Among most non-gamers, there are really only two kinds of tabletop games: card games and dice games. Think about it, even Monopoly is ultimately a dice game. Okay, there is also Scrabble. But that’s its own special sort of hell.
Anywho. ‘Tis the season for family gatherings and playing “games for non-gamers”. That’s not said in a derogatory way, there are plenty of games that those of us who regularly play modern games and those who don’t can both enjoy. Is there really that much difference between playing a traditional trick-taking game and something like Skull King? My mother would never play a game like Skull King, “it’s too weird” she would say. I could get her to play Yahtzee, but never Doctor Who Yahtzee. For some, even most “gateway games” are of no interest. My point is that it is often a challenge for regular gamers to find something for everyone. The holiday season is often the ideal time to gently coax people to the table. The 12 Dice of Christmas is just unassuming enough to help you do that. It’s seasonally themed, but not to excess. It’s straightforward but still requires some thought. It’s not a long game, however it plays briskly. A near-perfect mix accessible to almost everyone.
The game is easy. The youngest player rolls 12 dice, then chooses one die to store or score. To score a die, put it into the bag and cross that numbered present off your score pad. To store it, you simply keep it. Then the next player drafts a die. If you previously stored any dice, you can score the sum of any number of stored dice. When all the dice have been taken, the round ends and any unscored dice are lost. In the next round, the player with the highest unscored present remaining on their scorepad rolls the dice and the process continues until a player scores the last gift on their scorepad. Super easy.
No really. It’s that super easy. Can your kid can count to 12 with a bit of help, and won’t eat the dice? They can play. Want a game to take out to the bar or an otherwise boring Christmas party? This will fit in your pocket. Is that awful uncle getting extra obnoxious? Take a shot for every unscored die.
[ * officially labelled 14+ I assume for some legal reason to do with eating the dice.]
[ ** insert the usual legal drinking disclaimers here, even though I never said it had to be adult shots.]
You’ve heard the saying “when one door closes, another opens”? Well hang a wreath and some mistletoe on the door and that also sums up most of my criticisms of 12 Dice of Christmas. For example, there’s very little that’s intrinsically “Christmas” about the game outside of the name and art. The dice are a pearly red, but they could very easily have put snowflakes or Christmas ornaments or whatever else to up the theme. On the other hand, that means it’s very easy to pull out any time of year, and just write 1-12 on a piece of paper to save the present-themes scorepad for the holidays. I will almost always take issue with single-use components, like score pads. I would have liked to see them double-sided and/or the box being a touch wider to let me laminate a set. But again, just write 1-12 on something. Deal with it. I also understand that my “improvements” would increase the cost of a product specifically intended to be a low cost product, which is one of the bigger benefits of it.
If you can get your family playing this, the next step might be to pull out Random Fun Generator, also from Steve Jackson Games, for another big bunch of dice games. Step 3: “???”
You can find Steve Jackson Games online at sjgames.com and on Facebook at facebook.com/sjgames.
Don’t forget you can read all of our current and past holiday reviews at TheRatHole.ca/Christmas!
Interesting. In all the years we’ve been closing our holiday reviews with music, somehow we’ve never used Bob & Doug McKenzie’s 12 Days of (Canadian) Christmas. Or at least, it isn’t in the playlist of what we’ve used. So here it is, and as a special treat, there is another of their Christmas segments below that as well.