About the Christmas Odd One Out Game
All the festive favourites: trees, presents, snowmen, reindeer, stockings and stars. A cosy game for the long afternoons between Christmas and New Year.
What's on the Christmas board
The tiles in play — 12 in all, one of which keeps being the odd one out: 🎄 Tree🎅 Santa🤶 Mrs Claus🎁 Present⛄ Snowman❄️ Snowflake🦌 Reindeer🔔 Bell🕯️ Candle🧦 Stocking🍪 Cookie⭐ Star
Study tip: the odd one out is chosen by difference, so learn the board as groups. If you know the first three tiles — tree, santa and mrs claus — belong together, anything that breaks that set stands out instantly.
How to memorise a festive board
Hook each tile to the tradition it belongs to. Decorations, food, gifts and weather each form natural clusters — and holiday decks are unusually cooperative about it, because the same four clusters repeat across nearly every festival. When a bauble vanishes, you look in "decorations", not "anywhere".
Use the calendar as your story. Most festive decks roughly follow the year: items you would see in the run-up, items for the day itself, items for the leftovers. Walking the board once in date order turns recall into a countdown you already know by heart.
How to Play
- Press Start. A grid appears — almost every tile shows the same picture.
- Scan the grid for the one tile that is different.
- Tap it before the timer runs out.
- Each round adds more tiles and less time. Three misses ends the run.
Fun Facts About Christmas
- The first Christmas card was sent in 1843.
- Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer was invented in 1939 for a department-store colouring book.
- Christmas crackers are primarily a British and Commonwealth tradition.
- Norway gifts the UK a Christmas tree every year for Trafalgar Square.
Holiday deck questions
When should I bring these out for a family gathering?
The sweet spot is the lull — after the meal, before the next thing. One or two rounds on a tablet at the table keeps everyone in the room. The easy board lets grandparents and the youngest play the same game.
The deck feels familiar — is it the same as the other holiday themes?
There is deliberate overlap between seasonal themes, but each deck is its own set of pictures. If you can already beat the Christmas board, try winter or birthday for a fresh challenge.