Hooked on Books discussion

Welcome to the Snowball Fight Arena!

Please set your notifications for this page, as we will be posting scores here. We will also be posting the "Power hits" here. What are power hits? Power hits are a slightly more powerful snowball. The person throwing the snowball still gets 10 points, BUT the person they targeted loses 3.

You may brag, cheer your team on, and have fun on this thread. This thread is where all the action happens.

Can't wait!

That's the spirit!

I have NO idea what I signed up for... but I'm EXCITED anyway!!

👀 Let's do this!

Who wants a peek at the Frostbite Arsenal?

I'm just gonna post this here in case anyone is interested....

❄️ THE FROSTBITE ARSENAL ❄️
Power-ups, sabotage, and chilly chaos for the Snowball Fight!

Welcome to the newest addition to your winter warfare toolkit—
The Frostbite Arsenal, where strategy matters just as much as page counts.
Choose wisely, aim carefully, and remember…

❄️You may only activate ONE Arsenal option per week. (Avalanche is not included in this as that is a team item)
❄️No Arsenal books may be used for snowballs except Igloo Shield books.

Ready? Let’s unleash some frosty mayhem.

🛡️ IGLOO SHIELD — Block Incoming Snowballs
Protect yourself (or your team!) from incoming hits.
Build your shield by reading the following:
🧊 1-Point Igloo: Read a book set in a cold climate
❄️ 2-Point Protection: Read a book with a blanket on the cover
(And yes—Igloo reads ARE allowed for snowballs!)

🕵️ SNOW FORT HIJINKS — Sabotage Your Opponents
Turn defense into delicious chaos.
❄️Read a spy/espionage book to redirect a snowball back at the thrower.
Did they aim at you? Well… guess where it’s going now. 😉

❄️ FROZEN SOLID — Freeze a Player
Shut down an opponent—literally.
❄️If you read a book with ICE or FROST in the title or on the cover,
You may freeze one opposing player of your choice.
❌Frozen player loses 5 points automatically
Use sparingly. Use mercilessly.

💥 SUPER SNOWBALL — Upgrade Your Attacks
Become a one-person winter weapon.
Activate the Super Snowball to:
❄️Throw snowballs using a special wheel packed with more hits than misses
❄️Gain a higher hit rate for one week
❄️Absolutely terrify the other teams
❄️Super Snowball = Super Chaos.
How do you activate the super Snowball?
🧊Read a book that starts with a letter in IMPROVE

🏔️ AVALANCHE — Teamwide Devastation
When your team works together, the world trembles.
If your team reads 50 books in a single week, you trigger:
THE AVALANCHE
A massive, unstoppable blast of snow that:
❄️Hits every opposing player
❄️Automatically removes 5 points from each of them
Unity has never been so ruthless.

❄️ Choose your weapon. Choose your moment. Choose your chaos.

Let the frost fall where it may… and may your aim be truer than your enemies’.

BUT none of you guys are competitive, right?????

Who's ready to start this Snowball Fight? We haven't heard back from the member that we were trying to reach. We can't wait forever so I have told Benedicte to assign teams so you can access your spreadsheets. Let's get this frosty game started.

Has everyone checked out your new Frostbite Arsenal? Do you have a strategy in mind? Let the games begin. Saturday will come fast....

No strategy in mind, but I do have a mantra! My mantra: Have fun, no trash talking to the other team, this is a friendly reading competition. Tucking my competitive shirt into Santa's bag and pulling out my Buddy Elf cap. Let's go!

Ohhh look at you, showing up with wholesome energy while everyone else is out here weaponizing frostbite and plotting sabotage. 🧊😂

Your Buddy the Elf cap is adorable, truly… but don’t think for a second it’s going to save you when the snowballs start flying. ❄️😉

Friendly competition? Absolutely.
Trash talking? Optional.
But FUN? Mandatory.

Now tighten that Elf cap, take a deep breath of that frosty air, and step onto the battlefield.
The snow waits for no one.

LET’S GOOOOO! ⛄💥

TEAMS ARE POSTED!!!

Check out this message.

Throw on your coat, run out to the snowy meadow (aka your team thread) and say hi to your teammates! Get together to discuss your strategies and come up with a team name

You can also start logging your books in the team SS as long as they have been completed on the 1st in your timezone. There are many changes this year, so make sure you have read and understood the rules

May the chaos that is a snowball fight begin!

Whoop whoop!

Spreadsheets are now in message 1 of your team threads. You will need to request access.

I added the challenge bonuses to the spreadsheets. Remember: you can only get a MAX of 4 for any one book.

If you are requesting access under an account that is different than your GR username, please add a note so I can match you to your GR account. I am having trouble matching some of the requests up with players. One of the requests came from 'Anon Ymous' so you can see my dilemma. I have had issues with people hacking my spreadsheets in the past. Please help me out and make this slightly easier. I will deny any requests that I am not certain of.

HOB wrote: "If you are requesting access under an account that is different than your GR username, please add a note so I can match you to your GR account. I am having trouble matching some of the requests up ..."

Added my comment on the wrong post - my email is the lizzi one!

I am not seeing that... Can you send me another request?

I looked at the spreadsheets, and you guys seem to have figured it out. Don't forget to put your justifications in.

I saw some strategizing happening. That is exactly what you need to do in this game. It is early, but you never know what can happen. Good luck!

Ooops, can y’all explain “justification’ for this newbie? Please and mahalo!

Audiophile Archives wrote: "Ooops, can y’all explain “justification’ for this newbie? Please and mahalo!"

If you choose one of the bonus options from the dropdown, you need a justification. How does it fit the bonus? If you can explain it, it is usually accepted. I don't like to complicate things.

This was just a reminder because there is always something missing when I do check-ins. It is usually a date or a target, but sometimes it is a justification. There are also a lot of newbies. I wanted to get the reminder out there.

I also want to point out that I have two requests for access to the team 1 SS that don't match the names for anyone on either team. I have a Denise and a Tressia. I do realize that some of you go by nicknames on GR. I have no idea who these requests are from, so I can't verify that you should be given access. If you could respond or PM me... that would be appreciated.

Donna wrote: "I also want to point out that I have two requests for access to the team 1 SS that don't match the names for anyone on either team. I have a Denise and a Tressia. I do realize that some of you go b..."

I'm sorry. I am Denise.. I fuss at mom all the time calling me a nickname. LOL

Dede wrote: "Donna wrote: "I also want to point out that I have two requests for access to the team 1 SS that don't match the names for anyone on either team. I have a Denise and a Tressia. I do realize that so..."

LOL! No worries. I figured it out.

Folks... I know a lot of you are concerned about the message that GR sent out earlier today. In light of that, we have opened up a discussion for all members to be part of. Please voice your opinions, give suggestions, whatever. This is an open forum.

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

❄️ Snowdrift Alert, Snowball Warriors! ❄️
Fresh footsteps have appeared in the snow, which can only mean one thing… reinforcements have arrived!

☃️ Team 1 just gained two new snow-flingers:
❄️ SandyL
❄️ christine_littlelibrary
Get ready for some seriously accurate snowball aim from that duo!

⛄ The Frost Bites (Team 2) isn’t staying out in the cold either
❄️ Sammy has charged onto the battlefield, snowballs at the ready!

Everyone, give our new teammates a warm (but not too warm—we don’t want those snowballs melting!) welcome. Let the reading battles continue, and may your TBR piles be as mighty as your snow forts! ❄️📚✨

So excited to get started!!!! Let's GOOOOO

❄️⛄ Snowball Fight Check-In! ⛄❄️
Hey snowball slingers!

Tomorrow is Saturday, which means Donna and I will be doing our weekly Snowball Fight tally. Before we bundle up and head into the spreadsheets, please take a moment to double-check your logs so no snowballs go missing in the storm!

Here’s what to look for:

❄️ Have you chosen a target for each snowball you threw?
Some snowballs are flying… but no one knows who they were aimed at! Make sure every toss has a target.

📚 Have you logged all the books you finished?
A few frosty reads may have gotten buried under the snow—don’t forget to add them in!

📝 Is all your info complete?
Page counts, dates, tasks, justifications—whatever our challenge requires, give it a quick look to be sure nothing is hiding in an igloo somewhere.

If you could tidy everything up each week before 11:59 PM EST on Friday, we’ll be able to score the fight accurately—and avoid getting ambushed by rogue snowballs. 😉

Thanks, and happy reading… and throwing! ❄️🎯📚

Good morning, folks (or evening depending where you live).

I just wanted to point out something... one of the teams is oh so close to that magical avalanche number. Can you do it? Nah, you can't make up that many snowballs today...

damn, I think I messed up bc I don't see my super snowball on there. I thought we didn't put Arsenal's in the "enter books here" tab? Are we supposed to?

Amanda wrote: "damn, I think I messed up bc I don't see my super snowball on there. I thought we didn't put Arsenal's in the "enter books here" tab? Are we supposed to?"

No, don't put Arsenals in the "enter books here" tab.

To clarify, the super snowball book is not an actual snowball. Only books entered in the "enter books here" tab are snowballs. Reading a "super snowball" book will improve your chances of landing hits with your snowballs in the "enter books here" tab for one week

Scoreboard and stats are coming later today! Keep your eyes peeled!

well, well, well. My aim looks to be spot on. Am I wrong, but did all my snowballs land as hits? I'm asking while wiping a few snowflakes off my shoulder. Come on, Team Blizzardati, we've got them confident in week 1...bring on the big guns for the rest of this challenge! I've got 2 targets I'm locked on for week 2. Let's go!

Audiophile Archives wrote: "

well, well, well. My aim looks to be spot on. Am I wrong, but did all my snowballs land as hits? I'm asking while wiping a few snowflakes off my shoulder. Come on, Team Blizzardati, we've got the..."

And suddenly I think The Frost Bites have a target! 😉☃️

aaaah, one of my 2 targets just poked out of her hidey hole. locked on your coordinates.

my, this will be fun!

🌨️Looks like The Frost Bites managed to hit an avalanche, and let me tell you, it HIT HARD!🌨️

It also looks like the Super Snowball improvement has benefited Sammy the most. She threw 9 snowballs and missed only 2 times! 🎯

But don't despair, Blizzardati Literati! Go perfect your aim and come back stronger than ever for next week's showdown! 💪🏻

We'll come back to you shortly with list of people that might need a little extra love (if you know what I mean... 😉😈)

Benedicte wrote: "It also looks like the Super Snowball improvement has benefited Sammy the most. She threw 9 snowballs and missed only 2 times! 🎯"

A vast improvement over previous years. Anyone who has been playing a while will tell you my aim is notoriously poor 😆

Wow, I am completely not understanding how the scoring works. I'm surprised we're so far behind. At this point I have no idea what to do to improve next week. Any thoughts?

Team 2 hit team 1 with an avalanche, which means everyone on team 1 lost 5 points. That is why they are so far ahead.

Here are the people who escaped notice this time around and barely got hit. It's time to share the love!

Team Blizzardati Literati:
Dede
Shandra

Team The Frost Bites:
Danielle
Elizabeth
Angie
Bubbles
Shan A
Sarah
Sammy

❄️ BLIZZARD ALERT! ❄️
It’s that time… and the storm has claimed its first brave souls!

C & Bubbles, you are the lucky (or unlucky?) recipients of our very first Blizzard.
Your snowball shenanigans must pause as you battle your way through the icy chaos before rejoining the fight.

Your Blizzard task awaits you in the Blizzard tab — and that’s also where you’ll enter your completed book once you’ve conquered the cold.

Bundle up, brave readers… and good luck surviving the storm! ⛄💨📚

So, as I just mentioned in the Q&A, I am having some issues with a couple of the formulas. Not the main formulas, but the monthly ones, etc. I am working on them and will have them fixed by next weekend. Please bear with me.

The spreadsheets have been fixed, so the updated stats should be showing in your spreadsheets.

A rogue yeti named Richard pokes his head into the arena, gets scared, & runs away.

Normally, I would tell you all to aim at the yeti, but alas, he isn't playing. Which is another sad thing because he makes a lovely target, right, Richard? The only player who ever asked me to make him one. And I take those requests seriously in this game... with your profile pic and my editing software.