Make reading fun with the
Romanceopoly Challenge
Romance books and board gamesโฆtwo things we adore. We wanted to create a romance reading challenge that combined the fun of a board game with our love of romance books and all the wonderful subgenres it contains. Something that was visual and interactive but easy to dive into.
And so, in a gloomy castle โ aka terraced house in England and a house in Florida โ with a great Wi-Fi signal, a flash of lightning and much evil cackling the Romanceopoly 2024 reading challenge was born. Whether you are an old hand with romance or you are new to the genre, we thought this would be a fantastic way to discover new books and authors and catch up on things that have been languishing on the TBR.
Join us for our fourth year in 2024, and experience a book club with a twist.
The Return of Romanceopoly
Gear up for Bookish Fun!
Alright, romance raiders, gather ’round! In the literary cosmos, a book challenge collided with Monopoly here at Under the Covers Book Blog and the Romanceopoly Reading Challenge was born back in 2019. We wanted to nudge readers to spice up their reading game, you know, venture into uncharted book territories and discover new favorites!
Imagine Monopoly, but with plot twists and fewer property squabbles. For two years, you rolled dice, moved pieces, and dove into amazing reads. And then, life happenedโcue the pandemic, and we took a two-year break. Wild, huh?
But we brought the challenge back in 2023 and guess what? Romanceopoly is back in 2024, baby! New prompts, same bookish shenanigans, and here’s the scoopโwe ditched the deadlines. No more racing against the calendar, no mystery challenges, and definitely no social media stress. We’re all about that chill vibe.
So just sit in your comfy reading nook, a cup of your favorite brew, and a whole year to explore every nook and cranny of romance at your pace. Whether you’re a Romanceopoly pro or a newbie ready for a bookish escapade, join us for a year of laid-back, no-pressure, all-fun romance reading! ๐ฒ๐โจ Ready to roll? Let’s do this! ๐
Francesca & Suzanne
HOW TO PLAY
Romanceopoly Rules
What is Romanceopoly?
Romaceopoly is a yearly reading challenge where you throw some dice and travel around the Romanceopoly board. What romance book you read next is decided by which square you land on as each square has a reading challenge or prompt associated to it. You complete the Romanceopoly yearly reading challenge when you have completed every challenge on the Romanceopoly board within the year (01 January โ 31 December).
What Do I Need to Play?
To participate in Romanceopoly you will need a couple of things. Donโt worry, the chances are you already have most of these things. Anything bespoke, we have made for you and is free to download.
- Romanceopoly board
- Progress tracker โ digital or a printable (or make your own!)
- Romanceopoly challenge cards
- Romanceopoly rules
- Something to use as a playing piece to mark your place on the board โ it can be something cool youโve found or just penny you found in your pocket.
- Dice, or if you donโt have dice, hereโs some free online dice!
- Pens, pencils, stickerโฆall you really need is a pen, but feel free to make the progress tracker as pretty or as functional as you like.
How Do I Play Romanceopoly?
So, you know what Romanceopoly is, you have your printables ready. Now itโs time to play! Welcome to the fictional city of Romanceopolis, where meet cutes abound and thereโs romance and libraries around every corner.
Each neighborhood (grouped by colors) in Romanceopolis offers up a new sub-genre to explore and each street has a unique challenge for you to tackle within that genre.
To play, you move round the board (as described below) and where you land, you pick up the card for that street. On each card will be a reading challenge, you then read a book matching that challenge. Once youโve done that youโve completed that square and you can cross if off on your progress tracker.
There are number of different options, which we talk about below which will help you customise this challenge to your comfort levels, including of how much time you have and how much flexibility you want with your challenges. The options explained below are:
- How you move around the Romanceopoly board
- Challenge difficulty
- Number of challenges
How to Move Around the Romanceopoly Board
Movement is always in a clockwise direction, but there are two ways you can move around the Romanceopoly board:
The Direct route
There are no dice required to play Romanceopoly this way.
Starting at Go, you explore Romanceopolis one street at a time, never skipping a square and coming back to it. Instead, you go around the board in order, one street at a time.
The Scenic route
This is the more traditional route that will require dice โ or die, itโs up to you!
Starting at Go, roll the dice and move yourself forward the number of squares you have rolled. Wherever you land is the challenge you will be facing.
If youโre using two dice and roll a double (both die show the same number) you have a choice: roll again and take a chance on what your next challenge will be or stick to the square you have landed on.
Using this method you are likely to go round the board a few times so:
- If you land on a square you have already completed, go to the next unread square
Romanceopoly Challenge Options
We appreciate that sometimes there just isnโt enough time to complete everything, or you really just donโt like the trope or particular challenge that youโve landed on. So, there are options when it comes to the difficulty of the challenge and the number of challenges you set yourself.
Challenge Difficulty
Each card has two options that you can choose to make the challenge easier or more challenging for you:
- You read any book in the genre specified on the card
- You complete the reading challenge (prompt) stated on the card within the genre specified on the card
The exception to this is the Library card, which is free choice โ read whatever you want in any genre!
Number of Challenges
You will notice that there are two types of challenge cards:
- Coloured neighbourhood cards โ there are 22 of these
- Non-neighbourhood cards: Around Town, Corner and Seasonal cards โ there are 14 of these
- All challenge cards โ 36 in total
If you want to reduce the number of book books you want to do for this challenge rather than doing both types of cards, just to one type of the other. If you find you have more time, you can always come back and start on the other cards!
WHAT TO READ
Challenge Prompts
STREET NAME
GENRE ONLY
CHALLENGE PROMPT
SLEUTH STREET
Thriller
Read a thriller or mystery featuring an amateur sleuth
LIBRARY
Any
Free choice!
KILLER CRESCENT
Thriller
Read a thriller or mystery set outside of your country
THE BAR
Sci Fi
Read a book where one of the main characters has a strong group of friends
WINTER
Fantasy
Read a book where either the cover is blue, black or silver; or it is a winter holiday book, for example, a Christmas themed book or a snowbound trope
FLIRTS CORNER
Contemporary
Read a contemporary romance either set in a small town or with the siblings best friend trope. Bonus if it’s both!
BFF’S HOUSE
Young Adult
Read a contemporary romance where one of the main characters is a geek or a gamer
AMOUR AVENUE
Contemporary
Read a contemporary romance with a bad boy or ex-con hero
PASSION PLACE
Erotic
Read an erotic romance that pushes your comfort limits
POST OFFICE
Romantic Suspense
Read an epistolary or online romance
COURTSHIP ROW
Historical
Read a historical romance featuring a heroine with an unconventional profession for the time
BURGER JOINT
Fantasy
Read a book where one of the main characters is a virgin
THE COBBLES
Historical
Read a historical romance with a rake and wallflower, friends to lovers pairing
PAST EAVES
Historical
Read the historical romance that isn’t set outside of the UK (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland)
SPRING
Romantic Suspense
Read a book that either has green or pink on the cover; or has an animal on the cover; or is set during a road trip or vacation
FANG ALLEY
Paranormal
Read a paranormal with a fated mates or rejected mates trope
LIBRARY
Any
Free choice!
FATED FOLLY
Paranormal
Read a paranormal romantic comedy
THE VAULT
Paranormal
Read a paranormal where the main characters are not witches/warlocks, vampires or shifters
HAUNTED HOUSE
Women’s Fiction
Read a gothic romance
EVER AFTERS ST
LGBTQIA+
Read a sapphic romance
FARMERS MARKET
Paranormal
Read a magical realism book
RAINBOW ROW
LGBTQIA+
Read any book featuring an LGBTQIA+ romance
LOVERS LANE
LGBTQIA+
Read a male/male romance
SUMMER
Thriller
Read a book that has either yellow or white on the cover; or has a water and/or the beach on the cover; or is a celebrity romance
ACTION AVENUE
Urban Fantasy
Read an urban fantasy with a magic user main character
CITY LANE
Urban Fantasy
Read a funny urban fantasy
THE GYM
Contemporary
Read the book that’s been on your TBR the longest
JOURNEYS END
Fantasy
Read a fantasy that features any mythology besides Greek
EMERGENCY SERVICES
Romantic Suspense
Read a book where one of the main characters is part of the emergency services: medical field (paramedics, doctors, nurses, etc), fire services, police (detectives, officers, FBI, spy)
CAMPUS CORNER
New Adult
Read a book featuring any college sports
SOLDIER STREET
Romantic Suspense
Read a book with a military or ex-military on a mission in a foreign country
LIBRARY
Any
Free choice!
BEAU BOULEVARD
Young Adult
Read a young adult contemporary where the main character is of a different culture than you
AUTUMN
Cozy Mystery
Read a book that has either: a red or gold cover; or has trees and leaves on the cover; or is set at a library or bookstore
THE OFFICE
Sci Fi
Read a romance set at or around a circus
STAR HARBOUR
Sci Fi
Read a sci fi where one of the main characters is not an alien
COFFEE SHOP
Women’s Fiction
Read a book where the main characters have a working relationship (boss/employee, client, student/teacher)
OUTER SPACE
Sci Fi
Read a dystopian or post-apocalyptic romance
resources
Printables and Trackers
must have resources
everything you need to track your romanceopoly progress
We’ve put together a few resources you can use
to track your Romanceopoly progress. Feel free to make your own as well, if you prefer.
BOARDS
Printable Romanceopoly Boards
NOTION
2024 Notion Romanceopoly Dashboard
PLANNER
Digital or Printable Planner
JOIN OUR COMMUNITY
And get access to a free Romanceopoly Tracker
You can join our community for free to have access to a Romanceopoly Tracker. You can access the community on desktop or by downloading the Heartbeat app.
How Do I Track My Progress?
Whether you are doing all the challenges or Neighbourhood challenges only, you want to be able to track your progress around Romanceopolis.
You can track this however you fancy; however, we have created some progress trackers you can use
And don’t forget you can print the
How Do I Use the Trackers?
Last year we recorded some instruction videos on how to use some of the trackers provided. The same instructions apply for the 2024 trackers.
Display Your Participation in Romanceopoly
If you have a blog or website and want to display the Romanceopoly Participant button, here it is! Right click on the image below, save and upload to your own site to use (and link back to https://www.romanceopoly.com) or use the code provided below.
<a href="http://www.romanceopoly.com" target="new"><img src="https://www.underthecoversbookblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Romanceopoly-Participant.png" width="200" alt="Romanceopoly 2023 Participant"></a>