Welcome to the 2026 Book Bingo Reading Challenge! Now is the time to dig through those books you read but didn’t review, or pick up that book you’ve been thinking about. Bingo is about vibes and creative interpretations. Most importantly, it’s about fun.
The words (or numbers) in the circles are meant to be inspiration. They can be a word in the title, an image on the cover, or spark an idea. I’ve listed some possibilities below, but if I’ve learned anything from Bingo, it’s that I can never encompass your imagination and creativity. As always, fiction, nonfiction, and fan fiction are welcome. Please no generative AI.
The check-ins will return to being monthly, starting Friday, August 14, but if you have a question, please don’t hesitate to comment here, or use the contact form.
As always, a huge thanks to yesknopemaybe for creating the best bingo cards on the internet.
Official CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge Card
Download Game Card, Descriptions, and Rules
The Circles
Row 1:
- Left – the left side of your bookshelf; left hanging; a quote you love is on the left page; what is left to say?
- Joker – comedy; Batman’s nemesis; wild card; a book with a character that should have been taken seriously; gambling; taking a chance; who was that joker?
- Right – the right side of your bookshelf; right place, wrong time; everything’s going to be alright.
- Clown – fool; physical comedy; performer; tears of a clown; clowns can be a tragic figure, a scary figure, a misfit.
- One – the first book in a series; the author’s first book; a standalone; one star rating; the one book you would recommend.
Row 2:
- Steal – you got the book for a steal; you “stole” it from someone (not pirated, please don’t actually commit crime); a theft or heist happens; steal away.
- Sheep – literal or metaphorical as in Shaun the Sheep, or a group of people being led; farming; innocence; bucolic setting; the black sheep.
- Middle – middle book of a series; three star rating; a book that starts in the middle of the action; in the middle of it, embedded or undercover.
- Map – a book with a map in it; a book about a place, a journey; it really put x on the map; a plan.
- Wheels – leaving; traveling; transportation; immigration; vacation; assistive mobility devices; road trip; infrastructure; robots; a car on the cover.
Row 3:
- Success – a book about a person pursuing or defending success; you have achieved something by reading and reviewing this book.
- Justice – a book about legal or moral justice; crime; systemic oppression; criminal system; a book that does justice to an idea or genre.
- You – something about you; important to you; a favorite book, author, or topic; the place where you live or have lived (or of course the word you is in the title).
- Wealth – a wealth of information; the financial system; a rich character.
- Summer – set in the summer; read or reviewed this summer; something Summer related.
Row 4:
- Season – spice; for everything there is a season; weather; debutant; hunting; tax; solstice; season of life; seasonal depression.
- 26 – a book published or set during 2026, 1926, and so on; has a sentence you really like on page 26, or 126, or 260; related to Teddy Roosevelt (the 26th president of the United States).
- Versus – a book that fits in one of the four kinds of narrative conflict (person vs person, person vs nature, person vs self, person versus society); a book about a legal conflict or a war; enemies to lovers, etc.
- Craft – boats; knitting; a character makes something; this book is a good example (or bad example) of the craft of writing.
- And – another book in the series, or by the same author; something that adds knowledge.
Row 5:
- Or – instead of reading x, you’re reading that; an alternate perspective; an unreliable narrator; a character changes their plan; a character is faced with choices/about choices.
- Friends – all my friends are reading this/I wish my friends would read this; a book with a friend group; a friendship.
- Refuge – sanctuary; a comfort read; a hideout needs more.
- Bird – symbol of a nation; symbol of resistance; birds of a feather; bird’s eye view; has the name of a bird.
- Repair – how to fix something; a book with characters who reconcile; self improvement.
Free Circle – use this to replace any one circle. Can be used only once. You must indicate which circleyou are replacing.
The Rules
- The CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge begins on Wednesday, July 15, 2026 and ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on Sunday, November 15 2026. Only books that have reviews posted during this time period count towards completing a bingo. You can begin the reading challenge at any time during this period.
- Books must have been read during 2026.
You must tag the review on cannonballread.com with cbr18bingo and not any other variation. When using the auto-fill, start typing “c…b…r…18…b…,” and make sure you are selecting cbr18bingo from the dropdown below.. Please do not add the ‘#’ in your tag, just the text cbr18bingo, all one word. Do not add any level-related tags; cbr18bingo is the only bingo-related tag necessary.- All circles can be fiction or non-fiction, graphic novel, audiobook, or any other genre. Fanfiction is also allowable for any circle.
- Follow the bingo card graphic above to make your book choices.
- Once a circle is crossed off, it’s crossed off for good! (Feel free to print the bingo card in color, or black and white, to keep track.)
- Bingo: Complete a horizontal, vertical or diagonal line. Four corners plus center circle counts as a bingo too.
- Blackout Card: Complete all 25 circles.
- In your review, state which circle the book fulfilled, either at the top or the bottom of the review. Please make it easy to find! Please note in the review how the book fulfills the category.
- Select your first circle carefully. You can only start a new board if you have completed a full bingo board, or blackout (See #8). If you realize you have labeled a review in error after publication, please use the contact form to let us know.
- One book fulfills one circle. If a book can fit multiple circles, pick the one that works best for you.
- All Cannonball Read rules apply to the CBR18 Book Bingo Reading Challenge.
If you have questions or comments, please jump into the comment section and let us know, or use the contact form.
