The Very Merry Christmas Game {board game review}

We’re a family who loves to play board games together regularly. We’ve shared some of our favourites but are always on the look out for another game to try. With Christmas approaching next month we have a lovely seasonal game to tell you about today. It’s a fun family game of Presents, Crackers, Christmas Songs… and Sprouts!

The Very Merry Christmas Game {board game review}

We’ve played The Very Merry Christmas Game a few times now. It’s a fun board game where you move around the board collecting presents (the present cards) to fill your stocking. Presents have a star value depending on whether they’re nice… or naff – ranging from toothpaste to a new tablet.

Presents can also be given to other players – particularly the bad ones! You can take other players’ gifts from them and this is decided on the pull of a cracker (the cracker cards). My children loved this aspect of the game.

All players’ presents are placed face down in the stocking so nobody knows what they’ve got but there are opportunities to take a sneaky look to find out which ones to get rid of and which ones to keep. If you land on the singing space you have to sing a verse from a Christmas song or carol to avoid losing one of your gifts. My children weren’t so keen on this part as they didn’t know many songs. Thankfully Alexa helped and was able to sing on their behalf.

The player with the best presents at the end of the game is the winner. But make sure you watch out for the two sprout cards. If you have one sprout card at the end of the game you’ve lost, but have two sprout cards and you win!

It’s definitely a fun Christmassy game with all the joys of Christmas in one box!

Essential information

What’s inside the box: 42 Cracker cards, 32 Present cards, 4 playing pieces, 2 dice, a game board, paper party hat and rules

For 2 to 4 Players or Teams

Suitable for ages 8 to Adult

Game takes around 30 minutes

The Very Merry Christmas Game is available from John Lewis, Debenhams and Amazon (affiliate link) for £20.00