What’s Inside a Blanket Fort Gathering?

Your book deserves its own game. We’ll build one.

Every Blanket Fort gathering begins with a simple idea: what if readers could step back into the world of a book instead of just talking about it?

All of our gatherings are built around our clever and hilarious Blanket Fort Book Adventures — a facilitated, game-based literary event where teams complete challenges inspired by the book. Book Adventures are part D&D, part Taskmaster, part in-universe storytelling — and unlike anything else happening in the book world.

Teams compete to decode a hidden message from the book, argue competing theories about a character’s motives, or race to complete a silly, creative challenge set inside the story’s world. Points are made up and nobody is keeping track.

Around it: flash conversations, deeper small-group discussions, and get-out-of-your-seat activities that help people find new meaning in the story — whether that’s a single evening event, a full retreat, or a conference session that actually energizes a room.

Whether you’re launching a book, planning a book retreat, or ready to blow your book club’s mind, we’ll build the fort.

More info on our approach →

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So, what ACTUALLY happens at a Blanket Fort event?

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A Snapshot of our Offerings:

Full Offering Descriptions

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Book Events

These offerings center on the Blanket Fort Book Adventure: a custom-built game that can be used for a Book Launch, Author Event, or Reader Event.

Readers form teams to tackle clever challenges, swap in-universe jokes, compare theories, and follow playful prompts that draw them deeper into the world of the story. The room quickly fills with laughter and lively conversation as readers reconnect with a book they love or step into a new one for the first time. It creates the kind of energy and word-of-mouth that keeps people talking about the story.

Depending on the event, Blanket Fort can either design and facilitate the experience or design and train your team to run it confidently with all materials provided.

Publishers, need wider reach? Book Adventures are also available as packaged kits for bookseller and reader group distribution.

Book Launches & Author Events

Celebrate a new release or revisit a beloved title with a custom Blanket Fort Book Adventure designed around the story itself. Instead of a traditional reading and signing, readers form teams, tackle playful challenges, and explore the book’s themes, characters, and ideas together.

When the author is present, they can join the fun by sharing behind-the-scenes insights, reacting to reader theories, or helping judge a challenge or two. Author participation is welcome but not required — the Book Adventure works beautifully either way.

Bookstore Reader Events

Turn the bookstore into a lively night of reader fandom. In a Blanket Fort Book Adventure built around a beloved title, series, or genre, readers gather in teams to solve clever challenges, swap in-universe jokes, and rediscover the stories they love.

These events are perfect for ticketed programming that brings your community together, fills the store with laughter and conversation, and gives readers a memorable reason to return.

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Retreats

Book Retreats are full-day or multi-day gatherings built around a shared love of a book, series, or genre. Think: a Fourth Wing–inspired retreat, an ACOTAR fan mini-con, or a Three Pines mystery weekend for Louise Penny fans.

This is not a simple book-themed trip with a reading list.

Readers jump in — comparing theories, sharing favorite moments, and playing together inside the world of the story. Each retreat is a fully designed and facilitated experience: playful challenges, thoughtful conversations, a Blanket Fort Book Adventure, and a shared experience that turns readers into superfans.

Reader groups get an experience their book club will be talking about for years. Publishers and booksellers get a room full of readers who are newly obsessed with a story.

Reader Retreats

Your book club has read the books — now live inside one. Private retreats for fan groups, book clubs, and special occasions are available to book directly — no publisher or bookseller required. Day-long and full weekend formats available. This is the kind of weekend your book club will still be talking about years from now.

Bookseller Retreats

Give your most dedicated readers something they can’t get anywhere else. Blanket Fort designs and facilitates the entire experience — you bring your community and we’ll build the fort. Your readers leave with shared memories, inside jokes, and a reason to show up for whatever you do next.

Publisher-Sponsored Retreats & Mini-Cons

Put readers in a room together around a title, author, or genre right around a launch or a key sales moment. Readers leave newly obsessed with the book and ready to tell everyone they know.

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Private Gatherings

Party Kits for Fans

Gather your fellow nerds in person and revel in the universe you love — right in your living room. A fully designed, ready-to-run party experience built around any fandom your group loves. At the center is a custom-built game where guests form teams, tackle hilarious in-universe challenges, and fan-flail together in the best possible way.

Private Retreats

Think: a mini summer camp for adults (minus the mosquitos and compulsory archery) — a weekend where you and your friends play together, create, and connect deeply.

Fully hosted by Blanket Fort, with hilarious easy-to-follow games and conversations that go way beyond superficial catching up. This is the kind of weekend your group will still be talking about years from now.

Team Builders

Say goodbye to trust falls and awkward icebreakers. A custom-built game where teams tackle ridiculous challenges, debate hot takes, and solve puzzles nobody could crack alone. The room fills fast with laughter and inside jokes that outlast the event by months.

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Conference Programming

Bring the magic of a team adventure into your conference.

Blanket Fort designs immersive literary programming—from story-driven Book Adventures to pre-conference retreats and skill-building trainings—for the book community.

Signature Experience: The Blanket Fort Book Adventure

A 1–3 hour immersive experience designed for conference audiences—perfect as a kickoff, featured session, or evening event for groups of any size.

The Book Adventure brings participants fully into a story or genre, creating the kind of shared experience people are still talking about long after the conference ends.

Participants form teams and step into a story-driven adventure. They tackle surprising challenges and spot in-universe references as the room fills with laughter, shared discoveries, and playful competition in a delightfully unserious game where no one is keeping score.

Participants leave energized, newly connected with the people around them, and reminded of the joy that first drew them to stories.

Pre-Conference Retreat

Participants kick off their conference with a shared experience built around stories. Through fun, engaging activities, thoughtful conversation, and a featured Book Adventure, they explore new ways readers connect with books—and with each other.

The retreat also includes a “behind the curtain” segment, where participants see how the adventure was designed and facilitated, learning techniques for creating participatory, inclusive, and memorable literary events.

Participants return to the conference newly connected with colleagues and carrying fresh ideas for reader programming.

Pre-Conference Professional Trainings

Practical, hands-on trainings that equip participants to create memorable reader experiences and navigate complex conversations about books – offered by a professional facilitator with 20+ years of experience.

Sessions range from focused 60-minute workshops to full-day trainings on any of the following topics:

1. Tools for Difficult Conversations

2. Designing Inclusive Literary Gatherings

3. Transforming Fans into Fan Communities

4. Designing Participatory Reader Events

5. Advanced Facilitation Skills for Book Conversations