Merry Bloody Christmas is the winning game of the Bristol GamesHub Jam  24 hour boardgame challenge.

Prove you’re the best parent in the neighborhood by getting the best Christmas presents for your kids! Buy gifts from the store and sabotage the plans of other parents. Do everything you can to dominate the twelve days of Christmas and have the most valuable presents come Christmas Day!

The main focus of the game is to buy presents from the shop and steal them from other players. Players can use event cards to disrupt each other by ruining their gifts, making them pay a fine or swapping / stealing their presents. Event cards are also used as the currency for the shop, forcing the players to choose between buying gifts or disrupting others every turn. The game lasts 12 turns (for each of the days of Christmas) at the end of which, the players with the most expensive collection of gifts is declared the winner.

Keeping the players on edge and encouraging player interaction is a key focus of the game. Players can collect gift combos which are worth a large amount as a set, but useless by themselves (a games console without a controller, or a saddle without a pony). We strived to create a light hearted, humorous and slightly dark tone for the game with the descriptions on the event cards - use the electrical failure card to break any electrical gifts, or even send your neighbor’s pony to the glue factory.

The game was received very well at the Jam and me and the team were thrilled to come away with 1st place!

Special thanks to rest of the team for all the excellent work!