Hooked on Books discussion

🚨 STOP!
Read Me FIRST! Even if you’ve played before, there are some new rules this year!

If you have questions, you can ask in this thread, but PLEASE make sure you’ve read through all the information first to avoid duplicate questions. There’s also a Commonly Asked Questions section, so be sure to review that as well!




🎲 How to Play:
This is a team-based game, where each group takes turns moving around the virtual Bookopoly board!

📍 Movement
🔹Each team has a maximum of 72 hours (3 days) to take their turn — but that’s not the required pace. You should roll and post as soon as you’re able so the game keeps moving quickly. The 72 hours is just the maximum buffer if you need extra time. On your turn, your team rolls the dice (digitally), moves around the board, and completes the prompt tied to your new space.
🔹Only Team Captains and Co-Captains have editing access to the official Game Board. Team members can view the board but cannot make changes.

📚 Completing Tasks
🔹When your team lands on a space, you’ll receive a reading or engagement prompt. This might involve “buying” a property or completing a creative challenge.
🔹Typically, only one book is required to fulfill the prompt and complete the turn, but all members should continue logging every book they read. You can and should BANK BOOKS for future use!
🔹Work together to decide who will complete the task, or use a banked book if it fits!

⏳ Turn Timers
🔹Your team has 72 hours from the time of the roll to complete the prompt and post your results in the Turns Thread.
🔹Missing the deadline may result in a penalty — communication is key!

💬 Team Communication
🔹Each team has a dedicated Team Thread. Use it to plan tasks, ask questions, or cheer each other on.
🔹Captains are responsible for rolling, posting updates, and tracking progress.

🚫 Board Access Reminder
🔹The Game Board is managed by Mods and Captains only. Please do not request editing access — it's view-only for players.

Game Boards
🏰⚔️🎲 Founding Factions Game Board: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
🏡📖✨ Landlords of Lore Game Board: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...


Book Rules
Standard Book Qualifications and Standard Team Challenge Rules apply, plus...
🔸One book per prompt/task.
🔸You MUST add your read books to your Goodreads "Read" Shelf.

Task Rules
You must be able to justify how your book fits the prompt. Creativity is encouraged, but please hold to the task/prompt. Captains and Co-Captains are the first line for approving your book; if there is disagreement, they will follow-up with a mod!
🔹Cover Color must be more than 50% (https://labs.tineye.com/color/ is a resource, but not required)
🔹List page number, percentage, or chapter for a word in text
🔹Cover Items should be linked, shown, or mentioned in your post/spreadsheet
🔹Short explanation for other tasks for proof of task completion

Book Log
Players on each team should log EVERY book they read on a Team Tracking Sheet. Captains are responsible for making and maintaining this sheet, but if you would like a template, I am happy to provide one.

All logged books will be used to buy properties, pay taxes, fulfill other space requirements, and collect a salary. Once a book is used for something in the game, it cannot be used again.

Money
🔸Teams start with $1,500.
🔸Collect a "salary" by depositing up to 10 banked books. Your team will deposit the chosen books once your team passes a YELLOW SPACE. There is a 10-book maximum per deposit. Once deposited, they cannot be used in the game again.

Books used for Salary: $0.10 per page
Books used for Library: Deposit or Fine calculated at $0.15 per page
Books used for Chance/CC/Wheel of Colors: Deposit or Debit calculated at $0.30 per page
Books used for Teamwork Row: $0.50 per page
Books used for Literary Alliance: $1.50 per page
**Profits and Losses are calculated automatically on the Game Board Sheet!

Buying/Selling Property and Paying Rent
To buy a property your team lands on, you must...
🔸Pay the value listed on the property
🔸Read a book that fits the task for that property for the number you rolled. This is generated on the Spreadsheet, but a list of tasks for each property is listed here

To buy houses, you must...
🔸Have purchased ALL the properties in a Literary Color Set, then on your NEXT turn you may purchase houses.
🔸You must buy houses equally across your Literary Color Set (each property must have the same number of houses).
🔸Housing Costs are 35% of the purchase price of the property (e.g. Hercule Poirot's purchase price is $100, therefore houses cost $35 each).

If you land on an owned property, your team must...
🔸Pay rent to the team that owns the property AND
🔸Read a book that fits the task for that property for the number you rolled.
🔸Rent Costs are shown on the Property Tracking tab of the Game Board Sheet (Current Rent is totaled in Column D)

If you land on a property that your team already owns, your team's turn ends and nothing further is required.

You may sell your owned properties to any team for any agreed-upon price. These types of transactions can occur outside of turns, but must be noted and tracked in the Turns Thread.

Chance, Community Chest and Wheel of Colors
When you land on any of these spaces, please request that a mod spin the "wheel" to determine your task.
🔹For Chance and Community Chest, your profit or loss depends on your spin. If you get a "red" task, you must pay the amount based on your page count. If you get a "green" task, you earn money based on your page count. "Blue" tasks do not require reading.
🔹For Wheel of Colors, every 6th land on this space will have to pay a fine (based on your page count).

Library
A team landing on this space may read a book of their choice. You will receive money based on your page count. Every 5th land on this space will have to pay a library fine (based on your page count).

Income Tax
When you land on this space, you either pay $200 (or 10% of your current Bank Balance, whichever is less) -or- complete a task below to avoid the fee.

IRS Audit
When you land on this space, use your CURRENT Roll to determine whether or not your team has Passed or Failed their Audit.
🔹1-6: Audit Failed! Pay 15% of your current Bank Balance (max $500) AND give another team a book from your bank.
🔹7-12: Audit Passed! Collect $100 from the bank for a "tax refund".

Luxury Tax
When you land on this space, you will pay a Luxury Tax based on your current rank:
🔹1st place: Pay $200
🔹2nd place: Pay $150
🔹3rd place: Pay $100
🔹4th place: Pay $50
-or- you can complete a "Luxury Challenge" to avoid payment.

Jail
You land in Jail when your token lands on the space marked "Jail". When your team lands on this space, your team must complete a "Spell Out" of the word "JAIL" by reading 4 books.

Spell Out Options:
First Letter of the....
🔹Book Title
🔹Series Title
🔹Author First Name
🔹Author Last Name
🔹MC First Name
🔹MC Last Name

Subway Terminals
These are the only FREE spaces on the board. If you land on this space, your turn ends, and you will begin your next roll at the next terminal.

Additional Game Spaces
There are numerous additional game spaces, involving teamwork, reading prompts, mysteries, and heists! Rules for these are noted on the Game Board.

Mortgages and Bankruptcy
If you don't have enough money in your Bank Account to pay a debt, you may Mortgage any of your owned properties to gain cash. Always notify a MOD to help you with this, but these are the general rules:
🔸First, if you have houses on your property, you'll need to sell all the buildings on the entire owned set back to the Bank at half price.
🔸You cannot collect rent on a Mortgaged Property; however, you can collect it on un-mortgaged properties in that color set.
🔸The mortgage value of each property is found on the Game Dashboard next to the name of the owned property (this is how much CASH you will receive from the bank), and the interest rate is 10%.
🔸To lift the mortgage, you must repay the full amount borrowed, plus interest. (for example: The mortgage value of One Hundred Years of Solitude is $214.50, so you would need to pay $235.95 to the bank)
🔸Mortgaged Properties CANNOT be sold to other teams!

You are declared bankrupt if you owe more than you can raise/pay either to another team or to the Bank, and your team must retire from the game.

🔹 Winner: 🔹
The Team with the MOST MONEY (including value of assets) at the end of the challenge will be declared the winner.

Commonly Asked Questions

1. Does each team member have to complete a task to buy a property?
NO! You will complete tasks as a TEAM! Only ONE BOOK PER TEAM is required for any task. Every person on the team does not have to read a book for a property!

2. Is there a "required" frequency of books read?
NO! There is no reading requirement, only a requirement to check in with your team once a week, even if you haven't read anything.

3. Do teams have to wait until other teams play to begin their turn? Or do we go at our pace?
Each team has 72 hours from the time of the roll to complete the prompt and post their results in the Turns Thread. No team may play ahead. Contact a mod if a team has exceeded their turn window.

However, your team should be reading books while you wait on your turn to roll, so that you will have a cache of books.

4. Can we purchase properties right after our first roll? Or do we need to go around the board once?
You may purchase immediately! It's a BIG board.

5. For page count, what edition of the book are we using?
Always use the edition you READ. If you listened to the audiobook, use the default edition's page count.

6. If we land on an "Advance to..." space and it requires us to pass more than 1 salary space, are we able to collect more than one salary?
No, you'll treat it as though you passed a single space.

Is there any chance that there is/will be an associated Facebook group for this? This challenge looks fascinating, but Goodreads isn’t nearly as accessible for me and it’s tough for me to navigate threads here. Thanks!

Jenni wrote: "Is there any chance that there is/will be an associated Facebook group for this? This challenge looks fascinating, but Goodreads isn’t nearly as accessible for me and it’s tough for me to navigate ..."

At this time, there won’t be an associated Facebook group. That said, depending on how your Team Captain decides to run things, it’s absolutely possible to participate primarily through a shared Google Sheet. Most teams use the spreadsheet for tracking progress and coordination, with only minimal chatting in the team thread if needed, for example, to ask quick questions or coordinate who’s tackling which prompts.

If you're able to access your team's thread, that might be all you need. The rest of the Goodreads threads are just for reference (rules, prompt lists, etc.) and don’t require regular interaction.

I don’t have an option to reply, just to add a new comment. But thanks for the answer. It took me five attempts just to even see if you had answered me, the accessibility for this section of Goodreads is atrocious. I would really want to be able to participate regularly with a team and communicate, that’s what makes something like this fun for me. I wonder if a team captain would be willing to have a Facebook group for the team to be able to communicate? Especially given the accessibility limitations here. Surely I’m not the only disabled person struggling to use this area. If not, unfortunately, I wouldn’t be able to participate, which is disappointing.

Jenni wrote: "I don’t have an option to reply, just to add a new comment. But thanks for the answer. It took me five attempts just to even see if you had answered me, the accessibility for this section of Goodre..."

I'm sorry Jenni! I wish I had a better answer for you and I wish GR would be more accessible.

Jenni wrote: "I don’t have an option to reply, just to add a new comment. But thanks for the answer. It took me five attempts just to even see if you had answered me, the accessibility for this section of Goodre..."

You may be better using website it’s more user friendly than the app

Kat wrote: "Jenni wrote: "I don’t have an option to reply, just to add a new comment. But thanks for the answer. It took me five attempts just to even see if you had answered me, the accessibility for this sec..."

If you use the website, be sure to select "desktop version" at the bottom of the screen. (If your screen says "desktop version", click and that will turn it into the desktop version, which is far more user friendly than mobile. If your screen says "mobile version", don't click! That means you're already on desktop and clicking will switch to the awful mobile version)

Desktop version allows you to respond to comments directly! It is basically "Old Goodreads", if you have been here a while.

Question - Any tips on search tools to help in finding books when you're looking for letters (in any order) to be in the title? (or title & series). I've seen some good search tools (like talpa), but not for this specific thing.

danielle wrote: "Question - Any tips on search tools to help in finding books when you're looking for letters (in any order) to be in the title? (or title & series). I've seen some good search tools (like talpa), b..."

Change the order of ur books to alphabetical and it will show you all books beginning with a, b etc

danielle wrote: "Question - Any tips on search tools to help in finding books when you're looking for letters (in any order) to be in the title? (or title & series). I've seen some good search tools (like talpa), b..."

On "My Books" you can type the word (for example ICE") with spaces like I C E. This will look in title/series/author name, but it gets close. Only works for books in My Books though.

MN Lisa wrote: "danielle wrote: "Question - Any tips on search tools to help in finding books when you're looking for letters (in any order) to be in the title? (or title & series). I've seen some good search tool..."

I didn’t know this!! Thank you, this is incredibly helpful!

Great tips, Lisa! I don't think I need to say much else!

MN Lisa wrote: "danielle wrote: "Question - Any tips on search tools to help in finding books when you're looking for letters (in any order) to be in the title? (or title & series). I've seen some good search tool..."

Great tip, Lisa!

Ashley, I can't recall if you already mentioned this somewhere or not -- is there a tracking spreadsheet that teams can use like last year? Or are teams meant to make their own tracking methods?

it's in the Book Log section above, but yes, Captains can make their own this year, but if they don't want to/aren't SS inclined, I can provide one, they just need to let me know!

Hey Ashley - just making sure I'm not missing something:
buying a house just requires paying $ from our bank account and completing the designated task -- no book page number minimums or ranges per color this time?

Correct! No page minimums except the standard!

Ashley wrote: "Correct! No page minimums except the standard!"
Cool - thanks!

One other question re: property tasks: can each task per property only be used once, or can any task be used anytime a team lands on a property to buy or pay rent on?

Teddie wrote: "One other question re: property tasks: can each task per property only be used once, or can any task be used anytime a team lands on a property to buy or pay rent on?"

The task is determined by your roll to get to the property. So if you roll a 4, you would type 4 in the correct box, and your task will generate. If you or anyone else lands there again via a 4, you'd get the task again.

ah - ok - thanks!

Question: I was thinking of reading an Ellen Hopkins series (Crank) which does show MPG as Poetry on Goodreads. If I read it, I would only get to count 50% of the pages, right? I think I’m understanding the rules right.

Shandra wrote: "Question: I was thinking of reading an Ellen Hopkins series (Crank) which does show MPG as Poetry on Goodreads. If I read it, I would only get to count 50% of the pages, right? I think I’m understa..."

Yes!

Thank you! I just wanted to be sure since sometimes her books are classified as just YA and sometimes they’re slated as Poetry.

Quick question - for 'word in text' type tasks, is the page number specific enough, or do we need more from the sentence it's in?

danielle wrote: "Quick question - for 'word in text' type tasks, is the page number specific enough, or do we need more from the sentence it's in?"

At least a partial sentence is needed, for example: "...and he looked at the octopus."

...and for location, I'm fine with something as broad as a chapter # or as specific as a page number/location #, as long as it's clear the word was there.

Ashley wrote: "danielle wrote: "Quick question - for 'word in text' type tasks, is the page number specific enough, or do we need more from the sentence it's in?"

At least a partial sentence is needed, for examp..."

Ahhhh. Then I definitely misunderstood the directions for this. Glad I asked!

Thanks!

Question... for the space Teamwork Row - Twin Titles
(2 teammates must each read a book that shares a title word) - does this include articles - like The, of, etc?

danielle wrote: "Question... for the space Teamwork Row - Twin Titles
(2 teammates must each read a book that shares a title word) - does this include articles - like The, of, etc?"

In this instance no.

• Omnibuses:
Each contained book can be counted separately if it meets the eligibility criteria.

--Can it also be counted as one book? Based on our discretion?

Short Story Collections, Anthologies & Omnibuses:
In general, these formats are allowed without additional restrictions. However, if you want to use the entire book's page count, you must read the entire book. If you prefer to count individual works separately, please follow these guidelines:
• Short Story Collections and Anthologies:
If you read an individual story within a collection or anthology that is also published as a standalone novella, you may count that story as a separate book using the Goodreads default edition of the standalone novella. If the individual story is not published separately, it may not be used for a challenge.

• Omnibuses:
Each contained book can be counted separately if it meets the eligibility criteria.

Ashley,
manga is worth half the amount of pages, right? so a 300 pg manga would be logged as 150 pgs??

🐉 PrinZessBookDragon 👑🌶️ wrote: "Ashley,
manga is worth half the amount of pages, right? so a 300 pg manga would be logged as 150 pgs??"

Manga, Comics, & Graphic Novel restrictions/requirements are here.

If the book is not found on AR Bookfind, calculate eligibility using this formula:

Adjusted Page Count = Edition Page Count × 0.25

The adjusted page count must be at least 100 pages for the book to qualify.

Your book is eligible if it meets either the minimum word count requirement (via AR Bookfind) or the minimum adjusted page count requirement (if not listed on AR Bookfind).

When logging your reading for challenges, always use the adjusted page count (physical pages × 0.25) as your official page total.

Ashley wrote: "🐉 PrinZessBookDragon 👑🌶️ wrote: "Ashley,
manga is worth half the amount of pages, right? so a 300 pg manga would be logged as 150 pgs??"

Manga, Comics, & Graphic Novel restrictions/requirements ar..."

Ok, thanks so much for your patience 🤎🔖📚

Can someone please tell me where Genre Junctions is on the board? 🙈

edit: studied the board five times. Switched from this post back to the board and my eyes landed on it instantly -.-

Glad you found it!

For word in text, what are the rules on plural forms (lions instead of lion) or different verb forms (vanished instead of vanish)?

Both are fine

I thought that was the case but wanted to confirm. Thanks!

One additional question regarding Matching Word in the title. I know that Articles are excluded. Someone mentioned using "of", I am guessing that would also be excluded.

of, at, and, on - are these words excluded as well?

Yes, I don't want to go as far as to say nouns only, but I'd like to stick with non-proper words. I think everyone understands the concept, and I don't want to have to list out all the no's.

That is what I was thinking/expecting. Thanks!

Would this count for lights on the cover?