- The first rule of Book Bingo is you must read books.
- The second rule of Book Bingo is you MUST READ BOOKS.
- The third rule of Book Bingo is you must follow orders, unless in doing so you violate rule one or rule two, or by your inaction allow them to be violated.
Silliness and literary reference aside for a moment. To put it simply, you play Book Bingo by completing a row, column or diagonal on a book bingo card. Each card has 25 different reading challenges organized into 5 rows (1-5) and 5 columns (B-I-N-G-O). The rules of the reading challenges on a card may contradict the general rules below, but if not, the following general rules apply to completing challenges:
- You complete a challenge by reading a book. Reading a print book, E-book, or listening to an audiobook all count as reading throughout Book Bingo.
- Each book must either obviously or arguably qualify for the challenge. For example, a detective mystery definitely counts as “Crime”. You might argue that How I Killed Pluto could count as “Crime” as well.
- Each book must be read in whole unless otherwise specified. If the instructions on the challenge say to read every other chapter backwards, then you don’t have to read chapter 2 if you don’t feel like it.
- Each book can only used once per Bingo card. Reading it twice doesn’t count.
- A book should not be way too trivial for your reading level. Carl Goes Shopping may be ok if you are a toddler
- Note that challenges may be modified by comments appearing before or after the BINGO grid. Read the card carefully.
To help give you an idea what a Book Bingo challenge is like, take a look at a completed Book Bingo grid from my first time playing.
Book Bingo can be a private challenge, but can also be a social game. If you are part of a group playing Book Bingo together, typically everyone gets the same card and you share with the other players whenever you complete a row, column, or diagonal. Once you do, brag about it. Send an email. Post a comment on Facebook, Twitter, or just stand up and yell to your fellow Book Bingo players.
You don’t have to be the first to complete a Bingo to win at Book Bingo in a group. Although it may seem like a competition, it is not. It’s a shared personal challenge. The fun is in seeing what everyone else is reading in response to the same challenges.
You don’t need to use a web page to play Book Bingo, but you can (or soon will be able to). If you would like to try using my book bingo application, you can find it at: http://zielund.com/library/book_bingo/. For the moment, it doesn’t have instructions, but if you want to try, write to me and I’ll help you get started.
I hope this makes sense. Good luck, and have fun.