The Seasonal Reading Challenge discussion

It's that time again! Let's brainstorm some fun ideas for the Fall Challenge.

The bonus theme is It's All Fun and Games: Board Games

As in past challenges some tasks may revolve around the seasonal theme of Fall. Others may reflect the bonus theme. Other tasks may have nothing to do with either of those themes, they’re just fun or unique ideas to stimulate your reading.

Feel free to post as many ideas as you can come up with. Don’t worry about repeating what someone else has might have already suggested. The more ideas, the better!

The moderators will draw from these ideas as well as their own to create the 5, 10 and 15 point tasks. This thread will be open for ideas until August 14. Fall tasks will begin to be posted on August 15. We look forward to seeing what you come up with!

hmmm this could be fun

Board Game Facts:
Monopoly
- the longest game ran 70 days - read a book with a 7 and 0 in the page count
- the original name for the monopoly mascot was Rich Uncle Pennybags - read a book where authors initials can be found in name
- the current name for the mascot is Mr Monopoly - read a book with a Title in the name (i.e. The Last Mrs. Parrish)

Snakes and LAdders
- originated in India - read a book set there or written by an author who was born/resides there

Clue
- a book with MPG of murder
- a book where an item on cover matches one of the weapons in the game (gun, rope, candlestick etc)
- there have been spin-off games with new characters - read a book that is a spin-off of another series

Scabble
- the highest word score achievable (although no one has ever done it) is oxyphenbutazone - read a book with a 4 (or more) letter word in title that can be spelt from those letters

Jenga
- the word Jenga is Swahili for build - read a book first published in a language other than english
- read a book with only buildings, no people on the cover

Backgammon originated in ancient Mesopotamia about 5,000 years ago.
Read a book with MPG History or Historical


Chess -- read a book featuring royalty, or letters PAWN in the title


Bobbing for apples - apple on the cover


Halloween -- bat, black cat, pumpkin, skeleton or witch's hat on the cover


Harvest Moon - This year, the brilliant Harvest Moon first appears in the evening of Monday, September 16, before reaching peak illumination at 10:34 P.M. EDT on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.

Read a book with the moon on the cover, read a book published in Sept, read a book published on the17th of any month



Veterans Day November 11
Read a book with veteran MC, or military MC, or MPG war, or MPG military fiction


Thanksgiving - MPG family


Bonfires -( fall activity) -- fire on the cover, or fireman MC

A lot of board games involve dice. Roll a dice and read a book that is that number in a series (#1-6). Or that number of words in the title. Or roll 2 dice and find a book with both numbers in the page count.

The first year I did SRC (2013 I think?) the yearly theme was board games so I'm sure there's lots of great ideas for tasks back there.

This is the current list of tokens in a standards Monopoly game:
Battleship (1935)
Race Car (1935)
Top Hat (1935)
Thimble (1935 - 2017, 2022 - present)
Scottish Terrier (1950)
Cat (2013)
Penguin (2017)
Rubber Ducky (2017)

and these are retired tokens:
Cannon (1935-1946)
Lantern (1935-1950)
Purse (1935-1950)
Rocking Horse (1935-1950)
Iron (1935-2013)
Boot (1935-2017)
Car With Driver (1940-1950; Likely replaced with or reworked into Race Car)
Wheelbarrow (1940-2017)
Airplane (1946-1950)
Howitzer (1946-2007)
Horse & Rider (1950-2007)
Train (1980-2007)
Sack of Money (1998-2007)
T-Rex (2017-2022)
Read a book with one of these pictured on the cover

Clue was one my favorite games to play as a kid and I loved the 1985 black comedy movie based on the game. read a book where the author shares a name with one of the actors listed here
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clue_(f...

or read a book from the first 20 pages of this black comedy list
https://www.goodreads.com/shelf/show/...

Re "clue" - it's original name, and what it is known as outside the US is Cluedo. So read a book with "do" in the title

Trivial pursuit. Read a non fiction book with a mpg that is one of the 6 categories: science, history, geography, art, entertainment, sport

Pandemic: Read a book featuring a communicable disease. Or, read a book published in 2020.

Ticket to ride: a train, train tracks, tunnel, or train station on the cover

chess
- could have black and white cover
- name of a playing piece in book title or author name so King, knight. bishop pawn etc
- chess is a musical written by Bjorn and Benny from ABBA - word of 5 + letters from songs in musical

We are massive Board Game fans
Ticket to Ride is a firm favourite a two book task could use settings in two of the places on US map - e.g. SaltLake City / Atlanta / Los Angeles

Wingspan is a really educational game featuring birds and their habitats - maybe MPG nature

I love "Flee the Scene" where players rob museums in order to give treasures to other museums - my grandson refuses to play it because he does not like the concept of Robbery. - MPG crime but not Murder

Marie (UK) wrote: "Wingspan is a really educational game featuring birds and their habitats - maybe MPG nature"

There's also a new version of Wingspan called Wyrmspan , which is the same game with some extra bits and DRAGONS! We've probably already done a Year of the Dragon task, but just in case we haven't, maybe we could do one now.

Marie (UK) wrote: "Ticket to Ride is a firm favourite a two book task could use settings in two of the places on US map - e.g. SaltLake City / Atlanta / Los Angeles"

And/or the European map! Or a book 50%+ set on a train or with a train on the cover, given how many variants of "train games" there are.

The biggest game award in the board game world is the Spiel des Jahres (German for Game of the Year).
Maybe a book either set in Germany or translated from German?
Or one sharing a word in the title with one of the winners : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiel_d...
Or perhaps author initials in "Spiel des Jahres".

The first winner of the Spiel des Jahres, back in 1979 (published 1978) was a race game called Hare and Tortoise, based on the Aesop fable. How about a word made up of the letters in the phrase "Slow and steady wins the race".

A couple of lovely games we've found recently are Forest Shuffle and Cascadia, which have different takes on building eco-systems.
Seconding a book with Nature or Environment.
One with trees or wild birds or animals on the cover for Forest Shuffle
One set in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, Washington or British Columbia) for Cascadia.

A lot of games nowadays have a co-operative element (Pandemic springs to mind, can't think why). Maybe a book with multiple POVs?

Some of the prettiest games I have on my game shelves are various versions of Azul. In one you're set building tiles to decorate the outside of a palace, another is stained glass and a third is building a summer pavilion with a tessalated floor. Maybe a task with either a tiled wall or floor, or a stained glass window on the cover?

Another series we like is the Century series, including Spice Road, Eastern Wonders and a New World.
Perhaps a task which involves exploring?
Maybe adventure or set at sea?
Or equally one set in one of UNESCO's modern Silk Road tourism countries (https://www.unwto.org/silk-road).

And maybe I'd better not even get started on card games! Maybe my logo submission should have been a photo of my board games shelf!

Trish wrote: "Marie (UK) wrote: "Wingspan is a really educational game featuring birds and their habitats - maybe MPG nature"

There's a new version of Wingspan called Wyrmspan, which is the same game with some ..."

Forest Shuffle is one of my favorites released last year. It's so addicting and fun!
cascadia is also great!