Christmas Party Pack - Kids

 

As we edge closer and closer to the Christmas period some of you out there may be looking for ways to keep the family happy and laughing over the holidays. Today I’m going to be looking at three games that will entertain and delight any little ones out there in dire need of things to do in between writing there unfeasibly expensive and incredibly long Christmas lists and waiting for all of those presents to arrive.



First up is Happy Salmon.

Happy Salmon is a quick and easy game that’s fun for all the family. It’s a 2-6 player game in which each player picks a colour and takes the 12 cards of that colour, they then shuffle their decks keeping their cards face down and reveal the top card.
Each players deck will consist of three copies of four different cards; High 5, Pound It, Switcheroo and the namesake Happy Salmon.



Each card is an action for the player to perform. The idea is that when players reveal the top card of their decks they find another player with the same action card and perform that action with that player. The first player to get rid of all of their cards wins, it’s as easy as that.
Happy Salmon is a fast paced game with a lot of laughs and confusion, it’s perfect for younger players with a lot of energy to burn as it gets player moving and provides a lot of replay-ability with its natural speedy, intuitive gameplay.

Next on the list is Dobble.

Dobble is a matching game where 2-8 players have a stack of circular cards with symbols on them. There are 50 cards with a different array of 55 symbols on them of varying sizes, each card sharing only one symbol with another card.



The symbols won’t always be the same and the aim is to find the matching symbols between cards that have been flipped over. There’s a couple of different ways to play Dobble; the typical Snap variant where players flip over the top card of their stacks and try to be the quickest to find the matching symbol, the aim to get rid of all of your cards, or a version in which two cards are flipped over and players try to find the matching symbol in an attempt to gain the most cards. I like Dobble because it’s a game that promotes concentration and quick reactions while also having a nice, cute art style perfect for younger and older players alike.

The last game I’m going to be looking at today is Rhino Hero.

Rhino Hero is a tower building game where 2-5 players take it in turns to build new levels of a tower while moving the Rhino up it. The aim is to be the first player to get rid of all the cards in your hand while not knocking the tower over. It’s not always as easy as it sounds though as the tower isn’t a solid structure, it being made up of right angled walls with floors balanced on top. Each player is dealt five roof cards, seven is there are only two players, and then take it in turns to build a floor of the building. Before a player can build a floor they must first build a wall by taking a wall card, bending it to fit the outline on the base card or the current roof card, placing it and then placing their roof card on top of the wall.

Roof cards can have effects when they’ve been played. There are five different effects that a roof card can have;

Additional card (represented by +1 in a green circle): the next player has to draw a card before they start building on their turn.

Change Of Direction (represented by two arrows in a purple circle): play switched direction from clockwise to anti-clockwise, or vice versa if a Change Of Direction card has previously been played.

Take A Breather (represented by an exclamation mark in a blue circle): the next player skips a turn.

Double Roof (represented by 2X in a red circle): whoever played this card can put another non Double Roof card on top straight away.

Rhino Hero takes inspiration from a couple of games; namely UNO with the symbols on the cards, and Jenga with the tower building aspect. Children and adults alike will love Rhino Hero because of its simple rule set, quick gameplay style and colourful, well rounded aesthetic. It’s a game that’s perfect for the holidays and one that you can bring out after the Christmas meal while being a great party game in general.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at party games for the holiday season and maybe it’s given you some ideas for activities or even presents for the upcoming holidays. If you’re interested then head down to your local games and hobbies store for a demo to get a better idea, until then however keep checking back to Game Changers for more among news and updates.