On August 7, 2006, the Hutchinson (Kansas) Public Library held a Runescape night in the library's computer lab. One 13 year old participant called this event possibly the "best night of his life." Kristine Tossie and a team of young adult advisors organized this event. The information about that night comes from Kristine Tossie, contact.

• Planning the event
• 6:30-7:00 Start of the evening
• 7:00-7:15 Combat for members and non-members
• 7:15-7:30 Race for members and non-members
• 7:30-7:45 Hide and Seek for non-members
• 7:45-8:00 Pest Control for members
• 8:00-8:15 Scavenger Hunt for non-members
• 8:15-8:30 Duel Arena for members
• 8:30-9:00 Add up points and award prizes and pop

Planning the event

Kristine wrote, "The success of the event was entirely due to the involvement of 5 teenage [15 and 16 years of age] boys who served as my advisory committee. We had 3 meetings ... and each member was assigned different activities to complete and bring back for the committee to review. Have multiple sets of eyes looking at the concepts and giving feedback helped to prevent some pitfalls. ... The oldest boy with the most experience playing Runescape served as the Overseer. His name is Dylan. [He is 16 and his combat score is about 105.] He helped enforce compliance with the rules and also generously provided the game prizes for participants."

The event was advertised through posters around the library, an ad in the local paper,word of mouth and in computer workshop brochure. Though participation was good, Kristine plans to send notices through the schools to attract more teens to future events.

The event took place in the library's computer lab. The teacher's computer was also in the same computer world and was projected up on the screen. Participants did have problems logging into the same Runescape world. The site would say thye world was full even though the number of players in that world stated otherwise. The maximum number they could get connected to the same world was 14 or 15. So they wasted some time jumping between worlds. [Chris Rippel has heard of a trick for logging in many players at once. He is still tracking down an accurate description of the trick.]

Kristine said she would make the following changes for future events.

• Separate younger and older participants.
• Separate nights for members and non-members.
• Restrict the number of players so everyone can be in the same world at the same time.
• Advertise through the schools to get more participation.
• At the start of the evening, ask participants to formally introduce themselves and their character including characters' names. A list of everyone's name would be distributed to all participants.

Start of the evening

The evening began with "overview of guidelines, sign-up for activities, introductions, list of helpful Web sites and handout Runescape salmon and iron form for Runescape combat."

The start of the evening was hectic because transitioning from the general public to the event without downtime took 15 minutes. This was longer than expected. In the future, Kristine plans to close the lab to the public earlier to create a better flow to the Runescape event.

Informal introductions caused a problem the rest of the evening because everyone had to be reminded who was and was not participating in the games.

Participants not playing specific games were encouraged to play the game. Kristine noticed these participants were making informal alliances with other participants.

Kristine started each event and gave instructions according to a script. Dylan then took over talking about game specific questions. They announced where to meet and waited until everyone was there. In games with coordinators (e.g., the race), participants were instructed to contact the coordinator when they got to the starting spot.

Overall guidelines as written for participants.

• Participation in organized events is voluntary. However, the more events you participate in, the more chances you have to win points. Prizes will be awarded to the participants with the most points.
• Please follow the guidelines for each event so it is fair and fun for everyone.
• This is our first attempt at an event like this so there maybe glitches, our main goal is to enjoy the evening. There will be in and out of game prizes awarded as follows.

  	Non-members	Members
  First	$20 Hastings gift certificate and 300k coins	$20 Hastings gift certificate and 300k coins
  Second	200K coins	200K coins
  Third	100k coins	100k coins
  Fourth	Runelegs	Runelegs

Helpful Web sites as written for participants.

• www.tip.it/runescape/
• www.runecrypt.com/
• runehq.com
• www.rsbandb.com
• www.runevillage.com
• www.zybez.net
• www.runescaperealm.com
• www.runehints.com

Combat for members and non-members

Distributing food and armour took longer than expected. Non-members got attacked on the way to the Wilderness. Kristine says future nights will not have non-member combat.

Combat guidelines as written for participants.

• Armour and food will be provided at the beginning of the event. Only this armour and food can be used in combat.
• Iron war will take place in the wilderness. Armor is full iron with kite. Weapon is iron skimmy.
• No prayer, potions, etc. are allowed.
• Although we will take precautions it is possible Pker's may strike on the way to the wilderness.
• Members will wear black capes and non-members red capes during combat.
• The combat will be shown on the screen and Dylan will verify the winner.
• The last member and non-member left recieves 10 points.

Race for members and non-members

The race game went well. Kristine doesn't plan making any changes.

Race guidelines as written for participants.

• NO teleporting, teleother, killing, spirit trees, rafts or anything else that transports without having to walk or run. NO energy potions, super-energy potions or strange fruit.
• A coordinator will open the door to start the race. Another coordinator will be at the finish line a confirm the winners.
• The coordinator in charge of the race will determine the winner.
• In the event of a tie, we will flip a coin to determine the winner.
• Race Route for members: Wizard's Tower to Catherby Fishing Shop
• Race rout for non-members: Goblin Village to Al Kharid Palace. First one to climb up the ladder wins.
• First place gets 10 points. Second place gets 7 points.

Hide and Seek for non-members

Kristine's young adult advisors wrote the clues. Though some of the riddles were difficult, everyone managed to find at least one character. One hiding place did not allow some non-members to find him because items were needed to enter the building. Credit was given for arriving outside the location. Hide and seek was popular. Hide and seek guidelines as wriiten for participants.

• The goal is to find as many hidden characters as possible in the allotted time.
• Points will be given for each character found.
• Clues are given five minutes apart by the hiding coordinators and shown on the video screen for everyone to see.
• When coordinators are found, the coordinator will verify your identity and write down your name.

Pest Control for members

This was a popular mini-game. Participants became better each time they played and started strategizing prior to the game. However, they only had nine players and decided that they needed 20 to 25 players to actually "win" the game.

Pest Control guidelines as written for participants.

• This is a participation game. Each participant is awarded 5 points
• The goal is to complete the mini-game as a group.
• Bring your best weapon and armour as it is a safe mini-game and if you die your will be revived and won't loose anything. Higher lievels attack portals. Lower levels protect the void knight.
• A complete guideline sheet is available to review if you have not played this mini-game before.

Scavenger Hunt for non-members

Kristine says this is a is a great event for younger participants with less experience. They completed this game while members finished Pest Control.

Scavenger Hunt guidelines as written for participants.

• The goal of scavenger hunt is to find as many items as possible on the list.
• Once you have completed the scavenger hunt, coordinators will verify the items.
• Each item is worth 2 points.
• List of items: garlic, rope, tile, bronze med, cabbage, skull

Duel Arena for members

Duel Arena guidelines as written for participants.

• Single elimination tournament style brackets.
• Participants may choose to participate in
  • A maximum of 2 brackets
  • Melee, Range and Magic
• Possibility of bonus in-game prize for dueling the overseer, Dylan.
• No fun weapons
• No drinks
• No food
• No movement
• No obstacles
• In Melee: No Magic, No Range
• In Range: No Melee, No Magic
• In Magic: No Range, No Melee

Add up points and award prizes and pop

Kristine wrote, "My goal was that everyone have fun and no one left empty handed. So at the end of the evening all participants are given a pop. Having four levels of prizes allowed us to have 8 winners among the participants. We gave 4 prizes to Runescape members and non-members. One boy gave a younger girl some in-game money just to be nice, so half the participants got some kind of prize. Since the pop cost ... [$10.00 and each gift certificate $20] and we will be doing an event of some kind quarterly, the approximate yearly cost will be $200."

Prizes were based on the number of points participants had accumulated through the night. Kristine claims "in-game prizes really made the event." The main coordinator, Dylan, provided these prizes.