Romance books and board games…two 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, aka terraced house in England and a condo in Florida, with a great Wi-Fi signal, a flash of lightning and much evil cackling the Romanceopoly 2026 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 sixth year of the Romanceopoly yearly reading challenge.

Ready for the Best 2026 Reading Challenge?

Welcome to Romanceopoly 2026! This year, we’ve given our reading challenge another major glow-up to make it more flexible, and perfect for romance readers like you. Whether you’re a longtime fan or just hearing about this for the first time, we’re here to help you find your next book obsession, and maybe make some new bookish friends along the way.

Watch our Romanceopoly 2026 announcement video

What Is Romanceopoly 2026 Reading Challenge?

This year, Romanceopoly is transforming into the Romanceopoly U campus. You read that right, this year it’s a university theme. There will be a campus themed map with different departments. But the biggest change yet is that you don’t have to complete the whole year. This is a choose your own path challenge. A way to truly customize Romanceopoly to read what you love the most. But still sprinkle in some things that push your comfort zone.

What Is Romanceopoly University?

Romanceopoly U is a year-long romance reading challenge where you “enroll” in classes (prompts) that actually match romance-reader brain chemistry.

The baseline is 20 books to graduate, structured like a degree:

• 5 Core Curriculum classes (required for everyone)
• 5 Major classes (you choose your department)
• 5 Minor classes (you choose a second department)
• 5 Electives (you cherry-pick prompts from the remaining departments)

Optional add-ons (for the overachievers, the competitive gremlins, and the “I can totally read 120 romances in a year” crowd):

• Clubs (each adds 4 prompts)
• Seasonal Sports Events (each adds 4 prompts and they’re tied to a season)
• Monthly Study Sessions (book club energy)

Romanceopoly 2026 Board

How to Play Romanceopoly 2026

You can customize everything! This challenge works however you want. But here are some general ground rules to know first:

• Roll the Dice: Want to keep it spontaneous? Roll dice and move through the street in the map to pick your next prompt.
• Prefer to go in order? Start from the Core Curriculum and then work your way either from the left or right of the map through only the departments and electives you choose. All the roads loop back into the middle area so you can move through the departments.
• Want to DNF a book? No problem. Switch it out. Prefer to completely drop a class? That’s ok too. Switch it for any other on the map.
• Double Dip! For the first time we are allowing you to double dip. Meaning use the same book for multiple prompts.

Romanceopoly 2026 Departments

Here’s what you’ll be reading in each department:

• Romantic Arts (Contemporary): banter, meet-cutes, fake dating, workplace tension, small towns, second chances. 
• Paranormal Studies: vampires, shifters, ghosts, demons, fated mates (fangs/claws/otherworldly energy encouraged). 
• Fantasy Theory: romantasy + fantasy romance: fae courts, royalty, portals/multiverse chaos, warlords, slow burn tension. 
• Historical Studies: scandal + yearning: dukes, love letters, Highlanders, time travel, rebellious heroines. 
• Dark Psychology: dark romance + gothic tension: obsession, power games, criminals, toxic devotion (affectionately), morally gray chaos. 

Deep dive posts into each department (COMING SOON)

Optional Reading

If you want to read more than the 20 credits to graduate for the year, then we have some optional parts of Romanceopoly 2026 that you can add in to your plan.

Clubs

There are 4 clubs you can join. Each one adds 4 prompts to your tally. No set dates for when you read them.

• Hearts & Spoons Club: Cozy contemporary romance think grumpy/sunshine, small town, cinnamon roll heroes, lots of comfort reads.
• Nightshade Society: Gothic + paranormal romance with witches, curses, haunted houses, dark academia vibes, spooky slow burns.
• Secret Stacks: Kindle Unlimited + “hidden gem” romance, think mafia, dark romance, romantic suspense, high-spice recs.
• Theta Tau Theta (ΤΤΘ): Dark romance + taboo-leaning tropes including all the red flags, morally gray leads, obsessive dynamics, high spice.

Seasonal Events

Each season brings a couple of special sports league. There will be 1 event per season (3 months) and each will add 4 prompts to your tally should you choose to join.

Mark your calendars:

• Frostbitten Trials: January through March 2026
• Bloom & Brawl Games: April through June 2026
• Heatwave Cup: July through September 2026
• Final Frenze Cup: October through December 2026

Study Sessions

This is the optional book club! We will pick a book every single month (that also fits other prompts within the challenge) and you can read along with us. Discussions on Fable and Discord. And we’ve also added a prompt in case you are not able to get the specified book. You can find all the info about the Romanceopoly 2026 Study Sessions here. Besides reading, we are also adding a bookish craft each month that you can do with us! Bookmark that page to stay up to date with what’s happening.

Decision Paralysis? Use this “Simple Path” (Your Premade Degree Plan)

If making choices makes your brain do the Windows shutdown noise, follow this exact setup:

Major: Romantic Arts
Minor: Paranormal Studies

Electives (5):

• Dark Psychology: Control Center
• Fantasy Theory: Runehall
• Fantasy Theory: Thorn Court
• Historical Studies: Corset Hall
• Historical Studies: Thistle Wing

Optional Club: Hearts & Spoons Club
Optional Event: Frostbitten Trials

That’s your whole year planned. You can still swap anything whenever you want.

Earn Badges

You can earn bragging right by completing the challenge. Obviously if you complete your 20 academics you’ll graduate! If you also complete 1 club you make the Dean’s List. In addition to that if you complete 1 event, you will be Valedictorian. There are some more badges of merit described in the guidebook, so be sure to download it so you know what they all are.

Romanceopoly 2026 Resources

We’ve got tons of resources for you to do the Romanceopoly 2026 reading challenge.

1. Printable and digital resources: Download the board, prompts, cards and guidebook, plus promotional material about the challenge.
2. Notion Romancepoly Tracker: I built a loaded interactive tracker for this year. Duplicate it in your own Notion account and start filling it in.

Is Romanceopoly 2026 on Storygraph?

Yes! But we’ve had to break up the challenge into single challenges by department so you can hit 100% completion. Note: StoryGraph doesn’t have a clean way to track your Electives as “electives,” so you may have to track those separately or use Storygraph but you won’t get 100% competition on those. These are all the individual Storygraph challenges:

• Core Curriculum (mandatory)
• Dark Psychology
• Fantasy Theory
• Historical Studies
• Paranormal Studies
• Romantic Arts
• Hearts & Spoons Club
• Nightshade Society
• Secret Stacks
• Theta Tau Theta
• Frostbitten Trials
• Bloom & Brawl Games
• Heatwave Cup
• Final Frenzy Cup
• Study Sessions

FAQ

Can one book count for multiple prompts?
Yes. Double-dipping is allowed. This is not a police state.

Do audiobooks count?
Absolutely.

Can I change my major/minor later?
Yep. Transfer credits are real and we support your journey.

Can I DNF?
Yes. Protect your peace. Swap the book and move on.

Will there be a Notion tutorial?
Yes, watch the full walkthrough tutorial.

How do I move around the board?
Start from the Registrar’s Office then use the center circle road to move around Core Curriculum and from there you’ll visit the loop road of whatever departments you select. If there’s a department you’re not doing any classes in, you don’t need to go into it.

Join the Fun

This challenge is as much about community as it is about books. Share your progress and connect with other readers by:

• Using #Romanceopoly on social media or videos (feel free to tag us on all of that @utcbookblog).
• Join the Fable book club: This is for everyone taking part in Romanceopoly. Let’s build community and help each other out in staying on track with the challenge this year.
• Join the Discord server: Come join the group chat (by popular demand).
• Weekly newsletter: I encourage you to join the Romanceopoly weekly newsletter so you can stay up to date with announcements. We will have some fun extras throughout the year, plus send you inspo and encouragement along the way.

We’ll be here every step of the way to cheer you on, share book recs, and celebrate your milestones.

Let the Games Begin

Grab the guidebook + tracker, pick your path, and I’ll see you on campus. Your dorm is ready. Your TBR is… not, but that’s between you and your Kindle.

(PS: tell me in the comments what you’re choosing for your major/minor and if you’re going full chaos mode with clubs + leagues.)

Don’t forget to follow us to stay in the loop with our blog, Youtube, Facebook and Instagram. And subscribe to the weekly Romanceopoly newsletter.

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