Haha 
it happens! I kind of just went in and decided some rules when setting this up so we didn’t have to go crazy with polls or discussions since discourse isn’t the best planning tool. More than happy to change anything, though.
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Heh, I was already looking at potential winner and trying to optimize the maximum number of checks in the minimum number of books. Oops 
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To be fair I think that could be a funny mini-challenge, completing the grid with the least number of books possible 
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Maybe we should just allow both? That’s basically like a modification, so it could be included in the modifications list! 
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Challenge modification idea: read a single book that qualifies for a whole bingo line
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Modifications list updated. 
I’ll be super curious who goes on an extra-spicy 
journey!
I’m kind of curious about people’s bingo plans. Which is more you?
- I’m going to plan out my books ahead of time
- I’m just going to read as a I feel like it, and if something matches a square then great
- I’m going to approach this differently than the other options
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voters
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Since we are talking about 1 book per box, I’ll probably mark all boxes that a book can be assigned to, and as I progress I’ll permanently attach the book to that box, to give me a bit more freedom to choose my books
Feels a bit like cheating though
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I’ll probably strategize a bit, but in no world am I capable of forcing myself to read a book that I’m not in the mood for.
P.S. it’s actually kind of a problem because I’m a bookseller and sometimes it would be really great if I could read certain books just to be able to offer an informed opinion… oh well, that’s what reviews are for I guess. 
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I will most likely see where what I’m already reading aligns with the bingo prompts and also use them as inspiration when I don’t know what to read next.
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Will depend on the prompts, but some will be easy to fulfil for me, and I don’t have to plan for them. Others are more specific - like something written before 1940s or longest on your TBR - which, if I don’t plan for them, will probably not happen.
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For me, the bingo challenge is all about going beyond the books I know about or usually read, and try things I’d never tried before. It’s an opportunity to discover new titles, those I wouldn’t pick up if not for the challenge, and hopefully end up enjoying that new genre, theme, style, etc. So even if I don’t participate in the challenge (don’t read books in 2024) I still like to plan ahead and find many new books and authors and double my tbr list.
To me the bingo challenge = adding a lot new books to my tbr list. (and never read them 
) (is there a penniless emoji?)
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I’ll probably be a mix of the two… I’ll map out how my current 積読 books could fit on the bingo card when it comes out, just to see, but I’ll leave a lot of wiggle room regarding what I actually end up reading and when. Book clubs, gift books, and mood all tend to mix up my reading plans…
ETA: And freebies! I am behind on 本好き this week again because I dropped them to read the クイーンズ・クオリティ 1 | 29 series and prequel while they’re free.
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For me it’ll also be a mix of the two. I want to use this challenge as a way to motivate me to branch out more, but at the same time I’m not going to force it. If I’m not in the mood for a certain book I’m not going to read it just for the challenge.
Some of the prompts are freebies. No matter how much I try, I don’t think I can avoid the book club one. You all tempt me too much.
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Winner Announcement
The polls have closed and we now have our winners for the bingo board! drumroll please 
These were the top fifteen prompts:
- Read something with no reviews/gradings/ratings on Natively - 25 votes
- Read a book that you added to Natively - 23 votes
- Read the book that has been in your 積読/TBR pile the longest - 20 votes
- Read a book chosen randomly from your 積読/TBR pile (eg by lucky draw or an online random choice generator/selection idea list) + merge with similar option “Select a book from your TBR using a qualifier (see omk3’s qualifier list)” - 20 votes
- Read a debut (an author’s first book, whether they’ve written more or not) - 19 votes
- Read an author you’ve never read before - 19 votes
- Read something that has won an award - 19 votes
- Finish a series (can be either one you are already reading or you can start a new one) - 18 votes
- Join/Participate in a Book Club - 18 votes
- Read something non-fiction - 16 votes
- Read 1 vol. in a single day - 15 votes
- Read a book with a non human protagonist - 14 votes
- Read something at a higher Natively level than what you’ve read so far - 14 votes
- Read something from the free samples/something you can read for free (such as syosetsu, kakuyomu, tonarinoyj, etc) - 14 votes
- Read something where the setting is a workplace (any occupation is ok) - 14 votes
We had a three-way tie for the sixteenth spot, so I assigned each one a number between 1 and 3 and rolled with a random number generated to select the winner (I hope nobody minds, if there is big appetite to vote instead we can set that up)
- (1) Read a book with a bad cover / read a book you bought or wanted to read despite the cover - 13 votes
- (2) Read something that hasn’t been translated into your native language - 13 votes
- (3) Read something with a one-character title - 13 votes
And the results…
Making the winner for spot 16🎉:
16. Read a book with a bad cover / read a book you bought or wanted to read despite the cover - 13 votes
Hurray! I will set up the actual bingo board for everyone to use closer to the end of 2023, but in terms of the next steps, we can decide what names to give the “prize” titles. After cleaning up the first post on this thread, I will add a separate reply about that below. 
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So here were the ideas I originally had for ranks:
Rank 1 - one bingo: 読者
Rank 2- two bingos: 本好き
Rank 3- three bingos: 本の虫
Rank 4 - four bingos: 司書
Rank 5 - all squares filled: 文学者
Does anyone else have any ideas? We can do the same thing we did for the bingo prompts and collate suggestions and put them up for a vote.
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Oof, that one might be hard to achieve with the book that is already on Natively, especially if others are looking specifically for that kind of book.
Does it count if you add the book yourself just before you finish it? (I guess it would also count for the “read a book you added yourself”)
Those sound good to me!
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I must say it feels a bit weird to assign 文学者 even if somebody only completes this with manga and/or light novels as jisho translates this as “scholar of literature”
But maybe this is just in my head…
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A scholar of LNs 
(need that meme with the monocle Winnie the Pooh 
). That’s true, though. It’s surprisingly hard to come up with five titles that would be motivating to earn! Do you have a suggestion for the fifth rank instead of 文学者？
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