Santa’s Sleigh Ride - Christmas Dice Game

thingiverse

Every year we throw some variant of White Elephant for a Christmas Eve family gathering. It's usually more involved than your typical White Elephant, having a game like bingo or LCR or something to kick it off, then having multiple gifts and a "pot" of small gifts, and every year the rules and number of gifts is different. For this year's game my wife and I made a new game, and I made a custom D12 die for the occasion that goes along with the rules. Synopsis Everyone brings two gifts - totaling no more than $10 combined (or your call for price limit on your game). Everyone starts with one gift in front of them and one in the pot (aka "the sleigh"). Take turns going around the table, rolling the big Christmas D12 and doing what the die says. There'll be a lot of swapping gifts, stealing gifts, passing gifts, and opening gifts. Even the occasional battle. When all the gifts in front of everyone (not in the sleigh) are open, that part of the game is over. Then you play LCR to see who wins the sleigh, winner takes all for it. Directions All wrapped gifts (two per player) are put into 'Santa's sleigh' in the center of the table. Each Silly Santa chooses one wrapped gift and places it in front of them. Each Santa then takes turns rolling the Christmas die and follows the instructions to trade, steal, pass or unwrap their gift. Santa may encounter blizzards, naughty elves, re-gifting, and snowball fights along the way! The game ends when all gifts OUT OF THE SLEIGH are unwrapped. Play starts with the youngest player and moves to the next player on the left. Note that many of the presents will be left in the sleigh at the end of the game. The idea is to play LCR with Christmas-themed chips for a winner-takes-all battle for the remaining presents in the sleigh. GENERAL RULES: * All gifts passed, traded, or stolen are done so wrapped or unwrapped at any time in the game. * Each player will always have a minimum of one gift and maximum of two gifts at any time in the game. * Gifts are only unwrapped when the 'OPEN' options (see below) are rolled. CHRISTMAS DIE INSTRUCTIONS 1. BLIZZARD LEFT – all players pass one gift to the player on their left. 2. BLIZZARD RIGHT – all players pass one gift to the player on their right. 3. REGIFT LEFT – trade one gift with the player on your left. 4. REGIFT RIGHT – trade one gift with the player on your right. 5. REGIFT ANYONE – trade one gift with one other player of choice. If either player has two gifts, it is the choice of the roller on which gifts to trade. 6. SNEAKY ELF – trade one gift with a gift in the sleigh. 7. NICE ELF – Only applies when the player has two gifts. If the player does not have two gifts, roll again. If the player has two gifts, choose one gift to return to the sleigh. A wrapped gift must be returned before an unwrapped gift. 8. SNOWBALL FIGHT – player chooses one other player to battle. Both players roll the 6-sided die once. The player with the higher number WINS the battle. The WINNER does one of the following: a. Do nothing and keep one or both gifts in their possession. b. Trade one or both gifts with the loser. c. Take one of the loser’s gifts if the loser has two gifts. Dice Font Notes The fonts I used were all either stock Windows fonts (the regift ones) or were found on the web and marked free for personal use. This die should not be sold commercially, or you will be violating the license of the owners of those fonts. I don't have links to the makers of the fonts, since I'm not interested in selling this (unless you ask me nice). Painting As you can see, I had fun painting this die. I used acrylic paints and a variety of cheap small brushes with as pointy an edge as I could get. And to get in all the tight spots, I typically paint with a toothpick (yeah, really). I don't worry about messing it up, after I'm done with the colors there's always splotches and I go back with white to clean it up and crisp up the lines and it really makes it look almost pro.