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Jumanji comes to life at Otsego District Library

Posted at 7:34 PM, Dec 26, 2017
and last updated 2017-12-26 22:54:21-05

OTSEGO, Mich. — Soffia Tucker had fun playing at the Otsego District Library Tuesday afternoon, she said. She and her friend Hannah put on safari hats and played a game where they rolled red dice to advance through a maze until one of them reached the end near the lion. Once they did, they shouted “Jumanji.”

“We were so close to winning,” said the 7-year-old during an interview near the safari jeep. “Then we rolled the number and then we won.”

Tucker was among the dozens of people who attended the opening of Otsego’s life-sized Jumanji game. The staff their transformed part of the library into an actual jungle fitted with stuffed animals, a rainfall and green paper leaves everywhere.

“We thought it would be so fun to make the jungle come to life at the library,” said Andrea Estelle, the library’s director. “It just touched on so many cool things because Chris Van Allsburg is a Michigan author.”

Estelle added that they’re hoping to build off of the success of last year when 2,300 people played their Candyland-themed game. They charged each participant $1.00 to play and it raised a couple thousand dollars for their early literacy center. It's the same entry fee this year and $5.00 for families no matter the size. All the proceeds will go to purchasing new toys for the center.

“We hope we’ll get a similar amount of excitement this year,” said Estelle who saw it shared 140 times on Facebook. “It’s really great when people start buzzing about the library.”

Sofia and Hannah both said they had a fun playing the Jumanji game. They loved the lion, the decorations and the sheer blue waterfall. They can’t wait to tell their friends about it and they  hope they will come before it closes on January 18.

“They’d probably like it,” said Soffia. “It looks like a jungle.”