Elements for Success in a Dirty Santa Game
John von Neumann eat your heart out.
As gleamed from my years of experience designing and administering Dirty Santa games, I offer this guide for success.
A good game will involve the following:
Some degree of randomness
Some degree of contentiousness
Some degree of strategy
Some degree of both a risk of disappointment and a chance of success
Some degree of anxiety
Some degree of surprise
The game itself should be understood and accepted by the participants such that they feel it is unquestionably valid—the game has fundamental integrity. However, some or (less likely) all of them can be not entirely proficient in playing without on-going instruction. It is desired that players are eagerly looking forward to the next stage rather than having to be convinced the game is progressing. They should never be completely confused about what just happened or why they are doing something.
NEVER change the rules midstream or allow a disappointed or confused player to thwart, amend, or veto play. It is better to completely start over or abandon the game entirely than to attempt to alter a game on the fly. The go-to ripcord is random draw of the gifts and walk away.
It should go on long enough that participants feel like a complete game actually was played. It should not last so long or be so complicated for the aptitude of participants that they feel like they are being tortured. At the end people should be glad to have played and be somewhere close to one of two points: wish-to-play-again-NOW and wish-to-play-again-BUT-NOT-RIGHT-AWAY.
It is dependent upon the quality and variety of the gifts. No gift should be either despised or highly desired by everyone unless the game layout accounts for this. All gifts being equally awful or equally great almost never works—these games are boring.
There should be at most one of each of these and at least two total:
Element of chance after opening gifts (coin flip, dice roll, etc.)
Significant component of strategy (negotiation, coordination, swap timing, signaling, etc.)
Reversal (change in order of play, switch from having agency to being a subject to another’s choices or random chance, etc.)
Riskier terms are allowable, but they require much greater scrutiny in design and excellent execution. For example, a game with a chance that someone gets no gift or someone gets multiple (i.e., bigger stakes) absolutely must be flawless with strong buy-in from all players including taking into account participant aptitude and emotional maturity.
Here are a few examples of game design.
Dirty Santa Game 1
Note: requires an even number of players
Game Play:
To start play each player draws a number from a bin and receives two swap tokens. This number will determine play order as well as partnerships in the game. Partners should stand/sit together for ease of play.
Starting with the lowest-numbered person, each player selects and opens a gift from the pile. Players should wait until their number comes in turn and not when their partner is acting. Once all players have opened a gift, this round is complete.
The swap round now begins with the lowest-numbered player (aka, “the acting player”) choosing if they would like to swap gifts with any other person of their choosing in the game with the exception of their number partner. A player cannot ever swap gifts with their partner.
If the player chooses to swap, they must give up a swap token and the associated number partners of both swapping players also must swap gifts. While the acting player must yield their swap token, the three other players do not give up their own swap tokens as they have not chosen to swap. It is now the acting player’s partner’s decision to either keep their and their partner’s gifts unlocked thus ending the acting player’s turn or elect to flip the lock/unlock button. If flipping is elected and the result is “lock”, both the flipping player and their partner’s gifts are theirs to keep, and they exit the game. This does not affect the two players who were both forced to swap. If “unlock” is the result, the gifts and players remain in the game. The acting player’s turn is now over.
If the player chooses not to swap, their turn is now over, and the next numbered player has the same situation.
Play in this fashion continues until all players have acted once (choosing whether to swap and when swapping their partner choosing whether to flip the lock/unlock button).
The play cycles back through in reverse number order and continues including a reversal of order each time the cycle is complete until there are no longer any eligible and desired swaps available. The gifts in each player’s possession are then theirs to keep. Even though a player might not have a swap token left and thus not be able to affect a swap, they remain in the game with their gift eligible to be swapped away until their partner has successfully locked the gift through the lock/unlock button flip.
Dirty Santa Game 2
Rules:
Each player starts with two Open-or-Steal/Swap tokens.
A token gives a player the right to open or the right to steal a gift including swapping with a person if a gift is possessed by the acting player.
Additional tokens are earned by answering questions correctly. [insert your own trivia questions drawing upon a theme like Christmas/holiday traditions or history or a specific subject matter if the group has a common connection (e.g., they all work together in a specific industry or field)]
For every two correct answers a player will earn one Open-or-Steal/Swap token.
The act of opening a gift or stealing/swapping gifts requires the redemption of a token.
Once a player has a no remaining tokens, the gift in their possession is locked with them and they exit the game.
Gifts possessed by players with tokens are available to be stolen until all tokens are redeemed or no player wishes to or can use their remaining tokens.
Order of play is determined by random draw.
Game Play:
To start play each player receives two tokens and draws a number from a bin.
Next every player answers the questions on the next page, and then the group is graded. Each player receives a token for every two correct answers given—no tokens are given for a single correct answer.
The lowest numbered person with a token selects and opens a gift from the pile using one token. Their turn is now over.
The next numbered person with a token can now either open another gift or steal the first gift and in either case uses one token.
If they open a gift, the next person by number proceeds in the same manner.
If they steal a gift, the person whose gift was stolen will open or steal a gift thus using a token.
Any time a player currently possessing a gift chooses to steal another player’s gift, they must swap their own in exchange.
Play proceeds in this manner where if play becomes locked through opening a gift, the next numbered player with a token and yet to go will proceed accordingly.
If necessary, play continues rotating through in number order for those players still possessing tokens.
Play continues until all tokens have been redeemed or all players with tokens are done using tokens.
Dirty Santa Game 3
Rules and Procedure:
Divide into teams of 3-4 people keeping with you the gift you brought. Teams should be arranged in a circular fashion around what will become a common area for gifts.
Teammates can share any information they know about gifts within their team.
Teams may share information about gifts outside of their team, but only if they share it with all other teams equally. This includes outright information, clues, and lies.
Turns cannot be “passed”. If you are instructed to swap, steal, etc., you must do so.
The team with the youngest player chooses a single gift of another team for that team to unwrap. The gift-opening team then chooses another gift for a team to unwrap. Continue in this fashion never choosing a gift from a team that has unwrapped until every team has unwrapped exactly one gift. All unwrapped gifts must be made available for all to see.
The team with the youngest player chooses any gift to be placed into the center rendering it no longer in that team’s possession. Rotate around clockwise with each team choosing any gift possessed by a team to be placed into the center area. Continue until each team has had a turn choosing a gift.
The team with the youngest player chooses a gift from their possession to swap with a gift in the center. Continue around clockwise until every team has completed this step. If a team does not have a gift, they can take a gift from the center or from any team to complete this step.
The team with the youngest player chooses a gift to steal (without replacement) from another team. This gift cannot come from the center. Continue around clockwise until every team has completed a steal.
Unwrap all remaining gifts.
The team with the fewest gifts can take any gift in the game. They will continue taking gifts until they are no longer the team with the fewest or until each member has a gift. If more than one team is tied in this process at any point, the team with the youngest player goes first then proceed clockwise. This process should end with each team possessing one gift per player.
The team with the youngest player will now choose two gifts neither of which they possess to be swapped. Continue counterclockwise until each team has completed this step.
Each team now chooses one gift in their possession to “lock” whereby they are guaranteed this gift to be theirs or one gift in another team’s possession to be locked with that possessing team.
The team with the youngest player chooses any unlocked gift to swap with a gift in their own possession. Continue in this fashion counterclockwise until every team has done this step at which time the game is over and every team chooses for themselves how to use, share, or divide their gifts.
Dirty Santa Game 4
Rules:
Youngest player goes first.
Each gift is available to be opened or swapped or stolen until it has been possessed by four different people. At that point it is locked. Locked gifts stay locked and cannot be taken away from their owner, but their owner can swap them for unlocked gifts.
It is a player’s turn when they have been selected to play by the prior player or when a gift they possess is stolen from them leaving them empty handed. It is not a player’s turn if their gift is swapped.
When a player opens a gift, they have the option to keep it or swap it for an opened, unlocked gift. (There is an exception to this for the first player.)
Game Play:
The youngest player selects a gift from the pile and opens it. They can then choose to keep the gift (and choose a player to go next) or award the gift to another player and then select a new gift to open and keep. Their turn is now over, and they must choose a player without a gift to go next.
The new player may steal an opened, unlocked gift or can choose to open a new gift. If they steal, their turn is over, and the player whose gift was stolen is the new active player. If they choose to open a gift, they may choose to keep it or they may choose to swap it for another opened, unlocked gift. They then choose a player without a gift to go next repeating in the same manner until all players have an opened gift.
Once everyone has a gift, it is the turn of the last player to have a gift swapped from them. This player may choose to swap gifts for any unlocked gift even if the gift the player currently possesses is locked. If there is a swap, the player whose gift is swapped away now has the same option to swap an unlocked gift. If there is not a swap, this player exits the game with their gift (thereby locking it). In either case the youngest remaining player in the game who has not yet gone in this round is now given the option to swap for any unlocked gift. The order from youngest to oldest is repeated if necessary once all remaining players have cycled through the round.
Play continues until one of the following: there is only one player left in the game or all gifts have been locked.
