Funko continues the holiday tradition of releasing Christmas-themed games for the whole family this year with a pair of offerings featuring everyone’s favorite Seussian Scrooge, the Grinch.
First up is Merry Grinchmas!. The game is for 2 to 6 players ages 5 and up. Average gameplay last for about 30 minutes per session. Included in the box are the Who-ville game board, Town Center tile, Grinch’s sled spinner, Grinch miniature, drawstring gifts bag, 50 gift tokens, 36 gift wish cards, and instructions.
In this cooperative game, players take turns gathering gifts — either from the A B C slots on the game board or from the gift bag — in an effort to fulfill the wishes on the 4 wish cards in play at any given time. At the same time, the Grinch travels around Who-ville stealing gifts and wishes for himself. As players earn their wishes, the Town Center tile fills up, with the game ending once all 8 slots on the Town Center tile are filled. Players add up the stars on the wish cards that they’ve fulfilled and compare that total against the sum of the stars on the wish cards the Grinch has completed. If the players’s total is greater than the Grinch’s, then the players win, but if not, then no Christmas is coming for the Who girls and boys.
Merry Grinchmas! is easy to understand and to set up for fast game sessions. That said, it’s still a good idea to have an adult or older child who is experienced with Merry Grinchmas! to lead other players through the play session. For older and more experienced players, the simplicity of the game allows for house rules to make the game more challenging. Want to allow the Grinch to completely wipe out a player’s gift hoard? You can do that. Have 7 people wanting to play? Let one play exclusively as the Grinch (instead of passing the spinner).
My family had a blast playing through Merry Grinchmas! Communication was important so that each knew what wishes the other players were targeting. Working together to win or lose as a team was fun, and passing the spinner so that everyone got a chance to work against the rest as the Grinch kept any one player from being teamed up against.
Next up is Grow Your Heart. This card game is for 3 to 6 players ages 6 and up. Average gameplay last for about 30 minutes per session. Included in the box are 48 cards, the Grinch tile, 2 heart tokens, the score pad, and the instructions.
In Grow Your Heart, players take turns in rounds drawing and discarding cards in an attempt to build the highest score. Players can score by collecting cards in one of four colored categories, or across categories by putting together Yahtzee-like runs of rainbows (highest-scoring card across all four colors), cards of the same numerical value, runs of cards in numerical order, etc. Certain cards include bonus scoring opportunities by matching criteria like having a certain number of cards of a specific color.
During the gameplay, each player takes at least one turn playing as the Grinch, which allows that player to draw either from the deck OR from the other players’s discard piles. Gameplay is simple and quick, with the most complicated aspect being keeping track of which category you already scored in so you don’t collect those cards again, as you can only score in each category once per session.
Like with Merry Grinchmas!, my family loved Grow Your Heart. Gameplay is fast and intuitive, combining elements from Yahtzee (as already mentioned) and Go Fish. Because it’s little more than a deck of cards, Grow Your Heart is easy to pack and take to your holiday gatherings this season.
Pick up a copy of Merry Grinchmas! and Grow Your Heart on Amazon, your local game shop, or wherever games are sold near you this holiday season.
Disclaimer #1: A copy of Merry Grinchmas! and Grow Your Heart was provided for review purposes. All opinions are my own.
Disclaimer #2: Purchasing from the links above supports Pop Goes the Culture.
