- Players: 4+
- Age: 5+
- Time: 30-60 minutes
Preparation
Before you can play SANTA SAYS there is a bit of preparation required.
- You need to agree with all the players on a budget.
- Then all players need to buy 2 to 3 presents with a total cost equal to the budget.
- And finally everybody needs to wrap their presents individually so that the other players don't know what's inside the packages.
Gameplay
Set up
All presents for the game are put underneath the Christmas tree (or on a big pile, as long as they're accessible to the players)
Take both decks out of the box, shuffle them and place them in the middle of the group.
Round 1
The youngest player starts the game by drawing the first card from the first deck and following the instructions.
Then the person on their left takes their turn and so on. The first round ends when the last present is taken from underneath the Christmas tree.
During the first round it is important that nobody opens their presents unless they draw a card that instructs them to do so.
Round 2
At the start of round 2 all players unwrap the presents they have collected during round 1.
For the second round you go through the entire deck once for every 10 players, so if you are for example playing with 12 people, then you go through the deck twice.
End of the game
After the last card has been drawn each person checks how many presents they have. If somebody has no presents they can simply steal any present from anybody and then they leave the game with that present. Continue clockwise until everyone has at least 1 present. That way nobody ends the game empty handed.
After the game ends you can always trade and swap presents with the other players.
Optional Rule
An optional rule to the game is that nobody has to give away their last present if they only have 1 left. This can be useful in a game with small children that might get upset if they (temporarily) lose all their presents.
Clarifications
Some cards allow you to swap presents with another person. If you or another person have no presents, then that person swaps nothing for something.
If you draw a card that protects your presents, you simply place it on top of that present to indicate that it is protected until the end of the round/game. If you don’t have any presents when you draw that card you simply hold on to the card until you receive a present. This protects the present from any steal, trade or swap
Some of the cards have a snowflake on the top right corner, these cards can be added or removed from the game to change the flow of the game to match your group.
For the house rule card you can make up whatever rule you want, be creative but keep it festive. Some suggestions are:
- Do a limbo challenge with a pillow under your shirt like a 'big santa belly'. The winner gets to take a present from the tree
- Change the direction of play
- Sing a Christmas song
- Pretend to be a reindeer
- ...
If you have any other fun ideas for a house rule, feel free to share them with us on instagram