This That & Everything: Merry Xmas Edition

There’s just something about the holiday season. Something that brings out the gamer in non-gamers, and that sees regular gamers join in all the (non-reindeer) games that they normally would never play. That’s not to say those games aren’t good in their own right. Just that people seem more receptive to styles of games that could bring their non-gaming friends and family to the holiday table.

This year has been more indicative of that phenomenon for me, than a lot of years in the past. This year’s holiday review offerings have included two “escape room” games (which I’m terrible at), a secret role / social deduction game (which I rarely enjoy), a trivia game (which I love but rarely get to play), and now a word guessing party game.

If I were to make a comparison to a more well-known game, I’d call This That & Everything, “Codenames on speed”. The premise is simple enough. Players split into teams of at least 2. One player draws a card and gives their team hints to guess five Christmas words or phrases. But there are a few rules, of course. The Describer must not: say any of the words (or part of the words) on the card, use terms like “rhymes with” or “sounds like”, or give the first letter of the answer. Oh, and your team only has 30 seconds to do it in.

Christmas can be a challenging trivia topic on the best of days. If you gave me the hint “Dutch Santa Claus” I would hopefully remember that it’s Sinterklaas. But unless your family is Dutch, it’s unlikely that younger players would have a clue about that clue. Similarly, some of the phrases could be similarly obscure. Now, of course, games need to be challenging. But more so in games that require a good knowledge of Christmas, compared to most general knowledge games, it’s more important to have balanced teams. Mythology, folklore, and popular culture all collide in a uniquely generational way here. If this were a different version of This That and Everything, “Christmas” would be part of a larger topic or one of several possible topics. But with each new generation, and each new year, Christmas evolves unlike anything else. Older generations may never have heard the term “Whamageddon” while younger generations may not have discovered A Miracle on 34 Street or the cinematic masterpiece that is Bill Murray’s Scrooged.

To wander slightly off topic for just a moment, the generational divide has been extraordinarily apparent in my life of late. I’ve been bingeing early 1980s television like Mr. Belvedere and the original A-Team. Gen Z and Gen Alpha kids have looked on in abject horror at some of what was the norm on those shows. Conversely, there has been a decent amount of internet fury over the recent Doctor Who anniversary specials and that same generation of kids don’t bat an eye at what older generations call “woke” because it’s just their everyday life and language. My whole life I’ve worked with senior citizens one day and youth the next. But I’ve never seen this drastic a gap until the last few years.

Intergenerational challenges aside, This That & Everything is a game with a proven track record. It’s the sort of rapid fire and slightly chaotic game that works well as a party game. The Merry X-Mas Edition holds true to that. The cards are fairly balanced, with one random exception. Certain cards have a small illustration next to an answer. An ugly sweater or a menorah, whatever. Those random cards are worth two points for each answer instead of one. That’s the sort of thing that can quickly bring a team back from the brink of a crushing defeat. But since they are subject to the whims of the gaming gods, it can also be the main cause of a team’s crushing victory. Even with that potential, this is still a party game. Have another eggnog and play again, Karen.

You can find this, that, and everything Outset (Media Games) online at www.outsetmedia.com or on Facebook at facebook.com/OutsetMedia.