Board Game Reviews: Disney Mickey’s Christmas Carol and National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Game

As we draw ever closer to the 25th December it seems like a good time to talk about a couple of new board games based on some classic Christmas movies.

Funko Games sent them over for me to try out and it was a bit of a mixed bag. One was good fun for all the family, while the other was a pretty basic dice game that did not make the most of the film it was based on.

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation Game

I do love Christmas Vacation. Full of funny moments, oddball characters and so many great quotes. Sadly, the game based on it has none of those things and I really do not understand such a missed opportunity. However, the game itself is a quick and easy dice game and it does have a dice roller shaped like the Wally World glass from the film.

Here is the official blurb.

Get ready for a good old-fashioned family Christmas! With a roll of the dice, try your luck at getting rid of all your holiday troubles. Chase after that elusive Christmas bonus for an even bigger winning streak, but watch out for Cousin Eddie clogging up your plans! Do you have what it takes to have the hap-hap-happiest Christmas of them all?

Interesting Gameplay Features
• Includes iconic Marty Moose tumbler!
• Roll the six custom dice in exciting push-your-luck gameplay.
• Sweater-style artwork captures memorable moments from the classic Christmas film.
• Easy setup and clear rules brings the whole family together for holiday gaming!

It is very easy to learn how to play and set up so one for younger kids and some of the older generation if you want to get the whol family involved. You roll the dice and that tells you which type and how many of your cards you can play. You keep rolling as much as you dare to either put down as many cards as you can or you go bust. You keep taking turns doing that until the first person clears all of their cards and you have a winner. Very simple and very quick.

The game looks pretty, but it just doesn’t feel like the film. There are the ugly sweater style pieces of art on the board and the cards, but that’s about it. No mechanic to have you call out a particular quote when certain things are rolled, no crazy sled ride down a hill if something goes wrong, no squirrel in a tree or a deflated turkey.

Such a shame to be honest. If the game was just a generic spin on Yahtzee then it may be played again, and would also mean it could all fit in a smaller box. As it is I don’t think I would be playing this too often and I hope that we get a different game based on the film at some point in the future.

Disney Mickey’s Christmas Carol

The animated Disney movie forms the basis for an enjoyable jigsaw based family game that is kind of like a slimmed-down version of The Quacks of Quedlinburg.

Work together to tell the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge! Draw puzzle pieces from the bag and put together scenes from Disney’s holiday classic. But draw too many and the clock may strike! Hurry to finish all the pictures before Scrooge wakes up!

Interesting Gameplay Features
• Includes six beautiful puzzle scenes that tell the Christmas Carol story.
• Cooperative gameplay lets kids and parents work together to win!
• A perfect fit for your family—it’s a snap to adjust the difficulty.
• Every turn is a surprise as you draw pieces from the bag!
• Gold foil box is festive for the holiday and eye-catching on the shelf.

If you have young kids in the family then they will love this one. You draw pieces from a bag and put some of them in the frames…if you can. The aim is to complete the puzzles in order, but on occasion you may have to put pieces in some of the later puzzles which can see the time ticking down.

Again, it is a super easy game to set up and learn how to play so it is very quick to get to the table.

As with the Quacks game, it brings some of the wondeful push-your-luck excitment as you draw each piece out of the bag. Will it be the one you want, or will it be the tile that says you have to place all of the pieces you have already drawn?

I can see younger kids giggling with wonder as their parents or grandparents draw the wrong piece.

As with the previous game, it doesn’t make the most of the film it is based on. However, as the jigsaw puzzles feature scenes from the film itself it does feel like more of a tie-in with the movie.

A fun way to pass the time in the run-up to the big day.

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