Our new favorite party game is simply fun...and different every time you play

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If you like Apples-to-Apples, this fun party game may be your new favorite! You use books to find the perfect fit to a prompt. Prepare to laugh…a lot!

We get a new family game every year for Christmas. And this year, I am proud to say…we found a real winner! My friend Kay from Heart to Heart Homeschooling recommended this one to me and I knew it would be a hit. My husband wasn’t sure, but after our first time playing he looked right at me and said, “I was wrong, that was fantastic!”

Best Party Game

The game is called Bring Your Own Book, and the premise is pretty simple. If you’ve played Apples-to-Apples, you’ve got a head start.

Basically, one person each round pulls a card with a prompt on it and the other players try to find something to fit that prompt. Simple.
The twist in this game is that each player has a book–

Novel
Graphic Novel
Fiction
Non-Fiction
Textbook
Anthology
…Anything! (although I will say that playing with the board book, “The Duck Says Quack” was challenging)

Players use their books to find a word, phrase, sentence or passage that they feel fits the prompt. The chooser for that round picks their favorite submission and that player gets the card.

At various points in the game, players pass their books, which adds to the fun. (Especially when there’s a favorite..or least favorite…book making the rounds)

Fun Family Game

We played as a family on Christmas Eve and liked it so much that we brought it on Christmas to play with our extended family. Also a huge hit there. We brought a selection of books for players to choose from: Everything from Matilda and Diary of a Wimpy Kid to a book by Dr. Ben Carson and the Cub Scout Manual to Anime and sci-fi/fantasy novels.

Can I tell you…we laughed a lot.

It also goes to show that we had as much fun playing with just the four of us as we did with a larger group.

Perfect for a Party Game or Classroom Game

Besides being a super fun party game, this is ideal to play with students. I read one teacher saying that she used it both with small groups and with the whole class. To use it with the whole class, she’d break students into groups and have each group vote on the best submission in their group and then the class would vote on the best overall submissions.

I just love that!

Some Other New Games

We love games around my house, and we get pretty excited about new ones that we all enjoy. I couldn’t wait to tell you about Bring Your Own Book! My husband and boys also got a couple of other games that they’ve been enjoying.

Legacy of Dragonholt: This is a narrative game in which players choose their own adventure as they work to accomplish a goal together. It definitely does not fit in my rules of “Will Mom play this game?” So I’ll leave this one for the boys.

8 Bit Box: A board game throwback to the classic video games of the 80s. Mom will likely give this one a try. 🙂