More than a dozen teens broke the ice Friday night at the North Suffolk Library. The ice shattered through a balloon relay race and other icebreaking games, including a hula hoop carried around a teen-made circle.

The teens had to keep holding hands in the circle as they twisted and contorted themselves. They moved the hula hoop from one person to another, and managed to carry the hula hoop through a complete revolution in the library lobby as the stereo played “Old Town Road.”

The balloon relay race also demanded their cooperation. The teens were split into two lines, and pairs from each line had to walk back-to-back with a balloon between them. These pairs moved carefully to carry their balloons to their bins. But they also had to win the race.

“It was challenging,” Elijah Alexander, 15, said about the balloon relay game. “It required lots of patience.”

The teens spent the rest of the evening together with everything that Suffolk Public Library staff had prepared for the 2019 National Teen Library Lock-In. Libraries across the United States invite teens to a lock-in on the same night each year to celebrate summer reading and blow off some steam in a safe space.

Teens from ages 14 to 18 danced and answered trivia questions. They wrote poems and short stories in 100 words or less, based on this year’s “Show Us Your Story” theme. There were also opportunities to participate in live chat sessions on Google Hangouts with authors like Bill Konigsberg.

Suffolk Public Library once again partnered with Keene Public Library in New Hampshire through a live feed that connected the two libraries during their simultaneous celebrations.

“We initially paired up with Keene Public Library (through) the National Teen Library Lock-In, so this year we decided to continue that relationship, and also do a collaborative program again,” said Asa Heyward, teen services senior librarian for Suffolk Public Library.

Retro gaming in the videogame corner of the library proved to be the most popular with the teens, according to Heyward, along with the Merge Cube augmented reality demonstration and Sphero remote-controlled robots in the tech corner.

It only took Aubrey Shrodes, 14, a few moments to get the hang of the Sphero controls.

“It’s difficult at first, but it’s pretty easy when you get the hang of it and adjust the settings,” Aubrey said.

Heyward and the rest of the Suffolk Public Library staff wanted to provide teens with a safe and engaging night for their latest lock-in, and according to Heyward it was a success.

He said that the icebreakers helped kickstart the proceedings and allowed the teens to come out of their shells, eat pizza and Chick-fil-A and above all else have fun.

“It’s a fun activity to do with a big group of friends,” Rachel Shrodes, 15, said about her third lock-in at the Suffolk Public Library.