Bring Your Own Book is the game of borrowed phrases, where players search through books for text to take way out of context.
It's easy. Players take turns drawing prompts from the deck, then race to find the best phrase in their own book that satisfies the prompt. Since you can use a different book each time, you can play it with any audience, and there's a practically infinite supply of source material.
What's the tastiest “name for a candy bar” in that history textbook you're reading for school? How quickly can you find “lyrics from a country western song” in your dog-training guide? What kind of “advice for graduating seniors” will appear in your anthology of limericks?
Grab a copy of Bring Your Own Book and find out!
Based on a promising prototype (called "Borrowed Phrases"), we ran a well-received crowdfunding campaign in 2015, resulting in the first edition, which was followed shortly by licensed versions in several markets.
BYOBook at BGG
In 2026, coinciding with the game's ten-year anniversary, content creator and book publisher Ezeekat partnered with rising game publisher Happy Camper on a refreshed and expanded English edition. Get it today!
Happy Camper
A stylish new German edition from frechverlag also arrived in 2026, and the adorable Japanese edition from Kenbill is still available. To see information about every edition, new and old, click the link below.
Edition Status
Sign up here for our (infrequently used) mailing list! We'll immediately send you links to the print-and-play edition of Bring Your Own Book. All you'll need are the prompts, a one-minute timer, and some friends with books. Pro tip: get your friends to cut out the cards.
If you've played before and want to extend the experience, you can also download additional rule sets to suit your mood. As long as you're subscribed, you'll be the first to know when big things happen with BYOBook!
get the free print & play
We'll let you know when it ships, sometime in October.
Copyright 2014-2026 Do Better Games, LLC