The Challenge Factory discussion

Yeah sure can :)

Denise I've seen lots of people in other groups that are from Europe having similar problems this week.

Good to know I'm not alone! XD Hopefully it'll sort itself out soon.

I can do the November History one I think.

Also, let me know what you think of this...I was thinking about maybe doing it for my November Foreman challenge, but I'm not sure...

It's really simple, but basically a pledge of some sort. Like I pledge to read/listen ___ books in November. Or I pledge to read ___ pages in November. Or even for me, I pledge to read ____ books off of my Netgalley shelf in November.

I got about 4 books from Netgalley that needs to be reviewed:D

That sounds good. They're one of my favorite ones to host cause you can literally do whatever you want. It's usually where I'm the most creative.

Ezinwanyi~For you, Agron wrote: "I got about 4 books from Netgalley that needs to be reviewed:D"

All this insomnia, I've been nailing Netgalley books since I have a crap ton that I have to read. I'm a hoarder and I can't stop myself most of the time, but I need my percentage to get higher. lol

Okay, so I'll start putting together stuff for the November History challenge since my Foreman one is figured out.

Ack! Sorry Jenne. I thought you would be sleeping so I hope you don't mind that I posted the alternate tonight.

Paris wrote: "Ack! Sorry Jenne. I thought you would be sleeping so I hope you don't mind that I posted the alternate tonight."

Looks like a lot of people are sleeping. I'm going back to sleep now:D

Hey,
I didn't want to be a stickler since this SSS game is new but I think Jenne should clarify the cutoff time. When I checked between 12am-1:30am central time, only 2 teams had all their reviews up.
Of course, no one rolled but I wasn't sure what the cutoff was in order to lose a turn.
So I'm curious, when is the cutoff? I had assumed midnight Wednesday central time...but honestly I'm hardly up past 10:00p. I woke up at midnight cause hubby was hogging the covers and I was cold.
I decided to quickly check the threads so that how I spied on everyone.

It's a new game, so I thought we can just let this one slide but remind folks about the deadline. Maybe we can have a universal timer/countdown on the Post your Spot thread or something.

Ok. Off to drop kids at school

Lol I woke up Paris and popped in for a second and went back to sleep. Ezi there's no cutoff time until Thursday or Sunday is actually over. I'm very impressed nobody has yet to run into a last minute review.

Jenne wrote: "Lol I woke up Paris and popped in for a second and went back to sleep. Ezi there's no cutoff time until Thursday or Sunday is actually over. I'm very impressed nobody has yet to run into a last min..."

Ohhhhh. So Cut off is Thursday at midnight. Ok. I thought it was Wednesday&Saturday at midnight, so your captain can roll on Thursday/Sunday at 12:01am.

thank you for that:D

Yeah with it being two books a week I wanted to give everyone the day to get them in. All of the teams have been on their toes getting done on time.

Jenne wrote: "Yeah with it being two books a week I wanted to give everyone the day to get them in. All of the teams have been on their toes getting done on time."

yes. this week really got everyone. I saw that too

Okay so is it safe to say that I'll be posting the alternate on Wednesday's? I don't want to step on any toes.

I've got November in History ready to go and my November Foreman challenge ready. Is it obvious that I'm procrastinating on other things in my life? lol

When should I put up the November Employee of the Month poll?

Yes you have my blessing lol. Like Ezi hubby woke me up at midnight and I just popped in to see it was a very rare thing. No worries on stepping on toes either :)
I'd put the poll up like the 25th or so. You won't get a lot of votes after the initial notice.

Okay cool. I figured you probably didn't mind me doing it, but I would hate to find out you stayed up until midnight just to post and I beat you to it. lol

25th sounds good.

Need an opinion, we have a team that didn't get to roll yesterday due to a missing review. Just got a pm saying she can't play anymore. Should I let the team go ahead and roll today since it's totally not their fault?

Jenne wrote: "Need an opinion, we have a team that didn't get to roll yesterday due to a missing review. Just got a pm saying she can't play anymore. Should I let the team go ahead and roll today since it's tota..."

yes please! She should have been a good teammate and dropped before. But don't penalize them.
(dawn's team?)

Yes and I feel the same way! I'm off to tell them!

Jenne wrote: "Yes and I feel the same way! I'm off to tell them!"

Great choice Jenne. Let's keep this game fun:)

It's not their fault and the rest were finished. Good I hope this makes their afternoon.

yes I was going to say totally let them roll! :)

I totally agree with the decision. Ugh. I hate when people wait to the last minute to say anything.

I know I felt horrible last night :(

If y'all see I haven't posted the alternate shortly after midnight it's because I fell asleep lol. If it's not up by midnight whoever gets to it first post it.

Okey dokey. I'll be here just in case.

So I had an idea last night based on Monopoly. It wouldn't be a team challenge really, just more like 2-3 (maybe 4) people playing against each other. The properties would be shelves and whoever landed on the "property" and read a book (or more if it is an "expensive property") for that shelf first would then own the spot.

As far as penalties go for say going to jail I was thinking roll doubles or read a $50 book (think super easy). Then the penalty for landing on an "owned" property maybe you have to read double the amount of books on that shelf that the owner had to read? And you can't roll until you read the amount of books whether to buy the property or in penalty.

The person who owns the most property wins.

I don't know. It's a work in progress, but what do you guys think? Is it even worth thinking about? There'd be no time limit and you could play with anyone.

I think that would be fun Paris :)

Thanks Jenne. Let me know if y'all have any type of feedback or ideas that would help me flesh this out.

Paris. I love the idea.

I want to do a finish series challenge next year with a gift card prize. Too many open series for me, and I want to close them out.

Ezi do you want creature feature for November? I'm going to get the regular monthly up today.

Jenne wrote: "Ezi do you want creature feature for November? I'm going to get the regular monthly up today."

yes, I will.

Jenne, should I put up the November History challenge today or wait a couple of days?

Anytime this week Paris.

Sounds like a plan.

Paris wrote: "Sounds like a plan."

Man, Pat gave me some great ideas for challenges. She loves me:D

So I think I've almost got Monopoly figured out. My biggest problem is the railroads. Y'all got any suggestions on what people could read/should do on the railroads.

One idea was read a book where a character is from the wrong side of the tracks. Another could be maybe read a book you'd love to read while on a train.

I was trying to keep them train/railroad related if possible.

Hmm a mode of transportation on the cover? Or maybe authors whose names start with any letter from train?

Oooh thanks Jenne. Those are great ideas. I thought of some things on the way home if I can't keep it railroad/train themed.

Reading: read whatever you want
Pennsylvania: Read a book set in Pennsylvania
B&O: Read a book that someone else thought stunk
Short Line: Read a novella

Yours are better lol Love the B&O :)

Cool. I think that's what I'll stick with then. So now I just have to come up with shelves for each property which shouldn't be a problem.

I was thinking to break it down like this. Let me know what you think:

To own most of the properties you have to read one book off of the shelf for that property (if you land on an owned property you have to read two). For the green you have to read 2 to own (4 if owned). For Boardwalk/Park Place you have to read 3 to own (5 if owned)? Or does that seem like too much? I was trying to give them their same level of importance in this game as they have in real Monopoly.

Okay ladies, let me know how this sounds. Is it too difficult? Fairly easy? Still not sure about how many books a person should have to read if the property is "owned"

Monopoly Rules

• Each property is represented by a shelf. For each grouping of shelves/properties you would read a certain amount of books from that shelf. Once you finish the amount of books you would then “Own” that shelf.
• If you land on an “owned” shelf you would have to read a certain amount of books above what the owner had to read.
• If one person “owns” all of the books in a group (think Mediterranean and Baltic) and another player lands on their properties they would be able to recommend at least one of the books that the player has to read.
• Utilities – For the Electric Company – Read a book where the characters have electric chemistry. For Water Works – Read a book that makes you cry. Books have to be 150 pages or more.
• If a player lands on an “Owned” utility, then the owner will recommend a book with electric chemistry or that makes them cry.
• Railroads – For Reading Railroad – Read whatever you want. For Pennsylvania Railroad – Read a book set in Pennsylvania. For B&O Railroad – Read a book that someone else thought stunk. For Short Line – Read a novella.
• If a player lands on an “owned” railroad, the owner will recommend a book for that specific railroad.
• Chance and Community Chest – there are 12 cards for each. If a player lands on one of those spots they will roll the dice a second time and then would “pull” the corresponding card and do whatever it says on the card. Once a card is used, it will be out of play unless needed to finish the game. Books for this would need to be at least 150 pages.
• Being in Jail – To get out of jail you would need to have one of the get out of jail free cards, roll doubles on one of your next three turns or read a book where a character is arrested or has been in jail. Books for this would need to be 150 pages or more.
• Just Visiting – Read a novella of your choice
• Free Parking – Read any book 100 pages or more
• Go – Read any book of 200 pages or more
• Luxury Tax/Income Tax – Read a book with a rich character, a really poor character or someone that works in a bank. 150 pages or more

Oh and for the shelves, I didn't pick any kind of specific genres or anything cause I didn't want to make it too difficult or unfair. I know we have a lot of diversity here as far as genres read.

I'm using shelves like favorites, fiction, 2013, etc. Park Place and Boardwalk are DNF shelves since I thought those might be a little more difficult.

Sounds good to me Paris! You've hashed it out well :)

Thanks Jenne. I guess I'll put it up tonight maybe when I get home. Game can start maybe November 1st. There's no time limit and it's all about who you want to play and y'all can decide how fast or slow you go. Obviously, you can't roll until you finish reading and you don't have to wait for your other teammate to finish before you roll (so not like in the real game where one person goes, then the next, then the other person again, etc).

Nice. we got some good challenges going on.

I am working on one where you can only use sequels no Book 1.

I wrote a list of series that I started this year and haven't finished. I'm currently at 56--That's freaking ridiculous.

Ezinwanyi~For you, Agron wrote: "Nice. we got some good challenges going on.

I am working on one where you can only use sequels no Book 1.

I wrote a list of series that I started this year and haven't finished. I'm currently at ..."

Let me know if you get one together. I did the same thing and I have 69 series that I haven't finished. I didn't start them all this year, but that's insane! A lot of them only have one or two that I have left to read, so I'm trying to clean those up first. I could definitely use some motivation and it would be nice if I knew someone reading the same series and we could do it together.

@Ezi and Jennifer - I'd laugh at you two but I think I'm in the same boat.... with lots of water coming in....and more series I want to start. So that would be an awesome challenge Ezi!!