Hooked on Books discussion

Team Challenge
September 2025 - November 2025

Please consult the Toy Chest of Dread for your first toy selection. This is in the 3rd tab of your spreadsheet. Post your team name and the answer that the Toy Chest supplies you at the Occult Museum (check in thread).

Team
Beth
Char
C

Important Links
Belle's Cabinet of Notices (Announcements)
Occult Museum (Check-in Thread)
Scoreboard
Ouija Board (Q&A)
Collectibles
The Monkey's Paw (Feedback)
SS: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/...

Rules
⛓️Each toy/object has specific chains and/or tasks that need to be completed.
Examples:
1. Create a chain of 3 using titles consecutively (ABC)
-All the Light We Cannot See
-Becoming Mrs. Lewis
-Catching Fire
2. Create a chain of 3 with "dog" in the titles
-Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike
-The Dog Stars
-Hot Dog Girl
⛓️One person should NOT complete a whole chain by themselves. This is a team challenge. However, if a toy/object has multiple chains and a slower reader can only/want to only read for 1 or 2 chains (they must read at least one), then the other two faster readers on the team can complete the other chains between the two of them.
⛓️You may choose which toy/object from the list to capture first but you MUST complete it BEFORE starting a new toy/object.
⛓️You may use or drop articles: A, An, The
⛓️If you somehow manage to incorporate a Buddy Read into a chain, you can earn points based on the BR tier system.
⛓️Standard Rules Apply
⛓️At the end of the official challenge (last day of November), your team may choose to continue on at your own pace. There will be no points accumulated after November but you can finish any toys/objects that you didn't get to during the challenge.

Scoring
You will get 3 points for every completed book (9 per completed chain) PLUS page points.

Hey friends! Let's not get claimed by the rabid toys lol! 🤣

Checking in!
When does this challenge start again?

Do we spin now, and wait till Sept to actually begin reading the books, or is it Sept when you have to finish the books?

Challenge starts 9/1, but other teams have been spinning, so I guess we can too! I just got access to the spreadsheet overnight so gonna go see what's going on in there. I know our first spin is in the third tab lol. I don't wanna get eaten by the toys this early! 😂

Got a 16 so posted that in the check-in thread. *Queue dramatic music*

🎭💀 Belladonna Belle Beckons 💀🎭

“Oh, how tragic... Some of you left your poor teammates wandering the toy chest alone. Forgotten dolls, abandoned soldiers, clockwork hearts ticking in the dark with no one to wind them... ⏱️👻

A team that doesn’t all check in together risks becoming scattered pieces—and you know what happens to broken toys, don’t you? They end up in my collection… and I do so adore incomplete sets. 🕸️

So hurry along, little stragglers. Your friends are waiting… and the shadows are growing impatient.”

🪆🎃 Incomplete teams, consider yourselves haunted until you all arrive. 🎃🪆

I gave Beth the thread link, so hopefully she will be here soon. :)

I'm here, I'm here!! Now I just have to catch up! 😉

Oy, I just realized I needed to request SS access. Did it.

At least we still have a couple days. I need to read; I made my cardinal error of planning my next few books because the end of the month is upon us, and I lost motivation. 🤔 So I'm gonna try to get back to reading randomly starting Monday (or Tuesday, since Monday should be busy...).

16. Dead Man's Dice

Dead Man’s Dice is a pirate-themed dice game where players take on the roles of swashbuckling buccaneers vying for treasure, risk, and dominance on the high seas. Combining luck, strategy, and a touch of backstabbing flair, the game captures the raucous, chaotic spirit of pirate life.

The game revolves around rolling and stacking dice to build a "pirate stack", a tower of dice that must follow specific rules based on matching numbers or suits (typically skulls, swords, or bones, depending on the version). Players steal dice from each other, build their own stacks, and try to outscore their rivals before the round ends.

Each die represents not just a number, but a symbol of power, greed, or death, and certain rolls(like the infamous Dead Man's Die) can change the tide of the game with high risk and high reward.

Fast-paced and full of piratical flair, Dead Man’s Dice is ideal for fans of light strategy games with a darkly playful edge. Whether you're bluffing, stealing, or risking it all on a final roll, one thing’s certain: dead men may tell no tales, but their dice roll on.

🎲💀 Dead Man’s Dice: The Gamble of the Damned
The dice were never fair. The game never ends. And you? You're already playing.

Each team plays as a cursed crew who dared to roll the Dead Man’s Dice. Now they must complete 3 tasks to escape their fate—or remain lost in the fog forever.
But beware... every roll brings risk. Some bring boons, others bring burdens.

🎲 Roll the Dice
You’ve found the cursed bones. They rattle like teeth and roll like thunder.
Choose your Gamble Style:
The Bold Bet: One roll of 3 dice. All tasks from the same row. No swaps. No mercy.
The Split Wager: Roll 1 die three times. One task per roll—but each opens the door to a Glitch Event. Risky… like stealing from the dead.
*Glitches = surprise interruptions that increase difficulty—think ghost pirate curses, eerie omens, sudden betrayals.

🗒️ Then, report to the Check-In Thread (Occult Museum) with:
Your Team Name
Your Gamble Style
Your Roll(s)
A link to your team’s spreadsheet

Duplicates? Oh, aye. If the sea gives you two storms, you sail through both.
You don’t argue with the tide. 🌊

What do you two think? I'm leaning towards Bold Bet only because no glitches, but not having flexibility in prompts may be fatal.

I"m fine with both!
But Bold Bet sounds interesting

Beth, you cool with Bold Bets?

Yep, that works for me!

Where do we roll the dice? I see the links in the spreadsheet to various wheels, but not dice to roll.

Awesome! Can someone post our decision (or however that works)? I won't be on much today.

Do we have post just our decision, or do we post the roll of our dice as well?

And, yep, I can post!

16. The Driftwood Path: Read a book you picked up secondhand, borrowed, or didn’t originally intend to read.

All 3 of you must read a book for this task.

Yay, borrowed!! It still might take me a couple days, but that is doable!

Celebrate if you must, but don’t mistake borrowed ease for lasting fortune. Today the path feels smooth, tomorrow it may twist into thorns. The game does not grant favors forever — and soon you’ll learn that the cost is always waiting, patient and sharp. Enjoy your triumph while it lasts… for it will not always be so easy.

~Toymaker Donna~

You guys are playing a mini-game. Notice that they are NOT chains. You DO NOT have to follow Belle's Rule for mini-games.

I'm going with One Hundred Years of Solitude. It's been on my TBR for a while, but I did not intend to read it this month. And I'm borrowing the audiobook through Libby. Pressing to finish it by tomorrow for another challenge.

I really hope I'm entering my book data correctly into the spreadsheet. I think so (pending completion date since it isn't finished yet). I don't want to make the toys angry...

C whispered they hoped the spreadsheet was filled in correctly. Didn’t want to make the toys angry.

Belle’s voice drifted through the silence, soft as velvet, sharp as glass.
“Ohhh… it isn’t the numbers that matter. It’s the choices. A secondhand book, a borrowed story, one you never meant to read…”

The Dead Man’s Dice rattled across the table, tumbling to a stop.
“Someone else rolled those bones before you. Someone else turned those pages first. You’re just picking up their game where they left off.”

Belle leaned closer, smile rusting at the edges.
“The toys aren’t angry yet, little one. But they do love an excuse.”

—Toymaker Lisa

My book is read and posted.

I'm pretty sure I put my completion date in. I'm still trying to find my reading brain this month...

Char? How you doing? :)

Sorryy, I might take a while..
There's a conference at work this week, so I haven't be able to read a lot.. I should be done by this weekend!

No worries! Goodness knows my reading is crap rn too... I'm hoping to get a little caught up before I'm out of town next week. 🙄 So I will probably either read a short book before I go, or packing a book that works and hope I get time to read lol.

Sorry, it took me a while to get back on track.. I had that conference, and got sick!

I should get back to my early reading speeds this week 🤞🏽

I'll check us in when I get back from work!

Sounds good, Char! Hope you're feeling better!!

Did we ever get our check-in posted? Would it help if I did it?

Hi sorry, it's been a pretty hectic day.
I should get home in a couple hours..
If you could check us in, that'd be nice..

If not, I'll do it!

Just finished my book and saw this. I'll go check us in if it's not already done. 💖

Ahhh, how deliciously forgetful you are… 🖤

You’ve already peered into the Toy Chest of Dread and plucked your fate from its depths. Did you think the Chest would forgive such a lapse? No, no… the toys remember. They always remember.

How easily it slips from your mind — but that only makes you more amusing prey. The toys will giggle and whisper, winding their strings around you tighter, delighting in your confusion.

Shall I choose for you, or will you dare consult the Toy Chest again?

Oh yes… they are going to have so much fun with you. 🎭🪀