When The Present Finder got in touch offering us the chance to review and give away a copy of their brand new gift giving game The Great Christmas Present Game I was intrigued….
Christmas is time for fun, feasts, family, and board games. So what could be better this year, than unwrapping the new and exclusive, The Great Christmas Present Game! Unlike anything you’ve seen before this thrilling gift giving game has plenty of wicked surprises! Are you on Santa’s nice list this year, or will you be paid a visit by the Naughty Elf? This simple game involves plenty of gift giving and present pinching from the grand Pile of Presents! With funny forfeits and tough challenges who will end up with the biggest stash in their stocking?
Retails at £14.99
Sounds interesting, right? So to get us started with this, we received the game along with some pre-wrapped gifts so we could dive straight in and play.
The concept is a fun one, as it’s simply about trying to accumulate the most presents that you can. It’s entirely up to you how many gifts you play with, though the game recommends that each player provide two presents. We played like this, as a family of four, and the eight parcels were enough.
The box includes two boxes of Santa cards, a dice and tape measure. The latter two things are sometimes required for some of the challenges. The cards all have instructions on, such as ‘steal presents from the oldest player’, ‘give a present to the player to your left’ or ‘each player rolls the dice and if you roll a 6 you get the whole pile of presents’.
To start the game, each player takes one gift from the present pile and places it in front of them. 5 cards per player are placed in the centre of the table, face down in a single pile, and then the fun can begin.
The youngest player starts by taking a Santa card and carries out the instructions. Play then continues clockwise and the game continues until all of the cards have been played. There is a lot of movement of the presents as they are passed back and forth on every turn. If you’ve not got a present in your pile and you need to pass one on, then forfeits come into play, to be decided by your fellow players.
At the end of the game, players can open up their present pile, assuming that they have one!
The Verdict?
This is completely different to any game we’ve played before so it gets a thumbs up straightaway for originality.
It’s very easy to understand and start playing quickly, assuming that you have some wrapped gifts all ready to go. It might be that in setting up the game you theme the gifts, put budgets on them, use it to swap unwanted or duplicate presents, or use it for Secret Santa. It’s really versatile in that way.
The card prompts are all simple to understand and do, and as there’s no skills involved, it really is a level playing field making it great for all ages. It can be played quickly, or you can add more cards to the pile to keep the fun going. It is a game that had us all laughing as people lost and gained their presents and carried out various forfeits throughout.
We all played this one, and I would say that my four year old struggled a bit to understand the concept initially and really wanted to just keep all of the presents! He was reluctant to give away his present, though after a round he started to see that they were going to him as well as away from him, so he did settle into it. It may be one to avoid if you’ve got young children who are not keen on losing, as kids can be quite protective of presents! That said, what child can resist a game where they get to open presents at the end? Look at my kids faces when their turn came!
It’s clearly a game designed for the festive season, but although that might make it something that only comes out once or twice a year, I can see it being the kind of game that can become a family tradition, coming out year after year. It’s good for a laugh and there is something very exciting about not knowing what’s inside those parcels as you pass them about!
Competition
I now have a copy of this game up for grabs. To be in with a chance of winning it, enter using the rafflecopter below. The competition is open to UK entrants only and closes at 12am 13th December 2016. Good luck!
What appeals to you about this game?
Disclosure: We received this game FOC for the purposes of this post
What a fun game to play – I’m loving the idea of this and such fun. All my family are adults but still live to play games. I’m already thinking of the things I could wrap – thanks for sharing.
This sounds like a great idea.
I love that it is an interactive game and gread for using up little stocking fillers!
A fun way to give little gifts to friends and family
Spice up present giving beat opening fatigue
I love the concept of this, it sounds so different to anything I’ve seen before x 🙂
Looks like this could be fun.
i think my boys would love the challenges!
What a fun looking game and very much in the spirit of giving too. We could really do with a Christmassy game.xx
I think it’s a great interactive game and for using up as a stocking filler.
looks great fun
I like that it’s great for all ages, thanks.x
That it gets you enthralled about the run up to Christmas
I like that the family can get involved
A great way to get gifts for everyone
I think it makes Christmas a bit different! Something new
I love that it gets everyone excited about Christmas!
such a fun way to give out little gifts !
Fun to play and educational quite unique
I like that you are trying to win presents. I love presents and surprises.
My children would love this, I can imagine it now, unsupervised the items they would be wrapping up to play it with!
sounds so different and fun, love it!
This game sounds brilliant, having the joy of unwrapping gifts and a good way to use stock fillers.
I like how original it is
It’s About Christmas!
Looks a fun game, all the family can play and there is of course a chance of a parcel or parcels at the end of it
It’s innovative and looks so much fun!
It looks like lots of fun.
it seems like a great holiday game
it looks fun and like no game i have seen before
It’s different to anything I have seen but it looks fun x
I love how original it is 🙂
It looks very different to all the games we have.
The way that it’s different to any other game!
That it looks so original – not the same as other games.
looks a unique type of game
Looks like this could be fun … loving the idea of this with family
I like the look of this, it is something different for us to play
I like the fact that it’s seasonal and looks like great fun too
good fun and easy to play
It’ll distract the kids do a bit!
It sounds like a lot of fun and would be perfect for our family, we tend to only buy one gift for adult family and do a secret santa, this would make it a lot more fun.
I love how it would be a fun game to play for all of our family no matter what age
This sounds fun and different from the norm xx
A game where you get a real reward. Hopefully everyone get a present at the end.
It looks like a fun game for the whole family
The originality of this game really appeals to me. I’ve never seen a game like it! It would be a brilliant game to play with the family on Christmas Day.
Looks like fun for all the family to play
It looks a lot of fun and I sure the little ones would enjoy it
it looks fun!
I love games and christmas so this is a great combination of the two!
Fabulous game, looks so much fun and the presents are a great idea
Sounds like a really fun Xmas game…although the idea of wrapping up more presents continously doesn’t sound that appealing?
I like that it’s different and looks great fun
What a fantastic idea
I love how they can open their present pile at the end, my son would love this!
It looks fun and exciting and a game we can all play 🙂
it’s festive and gets the whole family involved
I like that it would be easy for both my boys without the younger one feeling like he is at a disadvantage
PERFECT FOR ALL THE FAMILY
Fun game to play for all ages in our family
looks like a fun game for the kids
It’s original and unique and everyone loves presents!
It’s so different!
I love how interactive it is and I think my kids would enjoy the challeneges
I like the idea and the uniqueness. It would make a fab Christmas party game.
it looks so much fun! x
That looks such fun! you can extend the gift opening on christmas day for a long time
Getting to unwrap presents – it sounds like a fun pass the parcel party game!
I like that it is an all inclusive game that the whole family can enjoy.
It looks really exciting
I like the sound of this game becoming a festive tradition. I love taking out a box of books that are just for Christmas time and it would be lovely to add games into the mix.
Looks great – never played anything like it before
I like the idea of having something to play on Christmas Day maybe after Christmas dinner, it sounds like a secret Santa but more fun!
Great family game
My nieces would love this
That it is so festive.
it looks very fun !
It’s such a different concept to the usual games – looks so fun!
It sounds like a great fun game.
It’s really different! I can imagine this would be really good fun with extra family members as an after dinner game for chocolate prizes!
its very festive x
I love how different it is compared to most board games and how interactive it is so the children playing it doesn’t get bored
a great game and fun for family and friends x
This looks really intriguing, I like the concept and can see it being a big hit.
wow this is novel and new. looks intriguing
The Christmas theme
It sounds so different to any family game I’ve played, and at a good level for the children
sounds so much fun
I like that its fun and unique
This looks really unique
This game sounds amazing!! Really different to anything i have seen before and it’s s sure thing the kids will just love this
All the family can play together.
It’s interactive and looks like fun.
It sounds so different to all of the usually family games we play at Christmas!
Sounds different and great to play as a family
I like how different this game seems.
the idea of this sounds really fun and entertaining
its different and looks great fun
I love the idea of a family game that you can look forward to playing together every year, it looks fun and unique
It’s a great game for all the family, everyone can be involved
Different to anything Ive ever played
sound like a lot of fun. the kids would love it
I like the seasonal aspect. We have a box of puzzles/books/games with a festive theme. My children really look forward to the box coming out each year.
it looks fun
It looks different and something that the kids would find fun 🙂
I think this would be a fab game to play with my grandson’s! Loads of fun!
Its great for all ages as my family have big age gap and I need to involve them all
Wow what a fantastic giveaway thanks ???
lots of things to unwrap but you give to others too
I like it because I think the kids would be intriged by it, it is so unusual and you can play with what you want .x
It looks fun 🙂
This looks like such a fun game!!
Looks like great fun.
It’s different & seems straightforward to play
My children would be excited by the wrapped presents
My kids would love this game and would probably want to play all year round heheh – I love that the kids get the excitement of opening presents! Even the happy look on your two kids faces makes me happy 🙂
looks really fun and would be a great way to spend some time and deal with some of the pre-christmas anticipation
Looks like great fun
because i love trying new games so would enjoy this xx
I love that it is unique
looks like great fun,have been looking for a christmas themed game that all the family could play on Christmas day 🙂
Different festive game – Hope to WIN
I think the kids will love it
I like that itd Christmas themed. I can easily see this being incorporated into my familys Christmas eve tradition 🙂
Because it looks like good fun for all the family.
The appeal for me is the fact it is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before! It looks like great fun, I love the concept – though I suppose it could be “interesting” to get presents suitable for all those playing!
It looks fun
My children would like it
My daughter would love it. It’s very different from all the other games 🙂
I love it as it reminds me of pass the parcel. I love the element of surprise and having presents to open.
sounds like a fun game to play with family
It’s a really original concept. I can imagine having a lot of fun with family and friends over the Christmas period.
I really like the santa shaped cards – my girls would love this game x
This sounds like a great idea. Thanks for the competition!