GIFT GIFT GONE

Gift Gift Gone       Instructions

For Ages 8 and up 

20-30 minutes

2-8 players (special instructions for games with less than 4 players, to keep the game lively)

Based on the holiday game of swapping gifts, this game also includes trading and collecting the craziest gifts. 

Game includes: (6) cards each of (17) different gifts. The gifts each range from values of 1 to 5.

Six cards each of (5) different value 1 gifts

Six cards each of (4) different value 2 gifts

Six cards each of (3) different value 3 gifts

Six cards each of (3) different value 4 gifts

Six cards each of (2) different value 5 gifts

Object of the Game: To collect gifts amounting to 50 or more points, first. 

To claim a gift, you must collect three (3) of the same gift. Once you collect three (3) you must place those three (3) cards (or more if you have more of the same gift) on the table to claim that gift. You may continue to collect more of that gift because the more you collect, the safer that gift is of staying your gift and not being swapped or stolen. A gift may be swapped or stolen if another player has at least the same amount of a gift plus at least one card of the gift they are wanting to swap (steal). Example: If one player has three Fruitcakes and another player wants to swap or steal them, they may use their turn to swap or steal if they have three or more Llama Planters and one Fruitcake card. At that point, the swap happens and the player claims the Fruitcake as their gift and places all four Fruitcake cards in front of them. They must give the Llama Planter cards to the other player as their gift. Note: this just caused one players points to drop and another players to jump greatly. 

A gift may be stolen until the owner has all six (6) of the gift showing in front of them, then the gift is frozen from being swapped or stolen. The owner of the gift may decide to continue collecting that gift’s cards in hopes of collecting all (6) of the gift’s cards. 

The deck of cards is mixed and shuffled. The game starts with each player being dealt 6 cards face down. The top card is flipped and becomes the first card in the discarded stack. A player’s turn may consist of one of each of the following actions: 

1)drawing up to two cards and from the unseen or the from the discarded deck or a combination of one from each deck for their hand, then discarding two cards into the discard stack (face up on the discard stack),or 

2)claiming, swapping or stealing a gift, or 

3)trading: offering and completing a trade with another player. 

Players taking their turn and drawing and discarding from the unseen deck or the discarded deck are limited to the top two cards only of the deck they choose. Once the unseen deck has been gone through, leave the top card face up as the discard deck and shuffle the rest of the cards then begin a new unseen deck.

All players must keep six cards in their hand. This means that at the end of their turn, if they claimed a gift, they must draw the necessary cards from the unseen deck to bring their total back to six cards in their hand.

Each player tries to collect points based on the gifts they have claimed and still have. When a player has at least three of the same gift item, they must place it face up as a gift in front of them. They must then draw more cards to keep their hand at six cards. 

A player can never have more than or less than 6 cards in their hand after their turn. 

Trading: A player may ask the other players if they have a specific gift (naming the gift out loud) that they would be willing to trade. If another player says yes, then they hand over the card requested and the first player then offers the second player a chance to choose unseen which of the other cards in player one’s hand they would like in return. It cannot be the gift they just traded away. They can only choose from the other cards in player one’s hand.

Scoring is based on the value of the gift. If a player has three (3) of the same gift, then they must claim that gift and their current point total is the value of the gift times three for the three cards. If the same player gets another of the card in a draw or trade, then they may add it to their existing gift claimed during their turn, which also increases the value and reduces the chances of being stolen or swapped. Once a player collects 50 points in gifts and has them placed on the table, they are declared the winner and the game is immediately over. A player may only score on claimed gifts. Any cards still in player’s hands after the winning player has reached 50, are counted against their gift value total.

2-3 Player Game Adjustments

The deck should be adjusted to include only the following cards:

The deck consists of 11 gifts with six cards each. 

(3) different gifts of value 1

(3) different gifts of value 2

(2) different gifts of value 3

(2) different gifts of value 4

(1) different gift of value 5

Score for winning is adjusted to 60 points.