Hey folks! It’s my favorite time of year. The weather is getting cooler, the music is getting nostalgic, and the families are getting ready to annoy the hell.. I mean… share precious moments together around the table. What better way to avoid talking about politics and other uncomfortable topics than pulling out a seasonally themed game to play? If this sounds good to you, then you should seriously (or humorously) consider these games:
1) Letters To Santa (AEG, 2-4 Players, Ages 10+, 20 minutes)
Letters to Santa is a card game that is an exact copy of another great game, Love Letter, but with Christmas themed art. Instead of trying to get your letter to the Princess, players are trying to get their notes to Santa. The art is adorable and the game is easy to teach, even to non-gamers and grand parents. Letters To Santa has simple mechanics – players draw a card and play a card – and a single round takes 5 minutes or so to play. Letters To Santa is a great way to get your family and friends into the holiday spirit. Check it out.
2) 12 Days (Calliope Games, 3-5 Players, Ages 8+, 20-30 minutes)
12 Days is a trick taking card game that plays over 12 rounds. The deck has 80 cards, with one 1, two 2’s, three 3’s, etc. all the way up to twelve 12’s. Players start with a hand of 12 cards. Each round represents one of the days of Christmas. Day 1 is worth a single victory point and day 12 is worth 12 points, etc. In a round, a player: Gifts a present (card) to the player to his left, opens presents (all players secretly choose and simultaneously reveal it, and tries to win the day (lowest card takes the trick) with the best present, and buys a new gift (draws a card) to refill his hand. At the end of the game, players will still have 12 cards in their hands. At that point, each day is revisited, and the player(s) with the majority of each number get victory points equal to that day’s number. For instance, the player with the most 7’s in hand at the end gets 7 additional victory points. Players then add up the values of the days they won, and the player with the most points wins.
12 Days has some of the snazziest art you’ll find in a card game. The cards look like stained glass windows with art depicting the various subjects from the “12 Days Of Christmas” song. The game play is simple, but there is a good bit of strategy involved. You must consider holding on to your lowest cards for the higher valued days, but you also have to consider holding on to higher value cards for the end of the game. Plus, you have to make sure you keep gifting mediocre cards to the player on your left so they can’t hoard the higher ones for the end of the game. In addition, there are two cards in the deck with 0’s on them (Santa and Mrs. Claus). These cards will win the trick, but the twist is that you have to give the victory points to another player of your choice. This adds an additional amount of strategy to the game. 12 Days will appeal to young and old players alike, and you should consider adding this to your holiday list. (Insert Holiday 4)
3) Unusual Suspects – (CMON, 3-18 Players, Ages 13+, 10-20 minutes)
If your holiday group is a little bolder, Unusual Suspects can provide some laughter and interesting discussion. It’s a cooperative game where one player is the witness to a crime. The other players are the detectives trying to figure out who the culprit is. There are 12 suspects whose pictures are laid out on the table (think Codenames) in a grid. Detectives draw questions from an investigation deck with each question not being about the appearance of the suspect, but a characteristic about their lives: Do they have a gym membership? Do they go to church? Do they have outstanding parking tickets? The witness can only answer yes or no. The detectives must then discuss (based on their own personal biases) which suspects to eliminate by removing those cards from the grid. If the detectives pick the ACTUAL culprit, the game is over and everyone loses. The goal is to eliminate all other suspects, leaving the culprit as the last card on the table. Unusual Suspects provides a unique social experience that may not be for everyone, but if your family is going to get into awkward discussions anyway, why not put in the context of a cooperative game to take the edge off? Our group loved it!
Well, there you go. Two traditional and one not so traditional game for your Holiday Season. Whatever you do, play some games over the holidays. It WILL make your season brighter. Thanks for reading and keep nerding on!
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