UNO 2023 Pre Challenge Chat

[Sarah]

ahhhh I'm so excited that the pre-challenge chat is open! I've been playing for a few years but some family drama meant I missed signups for last year. I was able to sub in on a team about halfway through though so I got lucky. This is my favorite challenge, full stop. I can't wait to UNO with y'all

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

📕 Name: Robin
📕 Team Challenge experience: I've been doing challenges for many years--team and individual--YASSS--waving hand wildly in the air, I'm a EVERYTHING reading addict : )
📕 Have you joined UNO before?: Last year was my first UNO experience. I missed the sign up deadline and ended up on the reserve player list. At the end of the first month, I got asked to be a replacement player. It felt awkward joining a team that had already been playing together for a few weeks AND I was a lost newbie lol My team was GREAT in helping me. I enjoyed my team and had fun. Look forward to starting from the very beginning this year!!
📕 Favourite genres: Historical Fiction, YA, LGBTQ+, Graphic Novels--heck, who am I kidding, I like all of them : ) except I don't read a lot of NF or Horror.
📕 Book you can't wait to read in 2023:Any and all books I can get my hands on. None in particular really.

[Kira]

📕 Name: Kira
📕 Team Challenge experience: Kinda new to team challenges, active on GR since only the past year!
📕 Have you joined UNO before?: No, this would be my first UNO experience and am very excited to play!
📕 Favourite genres: Historical romance, contemporary romance, YA Fantasy
📕 Book you can't wait to read in 2023--Want to knock out the Mercy Thompson series!

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

What? Are y'all series? SMH...there's going to be a Daisy Jones show based on that disastrous train wreck of a book? I know, I'm in the unpopular opinion lol I haven't read anything else by the author--afraid I won't like them lol

[Sarah]

Last year was my first year playing UNO and first team challenge AND I loved it! Can't wait to do it again this year!

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

Must say, I'm looking forward to finding out what the theme and team names are this year.

[Karen ⊰✿, Avaricious Reader]

Melindam has been researching for the team names and pictures for a few months. They are very cool 😬🙌

[Ashley]

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Melindam has been researching for the team names and pictures for a few months. They are very cool 😬🙌"

OoooO! So exciting!

[Tiffany]

Hi all!!! This is my second UNO and I’m so excited to be apart of it!!

I love reading fantasy but will read any genre as I read to escape real life 😂

Is there any info about captains and co-captains yet?

[Melindam]

Hi Tiffany,

teams with captains/co-captains will be formed once the sign-up process is closed, but probably not before middle of January.

[Eldarwen]

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Melindam has been researching for the team names and pictures for a few months. They are very cool 😬🙌"

They are indeed!

You're going to love them :-D

[Melindam]

But I hasten to add that the inspiration came from Karen. ;)

[Laura]

Oh, I can’t wait to see the theme!!

Even though it’s still December, I keep checking to see if signups opened. That’s bad, right?! 😆I just don’t want to miss it, I missed Uno the past couple years I didn’t play.

[Carrie]

Hi all! Carrie from PA.

This will be my 5th year playing UNO and I can't wait. It's definitely one of my favorites. I belong to several groups on Goodreads and have participated in a lot of challenges!

I love mystery, thriller, horror, nordic noir and literary fiction (but will read almost anything if it sounds good!).

I'm not sure what I am most looking forward to reading in 2023. There are so many to select from!!!

[Jenny]

Karen ⊰✿ wrote: "Melindam has been researching for the team names and pictures for a few months. They are very cool 😬🙌"

Ahhh!
Time to guess?

-Types of deciduous trees.
-Dr. Seuss characters
-The bridge crew of the Enterprise through the years
-Vitamin Water flavors
-Favorite one-star reads
-Keanu Reeves characters
-Countries in Africa
-Animals in Stephen King books (No, not everyone can have the cat from Pet Sematary.)

I'm totally sure that one of these is correct.

[Ashley]

We need Keanu characters, for sure... I would very much enjoy the gifs...

[Melindam]

:D

[Melindam]

Jenny, you are getting close. ;)

[Cat]

Please let it be Clowns thru the Ages!

[Ashley]

I'm re-reading this list again and having a good giggle... Favorite one-star reads... 🤣😂🤣😂

[Jenny]

Cat wrote: "Please let it be Clowns thru the Ages!"

What did I ever do to you???????

[Melindam]

Sorry to disappoint you, Cat, but Jenny had this brilliant idea last year about philosophers thru the ages... we had to go with that.

Why do you think Karen hinted at research and cool pics. ;)

[DJ]

I can't wait! Meeting new friends, reading new books, learning new things.

[Cat]

Jenny wrote: "Cat wrote: "Please let it be Clowns thru the Ages!"

What did I ever do to you???????"

Sorry! Residual energies from the traditional family Christmas fights leaking out. (which were particularly epic this year)

Love you very much Jenny!

[Jenny]

Sorry Cat! Christmas should be a cheerful thing! Santa goes to all of that trouble after all.

And I love the idea of Karen searching Google Images for sexy pictures of Socrates.

[Melindam]

:D

[Melindam]

We are still debating which is the sexiest. So if we have a different theme, it will be due to lack of resolution.

[Jenny]

Makes sense. teehee

[Deanna]

📕 Name: Deanna
📕 Team Challenge experience: Love team challenges!! Uno is my favorite, but I also love Tower Teams and Wheel on NBRC, Bingo with SOS, and Clue with Berit either on AMMP or Game Night
📕 Have you joined UNO before? My first UNO was 2019 with team Miss Marple
📕 Favourite genres - Fantasy, paranormal, science fiction, litrpg, mystery, and thriller
📕 Book you can't wait to read in 2023: Magic Tides, Encore in Death, The Primal Hunter 5, Secrets and Ruin, King's Fall (on audio), and others

[Emma (M)]

This is my first time playing UNO, it’s one of those games I have heard the name of for years in other groups but didn’t know where to find it - thanks Melindam for directing your Wheel team in the right direction!

I like most genres with the exception of cozy mysteries and who-done-it’s. I seem to be the exception here and enjoy horror, although I find it hard to find a good one.

For me in 2023 I’ll be looking to start the second series in the Mistborn Saga as well as getting through some of the classics I have piling up at home.

[Melindam]

Hi Emma, glad you decided to join. :)

[Kylie]

Hello! My name is Kylie, and this will be my second year participating in UNO. The last team challenge I did, I lacked the motivation to keep up with it, but I remember really loving the UNO challenge, and I am ready for it! Cant wait to hang out with you guys for a couple months :)

[UNO Pixie, Our UNO Helper]

Tips to prepare for sign up

* Think about how many books you can read in a month.

There is no benefit in UNO to under-estimate because each team has a fixed number of books to read each month. It is best to be as accurate as you can so that your team doesn't finish the month early and then is bored for a week!. Have a look at what you read over the last 3 months, or for previous players what you read over last UNO. We need a whole number. If you give a range (e.g. 6-10) we will arbitrarily change it to a whole number.

* Do you want to be in a "chatty" team?

Consider your interaction on Goodreads. Do you want to log in at least every other day? If so you may want to select your preference for a "chatty team".
If you can only commit to checking the team once per week, a chatty team is not for you.
If you don't think you can make it onto Goodreads once per week (even if you haven't read anything) then UNO is not for you.

* Set up your UNO Shelf.

This helps your team captains check your books, and is also quite cool later when you want to see what you have read in UNO over the years. Goodreads help explains how to add a new shelf if you haven't done it before here

YOUR USER NAME IS VERY IMPORTANT

every year we have sign-ups that don't get this right. If you do not enter it correctly, we can not find you, which means you won't be placed on a team.

To find your user name:,
1. go to the desktop version of Goodreads. This means use a web browser on your tablet/phone/computer to go to www.goodeads.com
2. (sign in if required) Look at the top right hand side and you will see the far right circle that is your profile picture. Click on it, and then select "profile"
3. What you now see in the URL bar is not www.goodeads.com but instead your profile name. For example, this Pixie account shows www.goodreads.com/user/show/52624155-...
This means my user name is 52624155-uno-pixie
4. In the sign up form you will be asked to enter the number and the name separately (this helps with our formulas and to make sure people enter this information correctly). So my number would be 52624155 and my name would be uno-pixie

we will post here in a few days when sign ups open

[Eldarwen]

Emma (M) wrote: "This is my first time playing UNO, it’s one of those games I have heard the name of for years in other groups but didn’t know where to find it - thanks Melindam for directing your Wheel team in the..."

I could have sworn you'd already participated in Uno!

[Eldarwen]

Ashley wrote: "We need Keanu characters, for sure... I would very much enjoy the gifs..."

This would be so much fun!

I'm not sure if I'd call dibs on Neo or John Wick.... probably John Wick though.

[Laura]

Hi everyone, I'm Laura H from PA, USA. I've been in the group for a bit, but is my first UNO. I enjoy reading a variety of genres. Looking forward to signup time.

[Lisa - (Aussie Girl)]

Happy New Year everyone. Wishing you all great reading in 2023!

It's already 2023 here.. so looking forward to the sign ups.. just saying Uno Pixie, LOL. 😁

[Nanci]

Off topic, but looking for recommendations for books with fruit on the cover for the HOB Zodiac Challenge. I enjoy psychological thrillers, historical fiction, suspense, women's fiction, humor.
TIA for any suggestions!

[Jenny]

Not sure if these fit in the categories listed, but here are a few I enjoyed...
(One of my absolute favorites)

[Amanda]

I had so much fun last UNO! I'm excited it's going to start again. I think I read some of my all-time favorite books during the last UNO challenge.

[Robin (Saturndoo)]

Nanci wrote: "Off topic, but looking for recommendations for books with fruit on the cover for the HOB Zodiac Challenge. I enjoy psychological thrillers, historical fiction, suspense, women's fiction, humor.
TIA..."

Some of the Hannah Swenson books have fruit on cover..


This is a very quick read : ) cozy mystery:




I haven't read all of these books--I just typed in "orchard", "apple" "orange" "lemon" and all those books appeared LOL in the search results : )

[Nanci]

Thank you for all the suggestions!
Jenny, I wanted to give Just a Couple of Days a go, but our library doesn't have it and I dropped my KU subscription. I'm going to try Vampires in the Lemon Grove.

Robin, some of your books look good too and are now on my TBR list. I already read Apples Never Fall and would recommend it, although it wasn't a top favorite of mine from Moriarity.

[Jenny]

Oh. Too bad about your library not having that book. I think I have bought 10 copies or so over the years. I keep lending it out and not getting it back. His latest (Vigorito is a terribly lazy writer with only three books) is also on my favorites list-

[Jenny]

I shouldn't call an author lazy. But, the buggers get us addicted to their story telling, and then go off to have lives of their own The nerve.

[Emma (M)]

Eldarwen wrote: "I could have sworn you'd already participated in Uno! "

Oh goodness, I have no memory of it if I have! 😬

[UNO Pixie, Our UNO Helper]

Lisa - (Aussie Girl) wrote: "Happy New Year everyone. Wishing you all great reading in 2023!

It's already 2023 here.. so looking forward to the sign ups.. just saying Uno Pixie, LOL. 😁"

Happy new year ;)

[UNO Pixie, Our UNO Helper]

Fill out this SIGN UP FORM
https://forms.gle/qi1ygWJmMErymJSq7
with a few details and we will start assigning teams the second last week of January. You will need to "check in" to your team thread by January 25 or you will be replaced
If you have problems with the form, please let us know.
===
SPECIAL NOTE: If you signed up last year, but were replaced because the captain did not hear from you, or you withdrew from the challenge, you will need to send a message to the Pixie account as to what has changed this year. Your sign up will get flagged and you will not be placed in a team unless you message us first.
===
You can see if your form responses worked, and check out who else has signed up Here
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...
***********************



◈ Every month when the team gets their monthly UNO hands the Captain will need to work with the team to create a plan for how to read the hands. We will provide you with a spreadsheet to complete.
◈ We would expect the captains to track the teams books
◈ At the end of each month the Captain will need to check their teams books are marked as "read" and meet the page counts and submit their team's info to the moderator to have points confirmed

[Alyana]

UNO Pixie wrote: "

Fill out this SIGN UP FORM
https://forms.gle/qi1ygWJmMErymJSq7
with a few details and we will start assigning teams the second last week of January. You will need to "check in" to your team thre..."

I signed up! Just in case you didn't notice, the link for the responses is from UNO 2022.

[UNO Pixie, Our UNO Helper]

Fixed, thanks!

[Gustaf]

📕 Name: Gustaf
📕 Team Challenge experience: Love them :) I usually have a few going on at the same time.
📕 Have you joined UNO before? My first UNO was 2020 :)
📕 Favorite genres - Romance - preferably MM
📕 Book you can't wait to read in 2023: Inevitable Disclosure, Only One Coffin, Firecracker, Eight Weeks in Paris and many more.