Who will have the most beautiful Christmas tree? Who will decorate their Christmas tree in the smartest way? This game revolves around these questions, because the winner of the game is the player who decorated the most beautiful and most precious Christmas tree. If you want to be that player, you have to care about the other player’s Christmas trees too, you have to pay attention to the way they are decorating their trees.
Christmas Tree is a card game for children and adults, families and experienced players too, wherein each player decorates their Christmas tree on the basis of different decorating aspects. The Christmas Trees are evaluated many times during the game and at the end of the game too, and the player who gathered the most points wins the game.
—description from the publisher
Components:
4 player boards
106 ornament cards†
• 72 glass ornaments
• 18 gingerbreads
• 16 wrapped candies
30 objective cards
• 15 for all game types
• 6 more for the family game and the advanced game
• 9 more for the advanced game
16 linzer cookies
1 point tracker
8 point tokens
Some changes in the Second Edition:
72 score tokens in the value of 1/5/10/20/50 (instead of the point tracker)
† rhombic and thus unsleevable
- Festive theme
- family-friendly
- easy to teach
- Limited depth
- Decorating a Christmas tree and family scoring
- Holiday home; Christmas tree decoration
- Festive, light-hearted family game
- Ticket to Ride
- Splendor
- Carcassonne
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- open drafting — Players choose decorations from a common pool to place on the tree
- set collection — Collect ornament types to enhance the tree
- tile placement — Place ornaments on the tree for points
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- "decorating a Christmas tree"
- "ladder climbing game"
- "don't sleep on the classics"
- "we have five Christmas themed games we want to share with you today"
References (from this video)
- Seasonal/holiday game
- Good for holiday gaming events
- Christmas
- Holiday
- Tree Building
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
References (from this video)
- Cute, charming art and theme
- Accessible for families and casual players
- Solid pacing with a satisfying sense of progress
- May not appeal to heavy gamers seeking deeper strategy
- Rule clarity can be important for first-time players
- collection and pattern-building around ornaments for a tree
- Festive gathering, a family-style winter theme
- seasonal, cozy, light strategy
- Patchwork (pattern-building feel)
- Calico (aesthetic-driven collection)
Mechanics (from transcript analysis)
- Pattern Building — Choices drive patterns on your tree, affecting scoring and long-term strategy.
- set collection — Players collect ornament tokens to complete tree configurations and score.
Video topics + discussion points
Quotes (from this video)
- this is ridiculous
- I came home with a copy of that as well
- face dropping Tom Bassel there
- I'm a sucker for a gimmick
- it's basically deduction like clue mixed with trick taking
- look at that butt now
- this game's going to blow your mind
- blueprints of Mad King Ludwig
- a really cute Christmas thing
- I'm pumped for the retail release of this