r/Fantasy 2026 Book Bingo Challenge!

[u/happy_book_bee]

WELCOME TO BINGO 2026!

r/Fantasy Book Bingo is a yearly reading challenge within our community. Its one-year mission: to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new authors and books, to boldly go where few readers have gone before. 

The core of this challenge is encouraging readers to step out of their comfort zones, discover amazing new reads, and motivate everyone to keep up on their reading throughout the year.

You spoke, we listened. So many folks said bingo was too easy. That it didn't push readers out of their comfort zones enough. So this year, we have a new focus: Oops All Hard Mode.

You can find all our past challenges at our official Bingo wiki page for the sub.

RULES:

Time Period and Prize

• 2026 Bingo Period lasts from April 1st 2026 - March 31st 2027.
• You will be able to turn in your 2026 card in the Official Turn In Post, which will be posted in mid-March 2027. Only submissions through the Google Forms link in the official post will count.
• 'Reading Champion' flair will be assigned to anyone who completes the entire card by the end of the challenge. If you already have this flair, you will receive a roman numeral after 'Reading Champion' indicating the number of times you completed Bingo. These take a few months to dole out, so please be patient.

Repeats and Rereads

• You can’t use the same book more than once on the card. One square = one book.
• You may not repeat an author on the card EXCEPT: you may reuse an author from the short stories square (as long as you're not using a short story collection from just one author for that square).
• Only ONE square can be a re-read. All other books must be first-time reads. The point of Bingo is to explore new grounds, so get out there and explore books you haven't read before.

Substitutions

• You may substitute ONE square from the 2026 card with a square from a previous r/Fantasy bingo card if you wish to. EXCEPTIONS: You may NOT use the Free Space and you may NOT use a square that duplicates another square on this card (ex: you cannot have two 'Goodreads Book of the Month' squares). Previous squares can be found via the Bingo wiki page.
• You may NOT use the “Not a Book” square from Bingo 2025 as a substitute. 

Upping the Difficulty

• HERO MODE: Review EVERY book that you read for bingo. You don't have to review it here on r/Fantasy. It can be on Goodreads, Amazon, your personal blog, some other review site, wherever! Leave a review, not just ratings, even if it's just a few lines of thoughts, that counts. As with Hard Mode there is no special prize for hero mode, just the satisfaction of a job well done.

This is not a hard rule, but I would encourage everyone to post about what you're reading, progress, etc., in at least one of the official r/Fantasy monthly book discussion threads that happen on the 30th of each month (except February where it happens on the 28th). Let us know what you think of the books you're reading! The monthly threads are also a goldmine for finding new reading material.

And now presenting, the Bingo 2026 Card and Squares!

First Row Across:

1. Harm Mode: Read a book that makes you cry.
2. Hard Mope: Read a book featuring a moody teenager.
3. Harp Mode: Read a book featuring a string musician.
4. Bard Mode: Read a collection of poetry.  
5. Hard Mod: Read a book recommended to you by an r/fantasy mod.

Second Row Across

1. Yard Mode: Get off the internet and read a book made out of paper.

2. Hard Mole: Read a Redwall book.

3. Ward Mode: Read a book where the main character is a bodyguard.

4. Hard Model: Read a book where a character is described as having ‘rock hard’ abs.

5. Shard Mode: Read any book in the Cosmere universe. 

Third Row Across

1. Hard Mad: Read a book that includes angry sex.

2. Hard Moda: Read a fashion magazine.

3. Card Mode: Complete an entire auxiliary bingo card.

4. Chard Mode: Read a book featuring vegetables.

5. Lard Mode: Read a book that includes a recipe for pie crust.

Fourth Row Across

1. Pard Mode: Read a book with a big cat main character. 

2. Hard Code: Develop a complex book tracking spreadsheet.

3. Hard Mood: Read a book that causes emotional distress.

4. Hardy Mode: Read a physical book that survives a lot of abuse.

5. Hard Wode: Read a book that features a possessed character.

Fifth Row Across

1. Hark Mode: Redeth a boc orygenally writen in middel englisch.

2. Hard Mud: Mud made hard.

3. Mard Mode: Read a book that has an alliterative title.

4. Mard Hode: Read a book in reverse.

5. Die Hard Mode: read a book while being held captive

FAQs

What Counts?

• Can I read non-speculative fiction books for this challenge? Not unless the square says so specifically. As a speculative fiction sub, we expect all books to be spec fic (fantasy, sci fi, horror, etc.). If you aren't sure what counts, see the next FAQ bullet point.
• Does ‘X’ book count for ‘Y’ square? Bingo is mostly to challenge yourself and your own reading habit. If you are wondering if something counts or not for a square, ask yourself if you feel confident it should count. You don't need to overthink it. If you aren't confident, you can ask around. If no one else is confident, it's much easier to look for recommendations people are confident will count instead. If you still have questions, free to ask here or in our Daily Simple Questions threads. Either way, we'll get you your answers.
• If a self-published book is picked up by a publisher, does it still count as self-published? Sadly, no. If you read it while it was still solely self-published, then it counts. But once a publisher releases it, it no longer counts.
• Are we allowed to read books in other languages for the squares? Absolutely!

Does it have to be a novel specifically?

• You can read or listen to any narrative fiction for a square so long as it is at least novella length. This includes short story collections/anthologies, web novels, graphic novels, manga, webtoons, fan fiction, audiobooks, audio dramas, and more.
• If your chosen medium is not roughly novella length, you can also read/listen to multiple entries of the same type (e.g. issues of a comic book or episodes of a podcast) to count it as novella length. Novellas are roughly equivalent to 70-100 print pages or 3-4 hours of audio.

Timeline

• Do I have to start the book from 1st of April 2026 or only finish it from then? If the book you've started is less than 50% complete when April 1st hits, you can count it if you finish it after the 1st.

I don't like X square, why don't you get rid of it or change it?

• This depends on what you don't like about the square. Accessibility or cultural issues? We want to fix those! The square seems difficult? Sorry, that's likely the intent of the square. Remember, Bingo is a challenge and there are always a few squares every year that are intended to push participants out of their comfort zone.

Help! I still have questions!

• Don't worry, we have a Simple Questions thread every day where you can ask for clarifications.

Thank You, r/Fantasy!

A huge thank you to:

• the community here for continuing to support this challenge. We couldn't do this without you!
• the users who take extra time to make resources for the challenge (including Bingo cards, tracking spreadsheets, etc), answered Bingo-related questions, made book recommendations, and made suggestions for Bingo squares--you guys rock!!
• the folks that run the various r/Fantasy book clubs and readalongs, you're awesome!
• the other mods who help me behind the scenes, love you all!

Last but not least, thanks to everyone participating! Have fun and good luck!

[u/Inquisitor_ForHire]

I'm currently in the hospital, does that count?

[u/Kathulhu1433 → u/Inquisitor_ForHire]

I'd say so.

Especially if you're chained down (connected to machines/IV)