Play Book Tag discussion
2023 Activities and Challenges
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Announcing the Two Challenge Winners for 2023
The second place vote was more competitive, but at the end of the day, Subdue the Shelf was the winner. I would like to acknowledge that Reading Jeopardy, conceptualized by one of our members, was not far behind. That will definitely be in the voting mix for next year.Subdue the Shelf
Objective: Be the first one to reach the end of his or her game board.
How It Works:
Each person will design and post their own game board consisting of 100 books that they hope to read. Administrators will roll a set of virtual dice and post your randomly generated roll on PBT. Whichever book you land on, you must read. Certain rolls will give players advantages and disadvantages. The first person to the end of their game board wins a prize (or if no one reaches the end, the person who is furthest along on December 20th at noon EST will be declared the winner). Subsequent finishers receive varying levels of participation points depending on when/if they finish. There will also be a consolation prize for the person who reads the most books on their board. There will also be a special consolation prize for the person who progresses the least on their board, but has read at least 3 titles for the challenge.
Game Board Design Rules:
1. You must compile a numbered list of 25, 50, or 100 titles that you want to read. These should be books that you either own or can readily get your hands on quickly. If you choose to use 100 unique titles, your game board is complete. If you select 50 titles, you will repeat each title twice to create your 100 titles. If you only have 25 titles, you will repeat each title four times.
2. The order of the titles can be any order that you like.
3. You need to post your game board in the thread designed for the game.
Rules:
1. You start the game by playing the first roll you are assigned.
2. The first move is to the book number that comes up on the dice. So if you got a 7, you are on the 7th book on your list. You must read the book that you land upon.
3. When your first book is halfway completed, you may request a new roll to see what your second book will be. You may NOT start the second book until the first one is finished.
4. Special Dice Rolls
The following rolls lead to unique actions.
If you roll:
1-1: The current leader must move back 3 spaces on their game board and read the book where they have landed next.
Any combination totaling 7: You move 7 spaces and stay on that space, but you may read the book you land on OR one book forward or one book back - - your choice.
6-6: Don't like the book you will land on? You may roll again.
3-1: You get to take pick someone's next move on the board. The admins will use random.org to decide who will be moved. You get to decide which book they must move to on their game board - - backward or forward -- within a 15 book radius. So you can move your opponent up to 15 spaces back or up to 15 spaces forward to the book of your choosing.
2-1: You may use up to 3 of your participation points to move yourself ahead up to 3 spaces.
6-5: You must read a book that's on someone else's board and NOT on your own.
4-4: Receive 4 participation points for the next book you read/review.
5. If you read a book that fits the monthly tag, you will earn 3 participation points.
6. Swaps. If you cannot get a hold of a particular book, or really, really don't want to read the one you land on, you may swap it out for a book of equivalent length or longer. You have TWO swaps to use for the entire game.
7. IF your game board is not 100 unique titles, and you happen to land on a title you've already read -- you may read the book one space behind you, but you may not move your space.
Final rules and instructions will be posted in the Activities and Challenges folder for 2023.We have our 15 candles all set up and ready to go and will post them toward the end of December.
In the meantime, you can start planning your Subdue the Shelf Gameboard.
Thanks, Admins! I knew Happy Birthday PBT was going to win. I think we are all sentimental enough to want to honor this fabulous group's 15th year! I already had started my Subdue the Shelf 'just in case' as I have a busy December. It was one of my choices. 😁 I do have ever growing TBR Towers around here.
I think we should annually vote on our favorite Anna banner of the year! This year could have some close contenders for example --- Favorites and this one for example. Remember last year with Beach Reads and it had 2 great banners?
I have eagerly been awaiting the 2023 challenges announcement and was hoping it would come today! Just thrilled that Happy Birthday won! Not sure if I can commit to Subdue the Shelf as I hope to be starting grad school in the Spring which will cut down on my free reading time.
Thrilled that Happy Birthday won!I haven't even been able to wrap my head around the actual rules of Subdue the Shelf, so I will get there when its time to construct my list. I don't know if I understand much about rolling the dice, and turns, and all, but I do know this.... I will be super excited to put 100 books on a game board.
Now that our yearlong challenges are out, I will start with Trim 2023. Will try to publish an announcement and planning thread on Sunday....
Happy Birthday was my first choice as well, so I'm happy!
Hayjay315 wrote: "I have eagerly been awaiting the 2023 challenges announcement and was hoping it would come today! Just thrilled that Happy Birthday won! Not sure if I can commit to Subdue the Shelf as I hope to be..."I will say that Subdue the Shelf is really a very self-paced activity. It might be hard to win if you don't have a lot of free reading time, but it shouldn't be hard to participate (other than making the game board which might be the one aspect that's too time consuming!)
Glad everyone is excited about Happy Birthday!! How are we 15??? It seems impossible.
I felt certain Happy Birthday PBT would win and I'm excited to start picking out my Subdue the Shelf books. I have a new puppy, Stanley, who is six months old and he hasn't developed any reading skills. Thank goodness for audios! Congratulations on once again giving PBT members the best challenges on Goodreads.
Olivermagnus wrote: "I felt certain Happy Birthday PBT would win and I'm excited to start picking out my Subdue the Shelf books. I have a new puppy, Stanley, who is six months old and he hasn't developed any reading sk..."Oh, I love the name, Stanley, for a puppy! What kind is he?
Thank you so much for those kind words!!!
Well, I started to go through and mark books I already own and want to read. I thought I might be getting close to 100 so I checked and I have 166 already!
Robin P wrote: "Well, I started to go through and mark books I already own and want to read. I thought I might be getting close to 100 so I checked and I have 166 already!"Lol, this would be my EXACT problem . . .
Anita wrote: "Robin P wrote: "Well, I started to go through and mark books I already own and want to read. I thought I might be getting close to 100 so I checked and I have 166 already!"Lol, this would be my E..."
My "owned" books, which includes paper, ebook & audio includes 540 books, and my "want to read", which are books that looked interesting at some point, is another 339. I have been making an effort to read from my "owned" books for several years, but somehow the total never gets less. (Could have something to do with all those 1.99 ebooks I get offered daily and the local library sales/thrift shops!)
LOL my TBR was bad enough before, but with the advent of ebooks, it has grown by leaps and bounds and I've given up on controlling it.
annapi wrote: "LOL my TBR was bad enough before, but with the advent of ebooks, it has grown by leaps and bounds and I've given up on controlling it."Same. Last week I did alphabetize all my shelves of DTB and by doing that eliminated some, which I knew I would never read.
Also thrilled that Happy Birthday won – I've only been here for three years, but it's been such a fun time I want to celebrate it 🥰I voted for the Jeopardy challenge, but Subdue the Shelf sounds fun! Goodness knows I have enough books to put on it... 😅
Theresa wrote: "I think we should annually vote on our favorite Anna banner of the year! This year could have some close contenders for example --- Favorites and this one for example. Remember last year with Beach..."You have a good memory for the banners!
Anita wrote: "Glad everyone is excited about Happy Birthday!! How are we 15??? It seems impossible."Crazy! (I also wonder how I became the age I am... :-) )
(Some of you know today is my 50th birthday - where did the time go!? And sorry... that's completely off-topic!)
Robin P wrote: "Well, I started to go through and mark books I already own and want to read. I thought I might be getting close to 100 so I checked and I have 166 already!"LOL! Wow!
And although I had planned to vote (since the annual challenges are one of the places I am able to vote), I just couldn't decide which to vote for, so I decided to leave it up to our members. I am excited about both challenges! As usual, I will play along, though I am unable to win any prizes.
LibraryCin wrote: "Anita wrote: "Glad everyone is excited about Happy Birthday!! How are we 15??? It seems impossible."Crazy! (I also wonder how I became the age I am... :-) )
(Some of you know today is my 50th bi..."
Happy Birthday, Cindy!
Great results! The most challenging part of Subdue the Shelf is making the list. I'm going to try to use mostly books I own to avoid delays. I don't know if I should use a list with 25, 50 or 100 books. And should I try to include books that fit other challenges, or keep them separate? I feel like space #1 will be the least likely to be used unless I get knocked backwards. Anita, is there a minimum page number, such as 150 pages? I have list of literary fiction novellas that I'd like to tackle this year so I'll need to check them.
Also, I didn't notice if you added anything about the Final Move. If we are 5 spots away from the end, but we roll a 10, what do we read for our last book? Book #100? Or is there another option?
LibraryCin wrote: "Anita wrote: "Glad everyone is excited about Happy Birthday!! How are we 15??? It seems impossible."Crazy! (I also wonder how I became the age I am... :-) )
(Some of you know today is my 50th bi..."
Congratulations, Cindy!
Happy Birthday, Cindy! ( We just had the November Birthday party. Time to bring out the goodies for the December babies.)
OK - I just read and now understand Subdue the Shelf. Very clever and fun challenge, as usual. Virtual Rolls given by admins, follow the game path, do what you're told. Fun and unique special roll outcomes. (That was very clever - admins!) So the Unique Titles for 100 (Naturally I already have my list) should NOT be something that's Hard to Get, Relatively New and Popular, Something You Really Want to Prioritize and Get To, nor Something on Your Trim List (that you might inadvertently read earlier and therefore ruin your own game). One should start with the books they own in their home and have been meaning to get to. And then move to a list of books on their TBR that are not hard to easily get if needed. One last question left. For those of us who want to use the Randomizer to Randomize our 100 book list for the game - how does a person do that?
Amy wrote: "For those of us who want to use the Randomizer to Randomize our 100 book list for the game - how does a person do that? ..."Amy, I may suggest using this generator: https://www.calculator.net/random-num...
All the books on the Want-to-read shelf have their numbers. So you just put the number of books on this shelf as the upper limit. Then you choose that you want to generate 100 numbers. Choose INTEGER, not Decimal. Then - no duplication. You may also choose for the numbers to be sorted ascending or descending so it'll be easier for you to find the books with generated numbers later.
Here's how it looks when you do all the things I mentioned: https://www.calculator.net/random-num...
@Amy - thanks for asking about randomizing the list. I was just thinking about that myself since in compiling mine it has a distinct 'sectioned' look.@ Diana - thanks for the link and how-to.
Another way to randomize your list is to enter all your titles at the following URL (you can copy and paste them).https://www.random.org/lists/
Click Randomize, and you will get a new list.
Anita, is there a minimum page number, such as 150 pages? I have list of literary fiction novellas that I'd like to tackle this year so I'll need to check them.Good question. All of our challenges require a minimum page count. The page count should be derived from the hardcover version of the book. 150 pages is the likely minimum, but we will post that along with the final rules. These rules are not yet finalized.
Also, I didn't notice if you added anything about the Final Move. If we are 5 spots away from the end, but we roll a 10, what do we read for our last book? Book #100? Or is there another option?
We are going to allow people to roll off the end of the board.
Looking forward to both of these challenges!My TBR is almost entirely virtual but it's over 1000 books. I should have no trouble building a 100 title game board.
I'm thinking of sorting my TBR list by publication date and going with (roughly) the 100 oldest books - with some opt-outs for extra long books that I don't want to feel compelled to read.
Question on Subdue the Shelf:- If we are "moved" by another player, do we finish the book we are on before starting the one we moved to? Or will we only be notified at the start of our next move that we have to go forward or backward?
is the person who indicates the move back anonymous?
I don't know if I have 100 books I can safely say I'm not going to want to read before I land on it. Is it okay to do the board just 25 at a time and I can add them as I go?
Trisha wrote: "I don't know if I have 100 books I can safely say I'm not going to want to read before I land on it. Is it okay to do the board just 25 at a time and I can add them as I go?"The rules say:
1. You must compile a numbered list of 25, 50, or 100 titles that you want to read. These should be books that you either own or can readily get your hands on quickly. If you choose to use 100 unique titles, your game board is complete. If you select 50 titles, you will repeat each title twice to create your 100 titles. If you only have 25 titles, you will repeat each title four times.
Happy Birthday Cindy! Welcome to the "club"!(the over 50 club)
Hi Trisha - I wouldn’t worry about it. As BnB says you can repeat your 25 if you prefer. Also if you want to read something in your list there are a few things that would help, particularly the swap option (2 available) and the ability to read the book behind the one you technically have to read if you haven’t managed to resist temptation earlier 😁 Plus if you do put together a list of 100, once you’ve advanced a bit, it would be relatively safe to read your earlier books anyway
Lyn wrote: "Happy Birthday Cindy! Welcome to the "club"!(the over 50 club)"
Haha! Thank you! :-)
KateNZ wrote: "Hi Trisha - I wouldn’t worry about it. As BnB says you can repeat your 25 if you prefer."Thank you for these details! I appreciate it!
Happy Birthday Cindy. I am 58 so you are just a baby. I am sooooo looking forward to Subdue the Shelf. I know I won't win but I will enjoy playing!!
If we are "moved" by another player, do we finish the book we are on before starting the one we moved to? Or will we only be notified at the start of our next move that we have to go forward or backward?You will finish your book first, and then your next move will be to the book indicated by the other player. You will be notified by the administrator shortly after the other player has rolled and selected your next book.
Is the person who indicates the move back anonymous?
Well, the rolling is going to be public in order for everyone to know the rolls are being played accurately. But I won't be making a public announcement.
Sallys wrote: "Happy Birthday Cindy. I am 58 so you are just a baby. "LOL! Thank you - and it would be nice to think so! ;-)
For Subdue the Shelf:1-1: The current leader must move back 3 spaces on their game board and read the book where they have landed next.
OR
3-1: You get to take pick someone's next move on the board. The admins will use random.org to decide who will be moved. You get to decide which book they must move to on their game board - - backward or forward -- within a 15 book radius. So you can move your opponent up to 15 spaces back or up to 15 spaces forward to the book of your choosing.
With either of these, you might go back to a book you just read. It seems to me I saw somewhere that if you land on a book you have already read this year (for this challenge or not), you would go back one space and read the book at that space. But now I can't find that, is that correct?
I did it! I randomized my list of 100! Thank You Guys! I am now ready for Subdue the Shelf!
LibraryCin wrote: "Anita wrote: "Glad everyone is excited about Happy Birthday!! How are we 15??? It seems impossible."Crazy! (I also wonder how I became the age I am... :-) )
(Some of you know today is my 50th bi..."
Happy Belated Birthday!
Anita wrote: "Another way to randomize your list is to enter all your titles at the following URL (you can copy and paste them).https://www.random.org/lists/
Click Randomize, and you will get a new list."
Diana H. wrote: "Amy wrote: "For those of us who want to use the Randomizer to Randomize our 100 book list for the game - how does a person do that? ..."
Amy, I may suggest using this generator: https://www.calcul..."
I haven't even started my list yet. I have a large To-Read shelf here but have to go through it for a few other things so will have to plan a time for this. Not today.
Two more sites to add to my collection of cool tools.
I randomized my list too and am delighted! I found the one where you enter titles tbe easiest toend where I needed to end. But loved playing with both.Thank you all! Now I don't have obvious clumps that tell me what list or shelf the books were drawn from.
I sourced my list from several lists and then alphabetized to make sure that none were the same and basic OCD and then randomized my list and then rearranged it putting the ones that I most want to read earlier in the list.In the end, I'm pretty pleased with it. I hope to read some that have sat around on shelves for a while.
I only have my list for Subdue the Shelf on GR, not in a list anywhere else, and I don't think they're easy to copy from there.. I like the idea of assigning numbers but I can't figure out how to add numbers to my GR shelf. There's an option that says Position, but it doesn't seem to do anything.It sounds like however I do it, I'll eventually have to type 100 titles into the board for the game, is that right?
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Dominating the vote this year was:
Happy Birthday, PBT
Help PBT celebrate its 15th birthday this year by blowing out 15 candles by year end. Each candle will represent something meaningful to PBT. The goal is to virtually blow out each candle by doing a reading task that aligns with a meaningful PBT moment or milestone. You might be selecting from one of our annual top 10 lists to blow out the candle. Or you might be reading a book from one of our administrators’ Want to Read shelves. Or you might have to choose a book from our most read tag of all time. Or you may have to read a book that fits the last tag we read at Shelfari. For each candle you snuff, you will get 15 participation points. Blow them all out and your name will be featured for the next five years on a special pinned post acknowledging your achievement and dedication to PBT.