Gamewright_BYOB

Get ready for the bookwormiest (real word, I swear) game to ever crash your game night.

Bring Your Own Book, from Gamewright is the perfect addition to your game arsenal if you like clever games that really get you thinking. The game comes with 100 prompt cards, one sand timer, and instructions. As you can probably guess, you need to bring your own books.

Each player brings a different book to the game, which can be any genre ranging from mystery or science fiction to a cookbook or magazine. One player starts as the Picker, who takes a card from the stack and chooses one of the two prompts on it. Some examples of prompts are “The title of a romance novel,” “Words that a zombie would groan after saying ‘brains’ fifty times,” and, “An alien’s first words to humankind.” The Picker reads his or her chosen prompt aloud, and the remaining players then find a line in their books that suits the prompt. It can be a single word, part of a sentence, or even a whole paragraph, but the words must be sequential in the book.

The first player to find his or her line yells “Got it!” and the 60 second hour glass is turned over, giving the remaining players one minute to find a line. Once the timer runs out, or each player has found a line, the players then take turns reading their passages out loud. The Picker is then tasked with judging his or her favorite submission. The winner of the round could have had a funny choice, a clever one, or maybe just a weirdly accurate one. The winner of that round is awarded the prompt card, and the player to the left of the Picker becomes the new Picker. The game gets turned upside-down any time a player gets two prompt cards. Whenever that happens, everyone must pass his or her book to the left. This really makes things interesting because you might end up with a book you’re totally unfamiliar with. The first player to collect four cards in a six to eight player game or five cards in a three to five player game wins.

The level of difficulty of the game is totally up to chance. If every player happens to have read every book that’s brought to the game, then searching for a phrase will be a little easier. If one book happens to be dense and have smaller font, then whichever player has that book may be faced with more of a challenge. It also depends on which prompt cards are chosen during each round. The “moment in a romance novel when hearts are broken,” is super easy for the player with The Fault in Our Stars, but not so much for the player with The Hobbit.

This game is for three to eight players, but it’s definitely more fun the more players you have. This way the game not only has a variety of books, but also a variety of senses of humor. The instructions for Bring Your Own Book also include some fun variants for game play. One alternate way to play has the Picker search his or her book as well, and instead of the Picker being the Judge, the last player to say, “I got it” is the judge. Another way to play, which actually makes the game even more fast paced and fun, is to start the timer immediately when the round starts, rather than after the first person says “I’ve got it!” This way, no one takes too long to find his or her sentence. Plus, a little time constraint makes for some very funny answers.

Bring Your Own Book is the perfect addition to any party, game night, or even a way to mix it up for a book club. This game makes yelling random lines from books a fun time, and is a sure way to leave game night with a few books to add to your reading list.

About the author

Melanie Rainone

Melanie Rainone

Melanie Rainone is the editorial assistant at Toy Insider and Adventure Publishing Group. She can usually be found watching Star Trek: The Next Generation (she knows the opening monologue by heart) and she firmly believes that dessert is the most important meal of the day. 

archivearrow-chevron-downarrow-chevron-left-greyarrow-chevron-leftarrow-chevron-rightarrow-fatarrow-left-blackarrow-left-whitearrow-right-blackarrow-rightarrow-roundedbookscalendarcaret-downclose-whiteclosedocumenteditorial-archiveeyefacebook-squarefacebookfilesgifthamburgerheadinghearthomeinstagram-squareinstagramlatestlinkedin-squarelinkedinmailmedia-inquiresmessagenewsopen-boxpagination-leftpagination-rightpauseplayprintproduct-archiverecent-productssearchsharesort-filterspotifysunteamtiktoktime_purpletimetrendingtvtwitter-squaretwitteryoutube