Before I even opened the Stix & Stones game box, something on the outside caught my eye: there’s a photo of the inventor.  No really – a photo of  Steve Ryan and his daughter Ali along with a little blurb about the game.  I was floored.  I LOVE this idea, not only does it do a great job of drawing attention to the invention community, it also humanizes the product.  I really don’t think that the American public realizes that the people who invent games aren’t employed by the game manufacturers.  That they’re regular people who have an idea or they’re people who are professional inventors whose job it is to invent games for a living.  Either way, the manufacturers do not employ them; they come up with games ideas and then pitch them to manufacturers in hopes of getting someone to license it from them.   And I just don’t think these brilliant folks get enough recognition, so I like this new idea!

So what kind of game did Ali and Steve come up with?  It’s a family game that was invented when Steve decided to have a little fun after trimming a 60-year-old ash tree in his back yard.  As the story goes, Steve was trimming his tree one day and looked down to see the trimmings creating recognizable patterns on the ground below.  He climbed down from his ladder and started moving the pieces to create pictures.  When his daughter, Ali, came home from school, the two of them started playing.  As Steve puts it, “I live by the motto…All work and no play makes Steve a dull boy (or something like that).” And Stix & Stones was born.

As you can somewhat decipher from the paragraph above, the game is about making pictures out of little plastic sticks and stones — and one red arrow.  Some of the words are easy like “Ferris Wheel” and “Peace Symbol” while others really make you think, like “Moby Dick.”  The game testers were a little skeptical about some of the words at first, but it’s amazing how much the little red arrow helps!  There is also a bidding aspect to the game.  Since there are two teams, when the word is selected at the beginning of the round the representative who will make the image bids how many pieces they think they’ll need to make their picture.  The team representative that bids the lowest number of pieces has one minute to create their picture.  If their team guesses correctly, they win the round.  If they don’t the other team has a chance to steal.  This “bidding” process was a little hard for some of the testers; they had a time even venturing a guess on how high, or low to start the bidding.  One of the groups omitted the bidding entirely and just let each team draw a card, make a picture during a shared one minute, and then guess and steal at the same time.   Regardless, the testing went well and everyone was amazed at how you could successfully make things like, “Abraham Lincoln,” out of sticks and stones.

Stix & Stones Stats:
$25 at Amazon.com and some specialty retailers
4 or More Players
15-20 Minutes
Ages 7 and up (although some of the words might be a little tough…)

There are times that you just know fate has a hand in things.  Like I swear fate pushed the toy/game industry on me.  There’s no way I would have pursued it on my own, and yet due to some events beyond my control here I am writing game reviews while taking a break from game inventing!

From the sound of it, the game In A Pickle ended up being invented as a result from a little push by fate too.  As told by one of the inventors, Colleen McCarthy-Evans, this is how she and Joyce
Johnson came up with the idea for their Gamewright hit:

“After we met at an Adult Education Class on game design, taught by Keith Meyers and Michael Stern, Joyce and I began tossing some game ideas around together. We were intrigued by one concept in particular, that had players wearing big silly hats and balancing objects on them. We both had other careers then, and all our precious design time was devoted to developing this game, along with a space-themed board game. Meanwhile, Keith Meyers was on his way to Nuremberg, and offered to represent us with any games we were ready to pitch to game companies. When we showed him the wacky hat game prototype (which was going to be a challenge to fit in a suitcase) he said something polite like, “Uh, didn’t you mention you had an idea for a nice little card game, where players are making sets of objects that can fit inside each other?” We temporarily abandoned the game that wouldn’t fit in Keith’s suitcase, and began to work on the card game idea we had all but forgotten, and called it “A Penguin in the Closet.”  While it was not a ‘fit’ for the companies Keith showed it to in Germany, Joyce and I continued to develop and test the game, and eventually sent it off to Gamewright.”

It’s a great story and I love how it’s the little things in life – like a lack of space in a suitcase – that alter our directions!  Also check out the photo of an early prototype to the right.

As for the game, it’s all about what fits in what.  It’s like the suitcase story all over again – only more outlandish!  Could you fit a giraffe in a taxi?  What about money in a test tube?  Granted – you may not want to DO either of these, but that’s not the game.  It’s could you, if you wanted to?  So this leaves a large space for hilarity and also player interpretation, which may cause some problems.  A teacher friend of mine played it with her gifted high school freshman and it was like WWIII was going to start.  They had their laptops out trying to prove each other’s moves impossible; it was a “train wreck.” So a word of caution, In A Pickle can be a lot of fun – when you’re not playing with the über competitive set.

And a note: this year Joyce and Colleen have another Gamewright game coming out called Sounds Like a Plan, which is all about giving wacky advice.

In A Pickle Stats:
$10 – $15 at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Target, Toys ‘R Us and some specialty retailers
2-6 Players
15-25 Minutes
Ages 10 and up

Like I said, backgammon is old.  Some estimate that it’s has been around close to 5000 years – at least in some form.  It has evolved over time, but by the early in the fourteenth century it looked much as it does today.  Check out this illustration from the Codex Manesse (at left, c. 1304).  The codex is a small illuminated manuscript of love poetry that was made in Zurich for the wealthy Manesse family and that looks identical to the backgammon sets of today!

Between the twelfth century and the sixteenth century views on backgammon changed a bit – in fact, the church even tried to ban the game a couple times.   (How many games can say that?!)  The last attempt was in the early sixteenth century right about the time Hieronymus Bosch completed his work, “The Garden of Earthy Delights. ” (at right, c. 1503)  If you look at the right panel of the triptych, it depicts hell (whereas the left panel is heaven and the center is Earth – click to enlarge).   This right panel is brimming with people who have succumbed to temptations – like backgammon — and are facing eternal damnation for it.  You can see the backgammon board in the lower left corner of the panel being held up by some crazy looking creature. (at right, click to enlarge)  It is similarly used in “The Triumph of Death” By Pieter Bruegel the Elder (below left, click to enlarge).   The board is in the lower right corner of the painting and it looks like a jester is stepping over it to hide under a table from the legions of dead that have invaded.

So it hasn’t always been an easy road for backgammon, but yet the game survived.  Guess that says something about its playability!

In much more modern times it came back into favor when Hugh Hefner started holding backgammon parties at the Playboy Mansion in the late 1960s and 70s.  (It’s rumored that Lucille Ball was a huge fan!) And actually there is a book called Playboy’s Book of Backgammon with the forward written by Hugh Hefner and backgammon was featured in the magazine from time to time.

But really, you don’t need a book to learn to play backgammon.  The game is simple, each player has fifteen “checkers” (also called “tokens,” “chips,” “pawns” and a ton of other things…) and the goal is to get all of their pieces back into their side of the board and then to remove them from the board.  To start, pieces are setup laid out in a specific form on the board and each player will be moving their checkers in a u-shape in the opposite direction of each other.  Using 2 dice, players roll and may move 1 or 2 checkers the numbers shown on the dice.  Rolling doubles gets you twice the amount shown on the dice!  You can’t land on a space occupied by 2 or more of your opponents checkers – but if there’s only one, you can land on them and move them to the “bar” which essentially means they are starting over from the section of the board furthest from their finish.   Once you successfully move all of your pieces into the area of the board closest to your finish, you can start to remove your pieces from the board.  This is called “bearing off” and it’s like the final race to the finish!

Games can be quick and fast – so unlike chess, there’s not a lot of mulling over your move.  There are also ways to bet and use a “doubling cube” to increase the dimensions of the game, but it’s not necessary to enjoy the game.  You also don’t need a fancy set to play.  If you have a set of checkers – or two colors of poker chips, you can draw your own board on a sheet of paper.  Sounds really low budget, but it’s how it was played during medieval times.  Players would have dice (made of bone) and stones and they’d draw a board in the dirt.  Guess you could call that the first “travel” version of the game!

Backgammon Stats:
From dirt cheap to very expensive
2 players
~5-15 minutes
Ages 8 and up

After a long flight with a little hangover and a medical emergency on board that caused the paramedics to meet my plane at the gate, I’m back from 107th American International Toy Fair and it was a great time!  Toy Fair has really changed over the past 10 years with the Toy Building closing and the development of Dallas Fall Toy Preview but it’s still an important event on any game inventor’s calendar!

*Peggy Brown demo-ing Q-bitz

In its current state Toy Fair is a mix of large companies with small (if any) booths, medium companies with large booths all the way down to the basement area with self-publishers pitching their one great idea.  It’s a great place to meet new clients, catch up with old ones, demo and sign products and of course hang out with the inventor competition!  Yes, that’s right folks – we hope our product concepts squash each other’s in line reviews but when it comes to Toy Fair we congratulate everyone on their successes and enjoy spending some time together.  This Toy Fair I had dinner with Colleen McCarthy-Evans (inventor of In A Pickle and Gamewright’s new game It’s A Plan), Keith Meyers (inventor of Out of the Box’s new game Shake ‘N Take), Peggy Brown (inventor of Backseat Drawing and Gamewright’s new game Hide and Eek), Jack Degnan (inventor of Word on the Street) and Roger Gehrke (inventor of the international hit Sybarit).  And while we gushed over the idea of a group of us being picked up by the Cash Cab after dinner we munched on cricket tostadas – thanks to the adventurous tastes of Colleen McCarthy Evans.  As a side note: the texture is crunchy but was really the little legs sticking out that bothered me most.  I also had a blast at the Game Industry Get Together hosted by the wonderful Mary Couzin – it’s my favorite Toy Fair event and this year was probably the best one yet!  Got to love an industry that knows how to put business aside and party together!

Besides enjoying the company of other inventors and game geeks, here are some of the highlights of my trip:

The Hasbro Inventor Event was Sunday evening in the New York Times building where they had a showroom of some of their new products including the new round Monopoly dubbed Monopoly:Revolution, which was not getting much attention.   There was a great technology based word game that I’m going to get my hands on ASAP that was catching everybody’s eye.  It’s called Scrabble Flash and the technology is really cool.  There are five blocks with little screens that flash letters on them.  Using “SmartLink” technology to communicate with each other, the blocks count how many words you can make by placing the blocks next to each other.  Each time you create a word the letters flash to show that it’s been counted.  I got to play for a little bit and really enjoyed the magic of the technology.  I also hear that it has multiple modes, so seeing how it plays in a group setting is already on my to do list.

I saw Donnie Osmond walking through Javits (and he was much shorter than I expected).  I assume he was visiting his sister Marie’s doll booth.  Not super exciting, but I’ll admit it surprised me a bit so I’m calling it a “highlight.”

I got to see my new game that is still under raps at Winning Moves.  I can’t wait to tell you all about it – it’s really some of my best work.  I could play for HOURS!  I also got to see a game I have coming out with Daddy-O Productions called Don’t Lose Your Shirt.  They did the BEST job with the packaging; it’s a super cute little bowling bag.  I can’t believe I don’t have a picture!

On Monday as I ran from meeting to meeting I wandered past the Discovery Bay Games booth and got to meet Kenan Thompson! He’s my favorite SNL cast member!  (don’t judge the bad photo – after a day of running around a giant showroom you’d look like hell too.)  He was there with Fred Armisen promoting the new SNL board game.  On Tuesday when I had a meeting at the DSB booth Daryl Hannah was there promoting the game she developed with Hilary Shepard called Liebrary.  The two of them were presenters at the TAGIE awards in Chicago during the Chicago Toy and Game Show this past November.

I also ran into the inventor of Jenga – again – and I’ll be picking her brain soon on how she came up with such a timeless product.  I’m sure it will make for a good article!

And then most importantly for you readers – I found a bunch of great games to review during the next couple months.  And yes, some of them will be shameless plugs as I have all intentions of reviewing my own games.  Bonus for us all – a lot of them are going to nicely squeeze into the under $20 category!  Yay!  Check back soon for new articles.  My box of game samples arrives on Friday and I hope to get them played really soon!

ChickyBoom is a balancing game in which you pile up hay bales, wagon wheels, and adorable wooden chickens on top of a long platform and once you’re all set, you carefully move the platform to the rocking perch.  That’s where the game begins.  One at a time, each player removes an object.  Hay bales are worth 3 points, wagon wheels are worth 1 and the chickens are 2-3 points depending on their size.   The goal is to have the highest number of points when the platform comes crashing down.  And as an additional stroke of bad luck, if you’re the player that caused the crash you lose 5 points from your total.

The rounds are quick and without the “you touched it, you must remove it rule” it’s a really satisfying game to play.  I think the only negative the game has is that it can be hard for little ones to get the platform onto the perch and then balanced once it’s stacked high with chicks and hay.  Still, that’s very minimal setup help from mom or dad!

Like many other Blue Orange products, ChickyBoom is a beautiful all-wood game that is durable and cute.  Blue Orange makes it a priority for their company to be “green” and plants two trees for ever one that is use to make their games.  And bonus to you parents who are always losing pieces rendering games unplayable they have a replacement piece shop on their website!  You can find that here: http://store.blueorangegames.com/repi.html

We here at The Game Aisle think that Blue Orange did a great job on this game and I’m sure this one will stay in our collection for a long time!

ChickyBoom Stats:
$20 – $25 at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, Target and some specialty retailers
2-4 Players
5-7 Minutes
Ages 4 and up

On the very edge of the Chicago suburbs, right at the last exit that divides the bustling commuters from the nothingness that spans to westward to the Rockford oasis there is a Cabela’s store.  It outfits hikers, hunters and other people looking to venture away from the city.  This weekend I made the trek from Chicago proper to this oversized log cabin to return an ill-fitting Christmas gift.  As I wandered through the maze of camo and fishing gear, I spotted a game I knew, Find It.  It’s a charmingly simple game that can be enjoyed by a kid suffering through a fishing trip with their father, to an urban executive killing five minutes before an important conference call.  What a great find!

Find It is as simple as the name suggests.  Each tube contains 40-50 themed items surrounded by a zillion recycled plastic pellets.  The goal is to shake, twist and spin the tube until you find all of the stuff inside.  Each game comes with a tear-off pad with the list so you can cross them off as you go, but there is also a sticker on top that tells you what’s inside so you don’t have to bring the tally sheet with you.  I have the Find It Original, but when I was in Cabela’s I saw the “At the Zoo” and “Bird Watch” editions.  I know there are quite a few other versions including Find It Deluxe which has 70 items inside and a whole game built around it with cards and a spinner (that I have yet to play).

Find It is the brainchild of Bob Knight who I had the pleasure of meeting at ChiTag back in 2008.  He had an idea, prototyped it using plastic tubing and birdseed and with a lot of hard work and enthusiasm built a line of products that can be found in a wide variety of stores – including Cabela’s.  It appeals to almost everyone – old, young, gamers as well as those who aren’t – and you can play it for 2 minutes by yourself or pass it around a group until you find everything.  And for you parents out there, it’s a great way to keep the kids quiet during a car trip.

Find It Stats:
~$20 at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble and all sorts of specialty retailers (~$30 for the Deluxe Edition)
1 or more Players
As little or as long as you want
Ages 8 and up

A while back I wrote an article about taking games with you when you travel (see here) and Nate Scheidler, Organizer of Chicago Boardgames Meetup Group, said that he packs a game called Pickomino.  Well, at the time I’d never played Pickomino and although I’d heard of it, I hadn’t heard anything about it.  This is really the reason I started The Game Aisle; I know how hard it is to decide which game to purchase when all you’ve got to go on is the box art.  So when a game junkie like Nate says that he takes Pickomino with him on a trip where he may be stuck playing it over and over, I took that as a pretty good sign.  Now I just had to get my hands on a copy!

Pickomino is a dice and tile game published by Rio Grande Games here in the US which has a knack for finding great German-style family strategy games and publishing them in English for the game-loving American public.  They work closely with the German publishers to ensure the essence of the game is carefully translated into English and have produce such games as Puerto Rico, Carcassonne and Lost Cities.  Haven’t heard of these?  You’ll probably only find them in specialty game stores or on the game shelf of your true “gamer” friends.  Personally, I’m not a huge fan of city building, area control or abstract strategy games and my attention usually wanes after about 20 minutes of playing a game so I’m not a big purchaser of Rio Grande Games (although I have a great deal of respect for what they do).  And from people who like these kinds of games – I hear that Puerto Rico and Lost Cities are AMAZING.  Just FYI.

Back to Pickomino, I don’t feel that it is a typical Rio Grande game EXCEPT its inventor is the prolific German game inventor Reiner Knizia (he also invented Easy Come, Easy Go).  And he’s done a great job of adding in a little strategy and some interesting twists to a familiar-feeling dice game.  The goal of Pickomino is to collect as many roast worms as possible (apparently they are all the rage amongst the chickens).  You do this by rolling eight dice and collecting the highest possible point total — without busting.  The eight dice are numbered 1-5 plus one red worm, which is worth five points.  You bust when you’ve used up all the dice and haven’t rolled at least one worm or you don’t roll any new numbers on your turn.  If you don’t bust on your turn, you collect the tile that is the same number, or the next available one down, from the total you’ve rolled.  (If you don’t roll a high enough number for an available tile, this is also considered a bust.)  The tile will have 1-4 worms on it and the winner is whoever has collected the most worms on their tiles at the end of the game!  There’s also a little bit of stealing and you have to return worms if you bust so there’s a bit going on but it’s easy to grasp and explain to others once you’ve sifted through the directions – which took us two reads, but was well worth the effort.

Ironically, I like this game but I’m terrible at it.  I have the worst rolling luck – yet with it’s great catch-up factor I was able to come back from a 12 worms deficit to win last night!  A little stellar rolling by me and some poor rolling by my opponent and I was back in the game!

The Game Aisle game testers found Pickomino fun with 2 players as well as 4-5 (we didn’t try more than that).   There is a bit of adding so this is a great game to play with kids so they learn quick addition without the assistance of their iPhone’s calculator function!

Pickomino Stats:
~$20-$25 at Amazon.com and specialty game retailers
2 – 7 Players
15-30 Minutes
Ages 8 and up

Rush Hour is a great brain-teaser/puzzle.   The game consists of 15 cars and trucks that block your little red “fancy” car from getting off the grid.  To play you select one challenge card and set up a little traffic jam.  The goal is for you to get your car off the grid and it may take quite a bit of shuffling the other cars back and forth to make this happen.  The puzzles range from very easy to pretty challenging and the folks at ThinkFun were kind enough to include answers on the back of each card in case you are stumped.  There are also add-on packs that come with new cars, like a white stretched limo and a yellow taxi, that create all new puzzles so you have something to tackle after you’ve managed to conquer the forty it comes with!

Since it was released in 1996 more than 5 million copies of Rush Hour have been sold and it can be purchased in 32 countries! Rush Hour is used in schools to teach kids critical thinking skills including problem solving and strategy and this February ThinkFun is planning another Rush Hour iPhone Contest in which they will donate copies of Rush Hour to needy schools in the winner’s name!  (for more info: click here)

Rush Hour was invented by Nob Yoshigahara, a famous Japanese puzzle inventor who brought the concept to ThinkFun (then Binary Arts) back in 1995.  At the time is was called “Tokyo Parking” and instead of being a traffic jam, it was a hellish parking lot.  (Frankly, those seem pretty similar to me living in Chicago – our expressways at rush hour always look like one long parking lot!)  Anyway, ThinkFun improved upon Nob’s concept by placing it in a nice grid with cars that easily slid back and forth.  They also changed the name from Tokyo Parking to Rush Hour and insisted on keeping the message positive.  Instead of being angry at the terrible parking skills of the other cars, players see getting out of the tangled mess of rush hour traffic a challenge.  And with some of the more difficult cards – it really is!

In addition to the physical Rush Hour game, if you own an iPhone you can get the Rush Hour app that was released right before Christmas.  For less than a buck you can get over 2500 puzzles!  Quite a deal.  (And don’t be fooled by any of the similar apps – you really want the official Rush Hour one!)

So despite not really being a “game” this puzzle gets high marks with the game testers here at The Game Aisle.  It’s a great product to enjoy when no one wants to play any games against you!

Rush Hour Stats:
$15-$25 at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, Target.com, and many more.  Other versions like a Railroad, Safari and Junior are available.  Add-on packs will run you about $8 for 1 new car and 40 new challenges.
1 Player
Time depends on level and skill
Ages 8 and up

I’ve decided that my holiday gift to you – the readers of The Game Aisle – should not be another “Top Games” list (sorry, maybe next year) but instead a list of games to help you make it through the holidays! Here we go…

Problem: FAMILY

You would trade all of your holiday gifts to just make the horrible small talk and/or awkward silences at family parties go away.  (This includes attempting to converse with relatives you never see AND/OR the relatives who are constant complainers – you know, the ones who include the depressing/whiny letters recapping all of the injustices and annoyances of the past year in their in their holiday cards.)

* Solution: Click Here! This game requires NO small talk – heck, it includes little player interaction!

Problem: DRUNK ADULTS

Your house has been taken over by a group of rowdy adults who have partaken in FAR too much holiday cheer.

* Solution: Click Here! This game will keep everyone entertained at the same time so you won’t have to worry about your holiday decorations ending up in lewd positions!

Problem: LONG CAR RIDES!

Over the river and through the snow….and more snow…and terrible traffic…

*Solution: Click Here! Whether you’re visiting relatives, going to find the perfect Christmas tree or stuck in the horrible mall parking lot with ten thousand other holiday shoppers, this game require no hands just someone to read and maybe keep score!

Problem: ATTENTION SEEKING KIDS (especially ones that aren’t yours)

The kids want you to play a game.  As terrible as this sounds, everyone has been in the situation where they get suckered into a horribly long, mind-numbing children’s game when they would much rather be hanging around the holiday punch with the adults.  Don’t disappoint the kids and become the “mean” uncle/aunt/cousin/family friend/etc.

*Solutions: If the kids are 3-4: Click Here! Short, sweet, cute…not mind-numbing.  If the kids are 5 and up: Click here! Actually pretty fun for adults to play with kids – and bonus, no need to stack the deck to make the game quick!

Problem: ENTERTAINING DISASTER

Your should-have-been-fantastic holiday bird has started on fire and unless you feel like you can pass it off as “blackened chicken” you need to buy some time while you track down a place that will deliver some edible food.

*Solution: For a small group Click Here! They’re not very holiday-esque BUT if you’re good with a glue gun you could make them exude holiday cheer in no time!  Keep it on the table for the whole season to entertain random guests!  For a large group Click Here! This will totally do the trick – especially if you have the holiday pack!

Problem: TOO MANY DESSERTS

You’ve invited your friends over for a pot luck dinner but everyone brought desserts and you need something to distract yourself from the giant chocolate mousse Yule log cake that keeps calling your name.

*Solution: Grab This! It can be played by up to 7 players and you can always play in teams!

Problem: FORGOT HOW TO RELAX

It’s a quiet night at home with your significant other and you just want to relax and enjoy some peace and quiet.  (Not really a “problem”…but in case your mind is so numb from the holidays I thought I’d toss this category in to help you out!)
*Solution: Play This! It’s quiet, relaxing and you can enjoy some wine and nice conversation during the game.

Happy Holidays to you all!  Check back in 2010 to hear all about the fun games Santa delivered!

- The Game Aisle

Holiday Yahtzee, A Christmas Story Yahtzee, Charlie Brown Christmas Yahtzee
Personally I think that Yahtzee is a game shelf staple (read review here), so if you need to give someone a holiday themed version to get them interested in trying Yahtzee, so be it!  Because these games use images that represent numbers the play is a bit different and kind of clunky for scoring, but I like Yahtzee enough to let it slide.  FYI I think the A Christmas Story version is much easier on the eyes than the Holiday version.

All can be found on Amazon.com for $11 and up, Ages 8 and Up, 2 or More Players

I Spy Holiday Wishes Card Game
It’s a continuation of Briarpatch’s extremely prolific I Spy line and plays a bit like “I spy” meets memory with holiday themed cards.  You need to remember all of the gifts on the wish list, spy them and collect to win!  For about $6 it’s a great stocking stuffer for the younger crowd.

Can be found at Amazon.com and FunagainGames.com for ~$6, Ages 4 and up, 2-4 Players

ReFraze Holiday Pack
If you read the review on ReFraze (click here) you’ll know that this game was developed as a trivia-esque word game for a holiday party.  Well now you can see what sparked the development of the ReFraze line!  It’s definitely a smaller deck but there are only so many holiday questions you can ask.

Can be found at Amazon.com for ~$14, Ages 12 and up, 2 or More Players

Halli Galli Christmas Edition
This is a simple to learn card game with an awesome big bell in the middle ala Pit (one of my all-time faves!).  Players keep a stack of cards with holiday themed images in front of them and they take turns flipping cards over.  When you see a total of EXACTLY five similar items on the table you ring the bell and collect the cards.  The player with the most cards wins and there are penalties for ringing in at the wrong time.  Good game for tweens and kids because they have wickedly fast reflexes.  This one may be a bit hard to find, but  you could always just buy the non-holiday version and wrap it in some pretty holiday paper.  They’ll still enjoy it – I swear.

Can be found at Amazon.com and FunagainGames.com for ~$5-$15, Ages 6 and up, 2-6 Players