GiftTRAP
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| GiftTRAP | |
|---|---|
 A GiftTRAP game in progress as Essen game fair |
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| Players | 3-8 |
| Age range | 8 years and up |
| Setup time | Approx. 5 minutes |
| Playing time | 45-75 minutes |
| Random chance | Low |
| Skills required | Empathy, Intuition, Honesty, Memory, Social Intelligence & Emotional Intelligence |
GiftTRAP ™ is a party board game, invented by Nick Kellet (based on an idea inspired by his eldest daughter in 2004). GiftTRAP is billed as "The party game that puts your gift giving savvy to the test". Unlike many other party games, GiftTRAP relies on your personal knowledge of your fellow players. GiftTRAP is the first packaged board game with a gift-giving theme. Other gift-giving games, such as Secret Santa and White elephant gift exchange, involve the physical giving and opening of real gifts and more a part of gift giving ritual than an actual board game.
In today's world with so little time and so many choices it's never been harder to give the right gift and this has led to the term 'regifting'. People find it easy to connect with GiftTRAP because it causes you to ask yourself the question - 'what do I want?' Whilst playing the game is a lot of fun, it has a side benefit of allowing you to find our what your friends really want and equally a chance for you to express your likes and dislikes.
Think you know what gifts your family and friends want? Find out when you play GiftTRAP. Players rate potential gifts before they open the virtual gifts they have been given - you might be surprised at what they choose. It's fast, fun, and sure to begin lots of interesting conversations.
Madhouse Creative created the packaging and brand identity for the game. Images used for the gift cards in the game were licensed using a Creative Commons Attribution license; the images were gathered via a photo contest and through the use of online websites such as Flickr.com. Winners receive a free copy of the game along with having their name included in the game. Each time the game is reprinted new gifts will be included to keep the game fresh and current.
GiftTRAP was released in mid 2006 and won a MAJOR Fun Party Award in September 2006 and was featured on CBC Venture's show Dreamers & Schemers in December 2006. Reviews by Tom Vasel, Bruno Faidutti, Scott Nicholson & Greg Schloesser helped create early awareness for GiftTRAP in the run up to GiftTRAP's first holiday season.
GiftTRAP donates 1 copy to charity for every 10 copies sold. GiftTRAP's charity partner is Right To Play
Contents |
[edit] Rules
GiftTRAP is played over a series of rounds. Each round has the following steps;
DEAL - deal random gifts from one of the packs of gifts.
SHOP - think about how you match these gifts to the players.
GIVE - give one of these gifts to each player (using gift tokens).
GET - choose which gifts you want yourself (using choice tokens 'Ok', 'Good', 'Great' & 'No Way').
REVEAL - show people what you wanted and what your were given by each player.
SCORE - the giver and the receiver score for each gift (the giver gets GIVING points, the receiver gets GETTING points).
Players keep score on two tracks;
GIVE - how well do you give gifts relative to what people want.
GET - how well do people give you gifts relative to what you want.
The goal is to GIVE gifts people want and to GET gifts you want. Matching correctly advances your scoring markers from GO to GIFTED on the respective tracks.
There are no turns as such. All players GIVE then GET then REVEAL and SCORE.
The winner is the first player to have both their score markers in the GIFTED zone at the end of a round. If you give or receive an unwanted GIFT both the giver and receiver move back on the appropriate track.
Optional Pro-play cards allow you to place bets on gifts you GIVE and GET, but getting it wrong moves you back twice as far.
It is a game of social intelligence. A broad range of gifts (real and imaginary) test just how well you know your friends and how well they know you and make for some very interesting conversations. GiftTRAP is perfect for friends who know just enough about each other to be dangerous.
[edit] Strategy/Tips
When dealing gifts and deciding which side of the double-sided gift card to choose you should be careful to not choose too many gifts you like - try and pick a gift you think each player will like.
When giving, you should give presents to players that you believe they will want. For some gifts that's easy, but as you can only give each gift once, you need to find the optimal way to allocate all the gifts as best as possible across your fellow players in order to gain most points.
When opening the gifts you have received, it's important to open your worst gifts first if you want to gain the maximum score, so you need to consider how well you know each friend in the context of the available gifts and first open the gifts from friends that you think will have given you worse gifts.
[edit] Equipment
The game is packaged in a 6" cube that contains:
- 640 virtual Gift Cards
- 8 organza bags
- 1 playing board
- 1 set of rules
[edit] Variations
A card game can be played using on the Gift cards featured in GiftTRAP. Setup is as follows;
- Shuffle the cards and deal 7 to each player
- Place the remaining gifts in a pile face down
- Pick the 1st person to be Gifted (they judge which gifts they most want ), it's the other players job to give them gifts.
Playing A Round
- Ask the Gifted player to close their eyes while gifts are given
- The other players each place a two gift combo on the playing surface side by side face up (two gift chosen from their hand)
- The gifted player can now look and consider which pair of gifts is the winning combo
- The person who gave these gifts wins this trick (and keeps the gifts)
- The role of the GIFTED player passes to the next player in a clockwise fashion
- Players should take extra gifts at the end of the round to keep 7 cards in their hand
Winning the Card Game
- 1st player to seven tricks wins
- Shuffle the discard pile if the deck gets used up
[edit] External links
- [1] GiftTRAP official website
- GiftTRAP at BoardGameGeek
- [2] Bruno Faidutti's review
- [3] Scott Nicholson's video blog review
