Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý

What are Tower Teams?
Essentially it is small groups of members in a team who read and discuss books, record them for "points" in order to compete against other teams.
It doesn't matter if your yearly goal is to read five (5) books, fifty (50) books or five-hundred (500) books. Anyone can join! We balance the Tower Teams Reading Challenge by Total Books read.



To celebrate Tower Teams XI we are going to take a trip around the world to go with the general theme of the group in 2025!

It is no secret that a lot of people like to travel, the more remote and exotic, the better! Others prefer remaining closer to home in a cosier, maybe less adventurous environment. There are so many ways of travelling and so many places to explore that it will be difficult to fit everything in. Yet, NBRC is going to try to take you on some crazy itineraries around the world, travelling via the wonderful world of books into unknown lands and beyond.

IMPORTANT
This is NOT a read-a-thon and WILL go for a weeks, so please only sign-up if you are a consistent Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ user and are willing to discuss books with your team mates over a period of a few months. Unlike our other team challenges, the Tower Teams Challenge is a marathon, not a sprint!

Goal: Read! Read! Read!

When: Starts Saturday 17 May, 9am UTC time and goes for 3 months, ending on Sunday 17 August, 9am UTC.

How: We will take all the people who sign-up and divide them equally - by book goal - into teams, taking into account the number of books they read per week.

Challenge requirements
To be a part of this challenge you need to be able to:

â—� Create a special shelf for the challenge for the books you are reading

â—� Check-in on your team's discussion thread at least once per week

â—� Have fun!

â—� For reading books
â—� Books less than 100 pages = 0 points
â—� Books between 100 and 1000 pages = 0.1 points/page
â—� Books over 1000 pages = 100 points

â—� Points will be rounded up/down from 0.5 as per standard maths
â—� For audio only books, the page count will be set as 100, no matter how long the audio is.


â—� For current BOM (Book of the Month) discussions
Writing a day's worth of discussion questions = 40 points
Participating in a current BOM (participating in discussion) = 20 points

NOTE: We will accept one team member per book per team for writing a days DQs. If, by three days prior to the BOM starting, we don't have enough volunteers to write all DQs, then we will let more than one team member per team write questions. If we have more people than days sign up (prior to 3 days before start date) we will randomise the volunteers to determine those who can write DQs.

Remember that you can collect your participation points from previous BOM (from January 2022) for an extra entry in the randomiser, on a basis of 3 participation points to 1 extra entry. Your team will be allowed a maximum of 6 entries for each BOM.

Restrictions:
- you must link posts to your participation if you want to claim them
- only one set of writing DQs will be allocated to each team (unless there aren't enough volunteers)
- must be from the main group, Backroom BOM participation doesn't count
- you must finish the book after the start of Tower Teams, and within one month of the BOM starting

Example:
The first challenge BOM is the June 2022 Adult BOM.

Cat participated in the January and February, plus the May Themed BOMs (5 participation points in total). She can therefore claim ONE extra entry for the June Adult, and still has two participation points. She participates in the June Adult, and thus gains an additional participation point (to a total of three). She can turn these three in for an extra entry in the June Themed BOM. She now has no participation points remaining.

Team Mods have three volunteers for the June Adult BOM: Cat (could claim two entries), Judith (could claim three entries) and Sophie (could claim two entries). They are only permitted a maximum of 6 entries, and so Judith only turns in enough participation points to claim two entries. Judith still has participation points to claim another entry in the June Themed BOM.

Note: We are starting the May 2025 Themed BOM on May 18th (2 days later than normal) allowing for its inclusion in Tower Teams.

â—� Those people who want to keep their Profiles Private, must be willing to "Friend"
ÌýÌýÌý their Team Captain(s), the NBRC Mod account, or one of the Moderators, to allow
ÌýÌýÌý page count verification and to assist you if you are having difficulty with your
ÌýÌýÌý bookshelves.

â—� Teams will be similar in size to other Tower Teams or Wheelathon challenges. We haven't decided on the exact number, as we are going by books read, but we are shooting for 10-20 members.

â—� Books must be started after the start date of the challenge to count towards the challenge

â—� Books must be />100 pages. NOTE: This number is lower than our other team challenges!
ÌýÌýÌý For page number questions, please check with your captain who can ask in the Captains group for verification.

â—� Audio books are allowed. (For page numbers, use the "default" GR book page numbers. If the "default" is a Large Print version, use the next most popular edition for page numbers.
If there is no print / ebook, then the audio book must be longer than 3 hours, and page numbers will be set at 100 pages, no matter how long the audio is)

â—� Books with MPGs Childrens / Kids / Poetry / Play / Graphic Novel / Illustrated / Photography / Art / Cookbook / Guidebook (or which have "Illustrated" in the title or an "Illustrator" contributor in the metadata) must have at least 30,000 words (must be a verified count. sites that provide estimated word counts are not valid sources for verifying word count). ArBookFind is a great site to double check (there are also .co.uk and .com.au versions). If in doubt, ask your captain. A good rule of thumb is that if the audio is over 3 hours, the book will be long enough.

â—� Anything with the word" boxed set" in the title on Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ can not be used as "one book". They need to be shelved as separate books to count for this challenge.

â—� Any book in any language will count, as long as it meets the criteria.

� Spell-it-Out Rules: Use the first letter in the book’s title, series name, author’s first/last name, character’s first/last name, narrator’s first/last name (if listening to an audiobook), or translator’s first/last name (if reading a translation). You may ignore (or not) “A,� “An,� or “The� at the start of titles.

â—� "Re-reads" will be allowed, if it has been six months since you have read the book. This includes listening to the audio version, if you've already read the book.

â—� This challenge involves adding a special bookshelf to your personal
ÌýÌýÌý GRs bookshelves other than "read." You may choose a preexisting one.

â—� Please wait to be told to which Team you are assigned. It might take awhile; however,
ÌýÌýÌý you will be able to count the books you have started from the START date of the challenge.

â—� Once you actually join, please check-in with your team discussion thread by posting the name of your bookshelf.
ÌýÌýÌý Remember to add a HYPHEN between words for your bookshelf.

â—� Helpful Tip: Knowing about Sticky Shelves may help you put your assigned
ÌýÌýÌý bookshelf near the top of your dropdown box.

â—� With MOBILE DEVICES there have been major problems when trying to
ÌýÌýÌý add books. If that is all you have to access the Internet, or you don't know how to Cut & Paste
ÌýÌýÌý on it, then this challenge probably is NOT the right fit for you.

â—� Discussion threads will be in the regular NBRC group. (No secret groups allowed)

â—� You do NOT have to join the discussion, if you don't want to; communicating via posting a book is good enough. Nevertheless, Your Team wants to know if you are still participating. We understand Real Life gets in the way. However, please plan to "check-in" in some manner at least once every week. If we don't hear from you for two weeks, you may be replaced with another team member

â—� We need people to volunteer to be Team Captain(s) whose duties include:

- Keeping a Google Spreadsheet that all members can view (we will provide you with a template)
- checking team members books read and page counts
- communicating with a NBRC Moderator
- communicating with all Team Members
- making sure Team Members are staying active
- notifying the NBRC Mod if someone drops out
- have effective and kind (this is a game, remember) on-line communication skills to help members having trouble
- making sure Team Members belong on your team
- posting weekly status updates/reminders
- dealing with minor issues that arise
- post little challenges within challenges, if desired.

ÌýÌýÌý You may rotate/share these duties. We would suggest you have at least one Co-Captain.
ÌýÌýÌý You may have as many Captains and Co-Captains as you like.

â—� Captains and Co-captains will need to have access to Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ daily and be posting to the team thread and updating the team spreadsheet at least every 2 days.

â—� Please let us know, when you make a request to sign-up, if you are interesting in being a Team Captain.




Challenge requirements

IMPORTANT: To be a part of this challenge you need to be able to:
â—� Read at least one book per WEEK
â—� Create a special shelf for the challenge for the books you are reading (for ease of captains' lives)
â—� Check-in on your team's discussion thread at least once per week
â—� Have fun!

★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★★�

To join, we are using a Google Form to collect the below data.
Follow this link to complete the form:



★N²¹³¾±ð
★ŷ±¦ÓéÀ� User ID Information (see under spoiler for how to find this)
(view spoiler)[ To find your Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ User ID, click on your name (or go to your profile page). In the URL bar you will see something like /user/show/5.... In this example, your User Name is 5674827-kelly) (hide spoiler)]
★Approximate number of books read per MONTH! Be accurate - look at your Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ stats to work it out!)
★Your continent (so we can try and match time zones)
★Your shelf name (for books read during the challenge)
★How often you'll be checking in on the team thread (note that you are required to check-in at least ONCE a week
★If you are willing to be a team captain or co-captain (note that you are required to be active on your team thread)

Individual Reading Caps
There has been some grumbling in recent team challenges about how many books people read in a given month. The moderators believe people are honest and would not misrepresent themselves. That being said, we do endeavour to create balanced teams to keep the challenge fun and fair for all participants whether they are a book a day or a book a month reader.

While a person's individual reading may differ from their sign up in either direction, drastically different reading can throw off the balance. The mods are trying out a different type of reading cap for this game. Each player will be capped at 5 additional books over their sign up number. Books per month will be capped at 60 books, including for the 5 book overage. Meaning if you sign up with 57 books per month your cap will still be 60. Note we are not accepting ranges for sign ups, please pick a single whole number when filling out the form.

Books read by team members over their cap can be kept in reserve in case of players ghosting. To use any of these however, a discussion needs to be had with the NBRC Mods about the number of reserved books that can be used in a given month.

The challenge starts on 17 May 2025, 9am UTC.

Only books STARTED after the challenge begins can count.

Countdown is here:


Time in main cities FYI:
Saturday 17 May
San Francisco 2am
New York 5am
London 10am
Brussels 11am
Mumbai 2.30pm
Tokyo 6pm
Sydney 7pm
Check other cities here:

Experiencing other cultures and traveling vicariously through books - who hasn't done it? Who doesn't enjoy it? Except for maybe the fact that we can't taste the food via the books ;-)

We are going to feed this bookish travel enjoyment with this challenge where we want to take you on a literary itinerary. Or several.

Each team will create their own Book Travel Itinerary of 11 books, each set in a different country, written by an author born in the country, or a nonfiction book where events in the country are the primary subject of the book. No more than 6 books can be chosen from among a list of easier to find countries (easy). At least 3 books will have to be chosen from off the beaten track countries (midlevel), and at least 2 more books should be from challenging countries (hard).

Note your itinerary may use fewer easy countries and more midlevel or harder countries but each itinerary must have at least 3 midlevel and 2 hard countries. There is a tab in the team spreadsheet that provides a list of countries in each category. The reason on the spreadsheet should match exactly the spelling of the country provided in these lists.

Once one Book Travel Itinerary has been finished, the team can start on a new Book Travel Itinerary. Countries may only be duplicated once. If, for example, your team has read a book set in the UK for Itinerary 1 and for Itinerary 2, you will not be able to read a book set in the UK for Itinerary 3.

The next itinerary can only be started once the previous itinerary has been completely finished. Within the itinerary, you don't have to read books in order, meaning your first 11 books can be finished in any random order. But you cannot move onto your next itinerary if all books from the previous itinerary have not been finished.


â—� Each book read can only be used for one mini challenge.
â—� Each book read can only be used for one task.
â—� Each book read must be set for 50% or more in the selected country, verifiable that the author was born there, or clear that the country is the primary subject matter of the nonfiction book.
â—� Fantasy settings of real countries are allowed. Korea fantasy books or historic books where is it otherwise not clearly set in the north are defaulted to South Korea.
â—� Contemporary boundaries are to be used in determining which country a book takes place in and if it is not clear, save everyone the headache and use it for a different task. Please and thank you.
â—� Books can be started at any point since the start of Tower Teams XI (17th May 9am UTC).
â—� The usual book length rules apply.
â—� You will gain 5 points for each easy country, 10 points for each midlevel country, and 20 points for each hard country.
â—� One partial itinerary will be allowed

Let's go on a trip! Or five! Are you excited? Who wants to tag along? Pack your bags and most importantly your books, and let's gooo!

Whether you'd rather go on a road trip, an all-inclusive beach vacation, an adventurous hike through unknown lands, or an easy-going city trip, this mini challenge will have something for everyone's tastes.

There are several tasks you can read for. Alright... there are a LOT of tasks that you can read for. You will only ever have a set number of tasks on your spreadsheet. Once you have completed a task, a new one will appear on your spreadsheet until all tasks have been revealed. For these tasks, you may use any book that the team has read since the beginning of the challenge as long as they have not yet been used for a different task or mini challenge. Books can only ever be used once.

This mini challenge runs from the beginning of Tower Teams XI until the very end of the challenge.

Remember, Tower Teams is a marathon and not a sprint. So take your time and enjoy the trip(s)!

â—� Each book read can only be used for one mini challenge.
â—� Each book read can only be used for one task. Once books have been entered for a task and a new task has been received, you cannot swap books around for different tasks.
â—� For books with a specific setting, books with an alternate universe/reality are acceptable.
â—� Series substitutions are allowed for the shelves/lists.
â—� Books can be started at any point since the start of Tower Teams XI (17th May 9am UTC).
â—� The usual book length rules apply.
â—� The usual spell-out rules apply unless stated differently.
â—� You will gain 10 points for each task you complete.

We all love spinning a wheel and enjoying the randomness it'll churn out. Twenty-four countries were placed on the World Wheel. Teams will have 2 countries at a time and once a full set of country tasks are completed and entered on the official spreadsheet, captains can get a new spin for the next country.

Countries cannot be repeated. Tasks include things related to each country including colors from the flag, authors born in the given country, and the country name spelled out.

â—� Each book read can only be used for one mini challenge.
â—� Each book read can only be used for one task.
â—� Books cannot be banked for this mini challenge.
â—� For books with a specific setting, books with an alternate universe/reality are acceptable.
â—� Contemporary boundaries are to be used in determining which country a book takes place in and if it is not clear, save everyone the headache and use it for a different task. Please and thank you.
â—� Books can be started at any point since the start of Tower Teams XI (17th May 9am UTC).
â—� The usual book length rules apply.
â—� The usual spell-out rules apply unless stated differently.
â—� You will gain 10 points for each task you complete.

Until month 2 begins:


17 June 2025, 9am UTC.