1-99 Players
Designer: Jake Burgoon
Publisher: Self Published
In this cozy game, we are trying to create a classic cheesy romantic comedy where two people fall in love over Christmas, snow, cookies and caroling. But is this movie going to warm everyone’s heart or will everyone just change the channel?
How to Play
Before starting the game, just select three out of six characters to be the leads. For those characters, their once per game ability is available from the start. Then you’re ready to go.
Each turn you roll 3d6, one of one color, two of a different color. Obviously those need to be christmas colors.
With the singular die you can add a character to one scene. You can add them in any order, but within each scene values need to be ascending. Some spots are also just for the leads. Each time you add a character their development goes up by one. On the third spot, you will advance in the development track, and you unlock the once per game ability for the secondary.
Once a scene is complete, you get their bonus. For the top row, it’s ornaments (more on it later), reuse of dice or money (that allow you to modify the rolls). For the bottom row, it’s points. Once you complete both top and bottom on the same column, you get an extra bonus.
With any dice (including the singular one if you wish), you can add to your set. Those values can be used separately or combined. These are either shapes, that will allow you to complete more of the tree, or ornaments that will advance in their individual tracks.
After 15 rounds, game is over. You tally the points for the ornament and development tracks, scenes completed and left over money, losing points for an incomplete set.
Rules and Components
The component is, basically, just a sheet. It’s simple, cute, very Christmas-y and all the game information is clearly laid out. It’s nothing super crazy and unique, but it does get the job done.
The rules are a pleasure to read. They are infused with charm, wit and made-for-tv lingo, but also do a great job in conveying the rules of the game in a clear manner. Even for a prototype, I was able to get into the game and play without any issues or doubts.
Gameplay
The game if fairly straight forward at first. With your singular dice, you pretty much always want to go for a scene, then fill up as much as possible of the tree with the other two. There some tricky aspects though.
For the scenes, it’s quite tough to fill them all, so you need to decide when to go for the bonuses (and which ones), and when to go for points. Setting yourself up for later is key. Also, you will need to use characters if you want to maximize scenes, specially the leads, after the third time, which is a bit inefficient since you don’t get development benefits, so it is not always obvious.
For the tree, you have to balance advancing in the tracks (since they require high dice combination), or just filling up a lot. Also, setting up proper shapes and how to fit them is important, specially in late game.
Overall, this is a quick playing easy to learn game, but I was very gladly surprise to see a good decision space. As I mentioned earlier, I hope there will be additional content for this game to expand this even further and add variety.
Theme and Art
I absolutely love the theme here. It is cheesy silly Christmas comedy in a nutshell. Personally, I always randomize the leads and try to come up with the stories from there. I honestly wish the scenes were a bit more open, mad-libs style, to take that even further. I mentioned that to the designer, and he did say something like this was coming, not only for the scenes but for the character themselves. And I’m here for all the silly stories to come!
The art style is a bit too simple for me, with the icons being a bit on the generic side, but the elements on the sheet are done in a cohesive and very charming way. The art on the six characters is lovely and fun, though.
Conclusion
Ever since the designer contacted me I can’t stop playing this game. It takes the theme and really runs with it. If you are a theme first gamer looking for a quick and satisfying time, you are not going to be disappointed. It is not, and nor does it try to be complex, the same way made-for-tv movies are not meant to be blockbusters. It is charming and dainty with a small town charm to it.
I noticed I repeated some words on this preview: charming, lovely, cheesy. This game not only is themed like a made for tv movie, it’s designed like one. That should tell you all you need to know if want to back this or not.
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