50 Point Task Idea Submissions

[SRC Moderator, Moderator]

This is the thread where you can submit a task idea for the 50 Point Task contest. The thread is now open for submissions and will close at Midnight Eastern time on October 5th. Voting will start the next day, October 6th and will close at the end of the day on October 12th. If the moderators determine that the vote is close, a 3-day runoff poll will be held. The person whose idea gets the most votes will host the 50 point task for the Fall Challenge.

The 50 point task will require:
1. Only 3 options. These options may not include more than 2 "sub options" - 6 total in the task.
2. One book per option.
3. Three books totaling at least 750 pages. Your task idea may require a higher page threshold but this must be disclosed in your entry.
4. No books with the genres children or kids on the main book page may be used.
5. Books whose main page lists any of these genres: Sequential Art, Comics, Comic Book, or Manga may not be used.
6. No “free choice” options will be allowed. This is a challenge, so tasks that have no element of challenge do not fit the purpose.
7. A task must be accessible to the majority of players, i.e. not limited to a specific format, edition, publisher, etc. and reviewable by the moderators.

Anyone eligible* to design a task may submit an idea for a task that follows the general guidelines above. Your idea should be a sketch that may be developed with the moderators.

* To be eligible to create a task, the player’s profile must be set up to accept Goodreads messages, and they must not have a task in the current challenge. Only one task per person per challenge.


The group will vote to determine the 50 point task. All ideas that fit the general guidelines will be included in a poll. The poll winner will develop their idea with the moderators to refine their task. The final task may differ from the original idea submission. The task will be posted as close to the midpoint as reasonably possible. The task creator will monitor and answer questions in the help thread.

Please include your Readerboard name and a title for your task. The entries will be listed by Readerboard name and task title in the poll. Please include only one task idea entry per post.

PLEASE DO NOT comment on people's entries in this thread - this is for submissions only - you will be able to comment when voting begins. Comments in this thread will be deleted.

[Trish]

trishhartuk's idea

Spiel des Jahres

Three books totaling at least 750 pages.
No books with the genres children or kids on the main book page may be used.
Books whose main page lists any of these genres: Sequential Art, Comics, Comic Book, or Manga may not be used.

The biggest award in the boardgame world is the Spiel des Jahres (German for "Game of the Year"). This was created in 1978 with the purpose of rewarding family-friendly game design, and promoting game excellence in the German market: Germany having a long tradition of family board games. The awards are given by a jury of German-speaking boardgame critics from Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

Not all of the games are originally German - past winners include familiar names like Ticket to Ride, Settlers of Catan, Wingspan, Codenames and Cascadia - although it’s very possible to get English translations of the German rules from sites like BoardGameGeek.

As the awards only started in 1978, all books must have a first published date no earlier than 1978. Required: please include the first published dates when you claim the task.

Book 1: Read a book either set at least 50% in Germany, Austria, and/or Switzerland, or translated from (or written in) German. Required: if the setting or original language isn't clear from the GR description, please provide a link to explain how it fits.

Book 2: Read a book where all the author’s initials can be found in "Spiel des Jahres".

Book 3: The first winner of the Spiel des Jahres was a race game called Hare and Tortoise, based on the Aesop fable. Read a book with a word in the title of four or more letters, made from the letters in the phrase "SLOW AND STEADY WINS THE RACE". Required: state the word.

[Jen B]

‘Bored’ Games

When my boys were little, entertaining them during long waits was always a challenge. So, we would play “Bored Games” – quick things that we could do with whatever pens and paper were in my purse. Now they are typical phone-wielding American teenagers, but occasionally I can get them to take a little trip down memory lane with me to play one of our old favorites.

Choose one of our Bored Games below and read the books that match.

Option 1: Tic Tac Toe
Pretty much everyone knows this game in some form. The idea is to match three Xs or Os either horizontally, diagonally, or vertically in a grid of 9 squares.

For this option, read 3 books by 3 different authors who share the same name. The names must be in the same position (first, middle, or last) and must match exactly. So, if they are a nickname or variation, they must all be that nickname/variation. For example, Jennifer Weiner, Jen Lancaster and Jenny Colgan would NOT work because they are all different variations. However, Kate Quinn, Kate White, and Kate Spencer do work since they are the same variation.

Option 2: MASH
MASH was an 80s elementary school favorite that my thoroughly modern kiddos ended up finding hilarious. In this game, you “predict” your future life by listing multiple options in different categories, like marriage partners, cities to live, jobs, and whether your home will be a Mansion, Apartment, Shack, or House (hence, MASH). Then, you pick your magic number from 1-10 and count your way through all the options in your categories using that number, crossing off each option that you land on. Eventually, you are left with one option in each category and, voila! That’s your future! (You can even play it online! https://mashapp.com/play-mash-online-...)

Book 1 - Read a book with the word Mansion, Apartment, Shack, or House in the title. Plurals and possessives are ok, but no other variations.
Book 2 - Read a book with a person’s name in the title
Book 3 - Read a book with a city name in the title

Option 3: Draw It!
For this one, I’d pull out my phone and someone would choose an object to Google a picture of. We’d land on a picture, and then we’d all have to draw whatever it was. This produced some good drawings, and some hilarious ones.

Book 1 - Read a book whose main character is an artist (if not evident from the book's description, provide a reference)
Book 2 - Read a book by an author whose first and last initials are in DRAW
Book 3 - Read a book with a writing utensil (pen, pencil, crayon, paintbrush, chalk, etc) on the cover. This list may help (but your book does not have to be from the list) https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/3...

[Fly]

Car Violence

When my two older kids were elementary school age, they used to play this game in the car that drove me crazy. Every time one of them saw a Volkswagen Beetle, they would instantly scream out "BEETLE BUG, SLUG BUG, NO SLUGS BACK!" and begin pummeling the other child until they could locate the car and call out its color. Drove. Me. Nuts.
Well, fast forward to today and I have to admit I kinda miss those days :) so in honor of my bruised children:

Book 1: BEETLE BUG
Option A: Choose a book with a beetle on the cover. I will accept
a Beetle , a beetle , or even a Beatle
Option B: Choose a book with "BEETLE" or "BUG" intact in the title. This can be standalone (e.g. The Beetle) or within a larger word (e.g. The Buggy List)

Book 2: SLUG BUG
Option A: Choose a book (fiction or nonfiction) featuring a boxer or fighter. If it isn't clear in the book description, provide a link showing that a boxer is a main character or essential to the story.
Option B: Choose a book where all the letters of SLUG are in the author's name. A book with multiple authors is okay, but the letters of SLUG must be found within the name of a single author.

Book 3: NO SLUGS BACK!
Option A: Choose a book with a person's back on the cover. They should be facing entirely away from the reader - no coy peeking over the shoulder!
Example:
There can be more than one person on the cover as long as they are all facing away
e.g.
Option B: Choose a book with an author whose initials (first and last) can be made from BACK - letters can be used only as often as they appear. Multiple authors are okay, as long as each author meets the conditions of the task.