***BINGO UPDATE*** Book Cover Bingo has now ended. The last book was won on July 14. If you are just coming across this post now and would have liked to play, I will be hosting another game of Book Cover Bingo in the future. (Date undetermined as of now.) You can check back in for Bingo news and updates, or consider subscribing to my blog via RSS, email, or adding yourself as a follower so you hear about game news from the very beginning. Hope you’ll join the fun in the next round of Book Cover Bingo!***
 
It’s officially summer and I’m itching for some fun and games. So I had this crazy idea to try hosting a game of Bingo here on my blog for the month of July. I like a good theme, so instead of generic Bingo I thought I’d give it a Creative Spaces twist and host the first ever CREATIVE SPACES BOOK COVER BINGO! **insert confetti explosion and sound of celebratory kazoo horns here**

So what would you be playing for? How about Bingo-winning bragging rights and hilarious fun?!?!

Oh, you want tangible honest-to-goodness prizes? All right, All right. I’ve got a few things here that might perk up those competitive bingoing skilz. In fact, I’ve got 15 fabulous prizes. (No joke, there’s some seriously cool stuff up for grabs here.) But more on those goodies in a minute. First, how will this game work?

How To Play:

1. Email me at fromthemixedupfiles(at)gmail.com (Replace the (at) with an @–I’m just trying to avoid spambots, I’ve got enough offers for great deals on Viagra for now, thank you much.) 

2. I will email you your Bingo playing card. Each Bingo card is unique, created by myself using a pool of over 80 book covers that have been featured in previous Creative Spaces interviews as well as the ones that are upcoming in July. So far I’ve made up 15 game cards, in hopes that at least 15 of you will play so all the prizes can be won. 

3. There are roughly 552,446,474,061,128,648,601,600,000 possible arrangements for book covers on my Bingo cards, so no more than 552,446,474,061,128,648,601,600,000 people can play. Sorry Person # 552,446,474,061,128,648,601,600,001!

4. When I send you your Bingo card PDF file, I’ll rename the file after you. This is partially because it appeals to my organizationally anal side, but also it will hopefully deter anyone from doctoring their card in order to falsely win.

5. On July 1, I will start calling out book covers by posting them on my blog. I have a pool of over 80 book titles that I am drawing from so, in order to get through all of them in one month, I will be updating my blog 2-3 times a day with a new book cover. EVERY post will have a Bingo cover in it so make sure you check them all so you don’t miss a book.

6. If a book cover is posted that you have on your card: Hooray! You can cross it off on your card. 

7. Once you have 5 book covers crossed off in the same row (horizontal, vertical, or diagonal), comment “BINGO!” on whatever is the most recent blog entry. Your winner status will be tied to the time you post your BINGO! comment. (So if two people get Bingo with the same book cover, the person who comments earliest gets first pick of the prizes.)

8. Once I check against the PDF file that I sent you (and named in your honor) I will pronounce you Winna!Winna!Winna! and you get your pick of the available prizes.

9. Once a book cover has been called, it is fair game to cross off your board no matter when you come across it. Meaning, if you check in once a week, make sure you go back and review all the books that have already been called so you don’t miss out on a BINGO!

10. To avoid confusion, I will ALWAYS precede a Bingo game book cover with something along the lines of “The next Bingo book cover is. . .” (Some posts, like the Creative Spaces interviews or a book review, are going to include images of book covers and these covers do not count for the purposes of the game.)

11. I will be posting on July 4.

12. We’ll keep playing until either all prizes have been won or the month ends. (If people want to keep playing after all the prizes have been spoken for, we can do that too. We’ll discuss if we get to that point.) 

13. There is no cut-off time for joining the game. You can email me for a playing card now, next week, July 16, or even July 31 if you’d like. But you are considered a winner from the time you post your “BINGO!” comment on my blog, not from the day your winning book was posted, so the earlier you join in the better.

14. I reserve the right to fiddle with these rules as we go along if need be. This is an experiment of sorts as I’ve never organized an online game like this before. Fingers crossed it’s a fun and successful experiment!

The pool of prizes includes books from each of the upcoming July interviewees (so this is also a preview of the Monday interviews you’ll be seeing). The books available to win are (click on the title link for more information about the book):

1. A hardback copy of Bobbi Miller’s picture book Davy Crockett Gets Hitched!

2. A hardback copy of Rosanne Parry’s critically acclaimed novel Heart of a Shepherd!

3. A paperback copy of Rosanne Parry’s Heart of a Shepherd!

4. An advanced reader copy of NYT bestselling author Maggie Steifvater’s upcoming release, Linger!

  
5. A SIGNED hardback copy of Maggie Stiefvater’s upcoming release Linger!*


6. A SIGNED hardback copy of Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (the prequel to Linger)!*

7. A SIGNED paperback copy of Lament by Maggie Stiefvater!*

8. A SIGNED paperback copy of Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater!*

*Maggie’s books were ordered from Fountain Bookstore and so while they will be autographed by her, I cannot have them inscribed to specific individuals.  

9. The brand new picture book collaboration of Mac Barnett and Dan Santat, OH NO! Or How My Science Project Destroyed the World!

10. The hardback picture book Always Lot of Heinies at the Zoo by Ayun Halliday and illustrated by Dan Santat!

11. The brand new paperback version of Bobby vs. Girls (Accidentally) by Lisa Yee and illustrated by Dan Santat.

In addition, when I wrote to the previous Creative Spaces interviewees about doing this game, a number of them offered up copies of their books to sweeten the prize pool. Since these would be coming directly from the authors, they would be able to sign and inscribe their books for you if you would like. So I’m very excited to add to the list the following prizes: 

12. Eleanora E. Tate’s middle-grade novel Celeste’s Harlem Renaissance!

13. Janet Fox’s debut young adult novel Faithful!

14. Lyn Miller-Lachmann’s  young adult novel Gringolandia!

  
15. Denise Vega’s young adult novel Fact of Life #31!

So that’s it! That’s the run-down of my July summer fun game of Book Cover Bingo. I hope you’ll join me, and please spread the word to anyone you think would enjoy this. The more the merrier!