''Bookchase'' is a 2007

board game Board games are tabletop games that typically use . These pieces are moved or placed on a pre-marked board (playing surface) and often include elements of table, card, role-playing, and miniatures games as well. Many board games feature a comp ...

published by Art Meets Matter. Players compete to acquire six small books for their

bookshelf A bookcase, or bookshelf, is a piece of furniture with horizontal shelves, often in a cabinet, used to store books or other printed materials. Bookcases are used in private homes, public and university libraries, offices, schools, and booksto ...

. They do this by partly by answering multiple-choice

questions A question is an utterance which serves as a request for information. Questions are sometimes distinguished from interrogatives, which are the grammar, grammatical forms typically used to express them. Rhetorical questions, for instance, are inte ...

, partly by visiting special spaces on the board: The Bookshop, The Book Corner, The Library and also by chance events triggered by the turn of an Award or Sentence card. Each player takes turns moving round the board until one player has acquired six books: one of each of six categories. Once the player has a book shelf with six books they head for the centre space and if they arrive with book shelf intact they win. The game's designer Tony Davis describes the game as having "elements of

Trivial Pursuit ''Trivial Pursuit'' is a board game in which winning is determined by a player's ability to answer trivia and popular culture questions. Players move their pieces around a board, the squares they land on determining the subject of a question t ...

and

Monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

". The board game was first launched and played at The

Hay Festival The Hay Festival of Literature & Arts, better known as the Hay Festival ( cy, Gŵyl Y Gelli), is an annual literature festival held in Hay-on-Wye, Powys, Wales, for 10 days from May to June. Devised by Norman, Rhoda and Peter Florence in 1988, t ...

of Literature in 2007. It was later republished as ''The Great Penguin Bookchase''.

Equipment

Each player is represented by a small coloured

. This is moved around the board according to the roll of two

dice Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...

. Each bookshelf can accommodate up to six small books. Each book is colour-coded to represent a category of books:

Sci-fi Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel universe ...

and

Fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

Crime In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definit ...

and

Thrillers Thriller is a genre of fiction, having numerous, often overlapping subgenres. Thrillers are characterized and defined by the moods they elicit, giving viewers heightened feelings of suspense, excitement, surprise, anticipation and anxiety. Suc ...

Poetry Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...

and

Plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

Children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

and

Fun Fun is defined by the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' as "Light-hearted pleasure, enjoyment, or amusement; boisterous joviality or merrymaking; entertainment". Etymology and usage The word ''fun'' is associated with sports, entertaining medi ...

Travel Travel is the movement of people between distant geographical locations. Travel can be done by foot, bicycle, automobile, train, boat, bus, airplane, ship or other means, with or without luggage, and can be one way or round trip. Travel c ...

and

Adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme spo ...

Classics Classics or classical studies is the study of classical antiquity. In the Western world, classics traditionally refers to the study of Classical Greek and Roman literature and their related original languages, Ancient Greek and Latin. Classics ...

and

Modern Modern may refer to: History * Modern history ** Early Modern period ** Late Modern period *** 18th century *** 19th century *** 20th century ** Contemporary history * Moderns, a faction of Freemasonry that existed in the 18th century Phil ...

. Items in the standard edition are: * The board * 6 different coloured bookshelves * 36 books - six of each category colour * A set of small labels (or

Dust jacket The dust jacket (sometimes book jacket, dust wrapper or dust cover) of a book is the detachable outer cover, usually made of paper and printed with text and illustrations. This outer cover has folded flaps that hold it to the front and back book ...

s) - optional for use on the small books * 1200 multiple-choice question cards * 42 Award & Sentence cards * 2 dice * Rules

Rules

Each Player selects a Bookchase Shelf as their playing token and places it near the board centre. For example, the Yellow Shelf is placed on the Travel Adventure space (Yellow) near the centre, the Light Blue Shelf on Crime & Thrillers space (Light Blue) etc. The Bookchase Shelf is used to collect one of each of the six coloured books representing the different categories of Bookchase. Each Player rolls the dice and the highest scorer starts play. If two or more Players tie they roll again until the highest scorer is clear. Play runs clockwise. Each Player rolls in turn. First Player rolls the dice moving this number of spaces in any direction they choose. The idea is to visit each section of the board and claim a book by landing on a Bookchase Runner and answering a multiple-choice question correctly. A Player's turn must always use the exact number rolled. A Player may change direction at the start of each turn and at intersections or ‘dead-ends’ but no backtracking is allowed. As soon as a Player has a Bookchase Shelf with six books, one from each Category they must race for the centre space of the board. An exact number must be thrown to land on this space. Players need to be careful at this stage to avoid hazards.

Variations in play

Depending on type, age and skill level of players a number of variations of play are possible. The game is designed to allow player customisation and the creation of

house rules House rules are unofficial modifications to official game rules adopted by individual groups of players. House rules may include the removal or alteration of existing rules, or the addition of new rules. Such modifications are common in board g ...

. Variations include: Kids, Dash, Expert, and Collector.

References

{{reflist

External links

The official world "Bookchase" web site

Board games introduced in 2007 Roll-and-move board games Games of mental skill Party board games Quiz games