Here’s the breakdown of 2025’s bingo!

Submissions are included in the stats as they were reported. In other words, while we do verify that works exist (as a side effect of compiling reading stats), we don’t check if they “count”. We also don’t police other aspects of the rules; we’re just happy you’re reading!

::: spoiler What got completed?

Cards

• 10 cards total (one person did two cards)
• 9 challenges completed
  • review mode, 5 cards
  • hard mode only, 2 cards
  • regular mode only, 1 card
  • TBR only, 1 card

Bingo Lines

• 85 bingos
  • 5 cards with 12 bingos (“blackout”, all squares done)
  • 1 with 10 bingos
  • 1 with 7 bingos
  • 1 with 5 bingos
  • 1 with 3 bingos
  • 1 with no bingos But they completed 10 squares, so that’s a win in my book!
• most completed bingos (each on 90% of cards): row 1, diagonal “&” (1A--5E)
• least completed bingo (on 50% of cards): column E

Squares

• 218 completed squares
  • 201 squares contributed to a bingo (92.2% of completed squares)
  • most completed squares (on 100% of cards): 1E (Now a Major Motion Picture), 3B (Title: [X] of [Y]), 3C (Off Your TBR Pile), 4D (Award Winner), 5E (Jerk with a Heart of Gold)
  • least completed square (on 60% of cards): 3E (Saddle Up)
  • least favorite square (according to survey): 2A (Independent Author)
• 106 completed hard mode squares (48.62% of completed squares)
  • most completed hard modes (on 80% of cards): 5C (Late to the Party), 5E (Jerk with a Heart of Gold)
  • least completed hard modes (on 20% of cards), excluding 5D (Cozy Read), which had no hard mode: 1A (Number in the Title), 1C (Featured Creature), 3A (Based on Folklore)
• 6 substituted squares (2.75% of completed squares)
  • 50% of cards included a substitution (one person substituted twice): 4 were regular mode, 2 were hard mode
  • no square was replaced more than once
  • 1 square from 2024 (Water, Water Everywhere) was used as a substitution twice; the other squares used were Family Drama, It Takes Two, Older Than You Are, and There Is Another…

:::

::: spoiler What did people read?

Works

Starred (*) categories have related squares this year.

• 208 unique works read (95.41% of completed squares)
• structure/length:
  • 159 novel-length works (76.44% of unique works)
  • 22 novellas* (10.58%)
  • 16 prose anthologies or collections* (7.69%)
  • 7 pictorial works (comics, graphic novels, manga, or picture books) (3.37%)
  • 2 single short stories or essays* (0.96%)
  • 2 verse works (epic poems, novels in verse, or dramatic verse) (0.96%)
• marketed audience:
  • 171 adult works (82.21% of unique works)
  • 29 YA works (13.94%)
  • 8 middle grade works (3.85%)
• publishing:
  • 195 traditionally published works (93.75% of unique works)
  • 13 self-published works* (6.25%)
• original language:
  • 193 English works* (92.79% of unique works)
  • 15 non-English works* (read in the original language, or translated to English) (7.21%)
• series:
  • 103 standalone works (49.52% of unique works)
  • 55 works considered #1 in a series (26.44%)
  • 50 prequels, sequels, or other works connected to a series (not #1) (24.04%)

Notable Content Tags

Works may be in multiple categories/subcategories. A space thriller with strong mystery and romance elements would be counted once for each of the following tags: speculative, space, suspenseful, mystery, thriller, and romantic.

Starred (*) tags have related squares this year.

• speculative: 147 (70.67% of unique works)

  • general fantasy: 63 (30.29% of unique works)

  • folklore*: 13 (6.25%)

  • urban fantasy: 10 (4.91%)
    __

  • space: 23 (11.06%)

  • dystopian: 22 (10.58%)

  • general scifi: 21 (10.1%)

• suspenseful: 82 (39.42%)
  • mystery: 53 (25.48%)
  • thriller: 31 (14.9%)
  • horror/gothic: 29 (13.94%)
  • war*: 11 (5.29%)
  • espionage*: 5 (2.4%)
• historical: 37 (17.79%)
• literary/contemporary: 31 (14.9%)
• LGBTQIA+*: 30 (14.42%)
• romantic: 29 (13.94%)
• nonfiction: 19 (9.13%)
  • memoir: 8 (3.85%)
• cozy*: 15 (7.21%)
• politics*: 13 (6.25%)
  • feminism*: 7 (3.37%)
  • social issues*: 7 (3.37%)
• humor: 11 (5.29%)

Publication Year

• before 1940: 6 (2.89% of unique works)
• 1940s: 1 (0.48%)
• 1950s: 5 (2.4%)
• 1960s: 9 (4.33%)
• 1970s: 2 (0.96%)
• 1980s: 9 (4.33%)
• 1990s: 7 (3.37%)
• 2000s: 18 (8.65%)
• 2010s: 68 (32.69%)
• 2020s: 83 (39.9%)

Most Read Titles

• 3 times: Old Man’s War by John Scalzi
• 2 times:
  • 1984 by George Orwell
  • All Systems Red by Martha Wells
  • Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree
  • The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune
  • A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers
  • Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
  • Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins
  • Vita Nostra by Marina & Sergey Dyachenko

Most Read Authors

Starred (*) authors were on the list last year, too.

• 6 works: Brandon Sanderson, Martha Wells
• 5 works: Suzanne Collins
• 4 works: Pierce Brown, John Scalzi
• 3 works: Becky Chambers*, T. Kingfisher, Sarah J. Maas, Nnedi Okorafor*

Historical Read Time Periods

• pre-1000s: 2
• “medieval”: 1 Couldn’t find a more exact century for this one.
• 1000s: 0
• 1100s: 0
• 1200s: 0
• 1300s: 1
• 1400s: 2
• 1500s: 0
• 1600s: 0
• 1700s: 3
• 1800s: 12
• 1900s: 16

:::

::: spoiler What about specific squares (and participation)?

Judge a Book by Its Cover

A few of these had multiple covers; I hope I chose the right one for the graphic!

• Alice in Sunderland by Bryan Talbot
• The Grip of It by Jac Jemc
• The Lamb Will Slaughter the Lion by Margaret Killjoy
• The Loneliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James
• Lute by Jennifer Thorne
• My Roommate is a Vampire by Jenna Levine
• Soul Eater by Lily Mayne
• Valuable Humans in Transit and Other Stories by qntm
• The Wager by David Grann

Author from Another Continent

• 8 unique works
  • 3 from Asia (37.5%)
  • 3 from Europe (37.5%)
  • 1 from North America (12.5%)
  • 1 from Oceania (12.5%)

__

Participation

• 9 people submitted cards
  • 6 returning participants, 3 new
  • 50% increase in Fediverse participation from last year
• 13 people joined the Storygraph challenge
  • 4 returning participants, 9 new
  • 85.71% increase in Storygraph participation from last year

:::

::: spoiler Feedback There were a couple of pieces of feedback we got at turn-in that we wanted to share our thoughts on:

Firstly, Independent Author was ranked the most difficult or disliked square for 2025. We’re definitely going to be looking at making it more accessible going forward.

Also, someone asked if we’d consider using Bookwyrm for future challenges. We absolutely like the idea of spreading bingo to more reading sites, but we don’t want to stretch ourselves too thin. Instead, our hope is that the community may eventually step in to provide resources like this (and maybe even take over the Storygraph challenge someday)! We’re happy to coordinate with projects, whether Bookwyrm lists, tracking spreadsheets, online tools, more discussion threads, or anything else you think might be helpful; just let us know.

(In case you’re wondering, the yearly list of book suggestions is actually a by-product of playtesting squares to make sure they’re doable! Storygraph has just always been the fastest, easiest way for us to share that work as a community resource.)

If you’d like to help make bingo, chat about resources, alert us to something cool you made for the challenge, or give feedback, please do comment here or DM me ( @[email protected] ) or Jaymes ( @[email protected] )!

:::

__

Data Visualization Font Credits: Parchment, by Photo-Lettering, Inc.; Noto Sans, by the Noto Project authors.

We said we'd post the stats from last year's bingo, so here's the breakdown!

Submissions are included in the stats as they were reported. In other words, while we do verify that works exist (as a side effect of compiling reading stats), we don't check if they "count".

::: spoiler What got completed?

Cards

• 6 cards submitted (1 card per person) Not bad for a niche first-time event on the fediverse!
• 2 challenge modes completed (review mode, by 2 people)

Bingo Lines

• 31 bingo lines completed
  • 2 cards with 12 bingos done ("blackout"/all squares)
  • 1 with 3 bingos
  • 1 with 2 bingos
  • 2 with 1 bingo
• most popular bingo (on 66.7% of cards): row 1

Squares

• 96 squares completed
  • most completed squares (on 83.3% of cards): 1A (Older Than You Are), 1C (What’s Yours Is Mine), 1D (Family Drama), 3A (Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie), 3C (One Less), 4A (Now a Major Motion Picture), 4C (Award Winner)
  • least completed squares (on 33.3% of cards): 4B (It’s About Time), 5B (It's a Holiday)
  • least favorite square, according to survey: 2B (Plays with Words)
• 41 hard mode squares (42.71% of completed squares)
  • most completed hard modes (on 66.7% of cards): 3B (Stranger in a Strange Land), 3C (One Less)
  • hard modes nobody did: 1E (It Takes Two, three authors), 3A (Eazy, Breazy, Read-zie, read on vacation), 4B (It’s About Time, backward in time), 5D (Minority Author, ethnic minority and LGBTQIA+)
  • squares submitted only in hard mode: 3B (Stranger in a Strange Land), 3E (LGBTQIA+ Lead), 5B (It's a Holiday)
• 2 substituted squares (2.1% of completed squares)
  • 33.3% of cards included a substitution
  • substitutions made: 1B > She Blinded Me with Science, 5A > A Change in Perspective :::

::: spoiler What did people read?

Types of Works

• 93 unique works read
  • 68 fiction novels (73.1% of unique works)
  • 14 fiction novellas (15.1%)
  • 3 fiction or nonfiction short stories or short story collections (3.2%)
  • 3 fiction or nonfiction comics, graphic novels, or manga (3.2%)
  • 3 verse works (epic poems, novels in verse, or dramatic verse) (3.2%)
  • 2 nonfiction biographies or memoirs (2.2%)

Publication Years

• before 1900: 3 (3.2% of unique works)
• 1900–1909: 2 (2.2%)
• 1910–1919: 0
• 1920–1929: 4 (4.3%)
• 1930–1939: 0
• 1940–1949: 0
• 1950–1959: 5 (5.4%)
• 1960–1969: 5 (5.4%)
• 1970–1979: 3 (3.2%)
• 1980–1989: 2 (2.2%)
• 1990–1999: 4 (4.3%)
• 2000–2009: 5 (5.4%)
• 2010–2019: 30 (32.3%)
• 2020–2024: 30 (32.3%)

Notable Content Tags

Works may be in multiple categories/subcategories. A space detective thriller would be counted once for each of the following tags: space, scifi, fantastical, mystery/detective, thriller, and suspenseful.

• fantastical: 62 (66.7% of unique works)
  • scifi: 22 (23.7%)
    • space: 8 (8.6%)
  • supernatural: 11 (11.8%) Surprisingly, not all supernatural titles were also horror.
  • dystopian: 6 (6.5%)
  • epic fantasy: 5 (5.4%)
  • magical realism: 4 (4.3%)
• suspenseful: 45 (48.4%)
  • mystery/detective: 20 (21.5%)
  • horror/gothic: 18 (19.4%)
  • thriller: 16 (17.2%)
• historical: 21 (22.6%)
• romantic: 16 (17.2%) Includes a significant romantic element; does not need to be in a romance genre.
• literary/contemporary: 16 (17.2%)
• YA/middle grade: 8 (8.6%)
• nonfiction: 4 (4.3%)

Most Read Titles (2 each)

• The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
• Relic by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child
• The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy

Most Read Authors (2 each)

• Ray Bradbury
• Becky Chambers
• Mareike Fallwickl
• Nnedi Okorafor
• J.R.R. Tolkien :::

Hey everyone, we're juuuuust over halfway through our second [email protected] community book bingo challenge! If you haven't joined in yet, there's still plenty of time. You might've even already made progress by accident: anything you've read since May has the potential to count! The challenge only requires completing five squares in a line.

If you're already working on bingo, how's it going so far? Doing any fun themes? Having trouble?

The last day of bingo is April 30th; there'll be a turn-in post near the beginning of April. Even if you don't end up finishing the challenge, we'd love to hear from you!

On behalf of myself, Dresden, and JaymesRS, thanks for stopping in, and happy reading!

Free to keep this weekend!

One gloomy night, Bulb Boy wakes suddenly from a frightening nightmare to discover that evil has overshadowed the Bulbhouse. His family has disappeared and there are horrid monsters lurking in the shadows. Gather the courage and use his glass head to save everything he loves. Find light in yourself!

Gameplay

Bulb Boy is an intuitive 2D point & click horror adventure about a boy with a glowing head (alright, it's a bulb...) inspired by Machinarium and Gobliiins. Solve puzzles, defeat wicked monsters and reveal bulby's abilities to unfold a twisted tale. Ohhh... And don't forget to save your Grandpa-raffin and Mothdog from the frightening darkness..

Key Features

• DEFEAT THE MONSTERS -Explore the Bulb house, that is full of frightening creatures. Defeat the evil in all its forms and bring the light back.
• BULB'S TALENTS - Being a boy that is a bulb comes with many talents. Not only does your head light up and allows you to survive electrical shocks, but it can also be unscrewed for use in strange places.
• PLAYABLE FLASHBACKS - Play as other family characters. Relive Bulb Boy's childhood memories to uncover the mystery of the story.
• BUBBLE SPEECH - No dialogue, just bubble speech. Watch the story unfold in animated clouds.
• SECRETS - There are things in the house waiting to be revealed.
• POOP - In many sizes and proportions.

Figured I'd post this since I know some of you really like Murderbot, although to be clear, this seems to be just a side character story (idk, I haven't read the series). According to the announcement, it's set after book 2.

There's also a short story set after book 4 available.

The Locus Awards are put on by Locus Magazine, a monthly indie publication (since 1968!) focusing on SFF book news and reviews. They're pretty good about including small press stuff in their weekly new releases posts, which is nice.

Winner highlights:

• Science fiction novel: The Man Who Saw Seconds, Alexander Boldizar
• Fantasy novel: A Sorceress Comes to Call, T. Kingfisher
• Horror novel: Bury Your Gays, Chuck Tingle
• YA novel: Moonstorm, Yoon Ha Lee
• First novel: Someone You Can Build a Nest In, John Wiswell
• Novella: What Feasts at Night, T. Kingfisher
• Novelette: “By Salt, By Sea, By Light of Stars“, Premee Mohamed
• Short story: “Why Don’t We Just Kill the Kid in the Omelas Hole“, Isabel J. Kim
• Anthology: The Black Girl Survives in This One, Desiree S. Evans & Saraciea J. Fennell, eds.
• Collection: Lake of Souls, Ann Leckie

Released February 7, 2025.

Hey everyone!

We're about six months into our first [email protected] Book Bingo challenge. If you didn't know about it, or if you've been debating joining, there's still plenty of time to participate! You do not need to fill a whole card to complete the challenge: 'bingo' is only five squares in a line.

If you're already working on bingo, how's it going so far? Doing any fun challenges? Having trouble with any squares or rules? Any and all feedback is welcome and appreciated!

We'll be doing another post in a few months for 2025 bingo suggestions, and a turn-in post at the beginning of April.

On behalf of myself, Dresden, and JaymesRS, thank you for being here, and happy reading!

In a small Dutch village in the Dark Ages, Frieda carries the blame for her struggle to conceive a child with her husband. She believes God is her only hope and seeks help from the village priest. But when the local butcher attempts to take advantage of Frieda, chasing her into the forest, he mysteriously disappears. Frieda comes back unscathed, the first to ever return from the unknown dangers outside of the village. The community becomes suspicious that it was not God who brought her back safely but a dark force cloaked in fog beyond the edge of the woods. Frieda becomes suspicious as well, but her doubts begin to form a new faith within her; a faith in the ones that linger in the darkness.

https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1219739-witte-wieven

Technically this premiered in the Netherlands already, but it's debuting in the US this week at Fantastic Fest as per here. Hopefully that counts as "upcoming"!

• September 6 at 11 a.m. ET - September 9 at 11 a.m. ET: Heavy Caliber + 30K Credits
• September 13 at 11 a.m. ET - September 16 at 11 a.m. ET: Depleted Reload + 30K Credits
• September 20 at 11 a.m. ET - September 23 at 11 a.m. ET: Tainted Shell + 30K Credits
• September 27 at 11 a.m. ET - September 30 at 11 a.m. ET: Magnum Force + Stratos Emblem

(mission details are in the post, if you care)

Mixing every color using light = white

Mixing every color using pigments (paint, ink, etc.) = black

A note: this is not the full series, just a large percentage.

ETA: Requires a Kobo account to redeem; also, US only.

Nightwave: Nora’s Mix Vol. 6 is coming to a close—ending on Tuesday, September 3rd at 1 p.m. ET. However, similar to Nora’s Mix Vol. 6, Nightwave: Nora’s Mix Vol. 7 will be released quickly after, on Tuesday, September 3rd, around 2:15 p.m. ET (whenever we Hotfix!)

Vol. 7 rewards are Stalker-themed (the link has a list, but no pictures).

Don't forget to spend your creds!

From their most recent album, Twilight Aura.

A favorite of mine from a few years ago.