues. Can you find all four cures in time? The fate of humanity is in your hands!
The Resistance
Designer: Don Eskridge
5-10 players
Duration of play: 30 min.

The Resistance pits a small group of resistance fighters against a powerful and corrupt government. The resistance has launched a series of daring missions to bring the government to its knees. Unfortunately spies have infiltrated the resistance ranks, ready to sabotage the carefully crafted plans. Even a single spy can take down a resistance mission. Choose your teams carefully or forever lose your freedom.
Space Dash: a Frantic Race to the Stars
3-6 players
Duration of play: 15 min.

Strap yourself in and race to the stars in this crazy card game where you'll need reactions faster than the speed of light. It's a frantic free-for-all with everyone scrambling to collate and claim complete sets of launch sequence cards. Will you be the first to utter the immortal phrase "Touch Down!"?
Star Wars: the card game
Designer: Eric M. Lang
2 Players
Duration of play: 30-60 min.

Two players complete to determine the fate of the galaxy. Join Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia Organa, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and others as they defy the Galactic Empire and resist the corrupt agents of the Sith. Or give into your anger and fight alongside Darth Vader, Emperor Palpatine, Grand Moff Tarkin, and the boundless might of the Galactic Empire to crus the Rebel Alliance and the remnants of the Jedi Order. Choose your side wisely. The fate of the galaxy is in your hands!
Star Wars Destiny
Designers: Corey Konieczka, Lukas Litzsinger
2 players
Duration of play: 30 min.

Take control of your favorite Star Wars characters and decide the fate of the galaxy! Upgrade your heroes and villains with iconic blasters, lightsabers, Force powers, and more. Use premium dice and cards in a fast and furious duel to defeat your foe!
Sushi Go!
Designer: Phil Walker-Harding
2-5 Players
Duration of play: 15 min.

Pass the sushi! In this fast-playing card game, the goal is to grab the best combination of sushi dishes as they whiz by. Score points for making the most maki rolls or for collecting a full set of sashimi. But be sure to leave room for dessert or else you'll eat into your score! Gather the most points and consider yourself the sushi master!
Whoonu
Designers: Whit Alexander, Richard Tait
3-6 players
Duration of play: 15-30 min.

You like robots more than rodeos? Sneakers more than sunsets? Who knew?! In Cranium Whoonu, earn points as you guess your friends' and family's favorite things
Wikipedia: The Game About Everything
2-4 players
Duration of play: 15-30 min.

It's informative, it's collaborative, and it's fun! The game challenges players to find out how much you know. Each card has 3 ways to play.