Feel free to try it out if you're hosting a party. Go and pick up some gifts from the dollar store, one for each guest coming.
If it's a large party, this may not work well, as it's always hard to explain RULES to games in a large party environment.
The more people play along, and chime in, the more fun the game will be. As with most games, the more people bring to the game, the more fun it is.
Game idea:
Christmas gift exchange trivia bonanza
On the table there are X number of unwrapped decorative boxes with various gifts inside, topped with removable lids.
(X is the number of players in the game)
The game begins with the youngest member present being asked a Christmas trivia question. (find some on the internet)
Game play:
If the question is answered correctly the player may choose one of 5 options:
1 take a box from the center table, open it and look inside NOT revealing the contents to anyone else.
or
2 take a box from someone else in possession of one (then look inside, not revealing its contents to anyone else)
or
3 Trade their box with one on the table or in someone else's possession. (then look inside, etc)
or
4 Give a box they currently have to someone without a gift. (thus leaving them without a gift, in the true spirit of Christmas)
Or
5 Keep your gift and do nothing.
(if it is the first time you've answered correctly, then option 1 or 2 is your only choice)
If the question is answered incorrectly, the player does nothing. (If an answer is close to the correct answer, but slightly 'iffy' the crowd can weigh in for final judgement.)
Play continues in a round, asking each player in turn.
Upon answering their third trivia question correctly, a player has a new option available to them:
6 - freeze your gift and cease to answer questions. The gift is then frozen and no longer eligible for stealing, and the player no longer has a turn. They are skipped over until the game ends.
If the player chooses not to use option 6, then their play continues on, and they can continue answering questions and swapping gifts until they either use option 6, or the game ends.
The Game ends when everyone has answered 3 trivia questions correctly (for smaller groups, 4 questions correctly).
(the game ends this way, because if you're having a lot of fun, and wish to drag the game out, you can of course purposely answer the question incorrectly. However this will soon be pointless if everyone else has opted to freeze their gift…. and suddenly you become the weirdo who can't accept the fact that the game is over, and will be subject to public scorn.)
