Bookish Challenges discussion

Board 4 - Medium/Hard - 3 pts per book read + 25 pts for reaching 100. You lose 2 points every time you want to skip and read a book that meets the general guidelines

Basic Rules

🟩 Objective:
Reach square 100 by moving across the board based on dice rolls.

🎲 How to Play:
I will roll a die (1–6) twice. You move forward that many squares.

Ladders help you up — if you land exactly at the bottom of a ladder, climb to the top.

Snakes pull you down — if you land exactly on a snake’s head, slide down to its tail.

Directions mean reverse — if you land at one of the 4 squares covered by the direction, then in the next turn you will go back the spaces of your die instead of going forward

Sloth means jump up — if you land at one of the 4 squares covered by the sloth, you will directly rise up one level up, unless you are already at the topmost rung where nothing happens. You only jump up one level - eg. if there's a sloth at 6, and you move to 15 which also has a sloth then you don't jump up again to 26. However, if there's a snake/ladder/tree when you jump up, you need to follow their rules.

Duck means go down — if you land at one of the 4 squares covered by the duck, you will go down one level, unless you are already at the bottomost squares where nothing happens. You only go down one level - eg. if there's a duck at 91, and you move to 90 which also has a duck but you don't go down again to 71. However, if there's a snake/ladder/tree when you go down, you need to follow their rules.

Tree means skip — if you land at one of the 4 squares covered by the tree, you collect 2 skips that you can use to skip the task and read any book that meets general guidelines

Precedence order (if by chance a square has 2):
Snakes > Ladders > Sloth > Duck > Direction


At the end, if you reach 100 by even rolling a die that is higher - game is completed (i.e. if you are 98 and roll 3, you will still be considered to reach 100)

Bookish Rules

To move forward, you need to read as follows (you need to complete only one).

1- If you land at a square where there are no objects , read a book per below (difficulty increases as you move up the board)

1 to 20
a. One or two-word title
b. Set in a country where you have never been
c. New to you author
d. Cover colour: Red or Blue

20 to 40
a. Three or four-word title
b. Set in the top 10 largest countries of the world (>50% of the book)
(Russia, Canada, United States, China, Brazil, Australia, India, Argentina, Kazakhstan, Algeria)
c. GR Rating >3.75
d. Cover colour: White or Black

40 to 60
a. > 4-word title
b. Set in at least 2 countries
c. A book where no one dies
d. Cover colour: Yellow or Green

60 to 80
a. A plural word in the title
b. Set in a country/place that does not exist and is only the author's imagination
c. GR Rating >4.0 or has won an award or is a nominee for an award
d. Cover colour: Orange or Multi


80 to 100
a. Part of a series
b. Set in your country of birth or one where you are currently living in
c. GR Rating >4.3 or has won an award (not just a nominee)
d. Cover colour: Purple or Pink

2- If you land at bottom of a ladder , read one of the below

a. The book is set at a high altitude (mountains, towers, space stations, etc.)
b. The plot features literal flight (plane, rocket, magical flying)
c. Some tall man-made structure (building or monument etc) on the cover
d. Book title or author first/last name starts with L
e. Book title word options: up, above, climb, over, high, rise

3- If you land at the mouth of a red / green snake , read one of the below

a. You have rated the book lower than its GR average rating (it has to be your GR rating of the book in absolute whole numbers eg. the book avg GR rating is 3.8 and you rate it a 3)
b. The plot features a betrayal
c. Animal on cover
d. Book title or author first/last name starts with S
e. Book title word options: down, below, drop, fall, low

4- If you land at any square covered by the red snake , you need to find a book that meets both the snake task as well as the position number tasks
(eg. If 82 has a red snake's tail, you need to read a book that meets 80-100 criteria as well as snake criteria. So you can read a book which is part of a series and starts with S)

1 free skip per game, and then you can get more whenever you cross the squares of the tree.

Points tracking: 9

R1:5
Position : 5. You have a direction in your location, next round you will go back instead of forwards


1 to 20
a. One or two-word title
b. Set in a country where you have never been
c. New to you author
d. Cover colour: Red or Blue

Current space/position: 5

Book: The Last Time I Saw You
Author: Jo Leevers
Date completed: 7/8/2025
Task: c. New to you author
How it fits: New author.

R2: 1
Position : 4. There's a ladder at your position - next turn you go up to 38 (duck is ignored as ladder > duck)


If you land at bottom of a ladder , read one of the below

a. The book is set at a high altitude (mountains, towers, space stations, etc.)
b. The plot features literal flight (plane, rocket, magical flying)
c. Some tall man-made structure (building or monument etc) on the cover
d. Book title or author first/last name starts with L
e. Book title word options: up, above, climb, over, high, rise

Current space/position: 4 Ladder

Book: The Poisoned King
Author: Katherine Rundell
Date completed: 10/22/2025
Task: b. The plot features literal flight (plane, rocket, magical flying)
How it fits: There are multiple scenes of magical flying including on a sphinx and a winged unicorn.

R3: 5
Position : 43 - red snake coverign


40 to 60
a. > 4-word title
b. Set in at least 2 countries
c. A book where no one dies
d. Cover colour: Yellow or Green

Snake tasks

If you land at the mouth of a red / green snake , read one of the below

a. You have rated the book lower than its GR average rating (it has to be your GR rating of the book in absolute whole numbers eg. the book avg GR rating is 3.8 and you rate it a 3)
b. The plot features a betrayal
c. Animal on cover
d. Book title or author first/last name starts with S
e. Book title word options: down, below, drop, fall, low

Current space/position: 43 - red snake coverign

Book: Nuclear Family
Author: Kate Davies
Date completed: 11/23/2025
Task: c. A book where no one dies AND
b. The plot features a betrayal
How it fits: When Lena finds out she was donor conceived, she feels betrayed by her dad Tom for not telling her before now. She seeks out blood relatives and finds a half-brother however for a long time she doesn't tell him they are related until he develops feeling for her, resulting in another sense of betrayal.

R4: 3
Position : 47 - nothing


40 to 60
a. > 4-word title
b. Set in at least 2 countries
c. A book where no one dies
d. Cover colour: Yellow or Green