By: Rey Anthony Ostria | Dec 23, 2022

It’s the season of giving (and receiving) again and friends, families, office-mates, and lovers will have to do the old Saturnalia way of expressing how they value the presence of the people in their lives. In most households or offices or classrooms, the common way of doing this is by writing the names of everyone involved in the gift-giving, setting a ceiling or floor price for gifts, or indicating the color, size, or nature of the gift.

This is boooring.

So in this blog, I’m proposing a new way of doing it. The minimum number of people involved in this is two. This can be done with your significant other or former classmates who you will have a reunion with this Holiday season.

The limitation is that the gifts can only be bought, not made. If you’re planning to gift handmade products to your manito/manita, this is not for you, unfortunately.

The Rules

  1. Everyone involved must agree on the value of the gifts, obviously. Let’s say it’s P500. I said “gifts” as in plural, because this matters in the pointing system later.
  2. The receipts should be kept by the buyer. This will be necessary for the pointing system later.
  3. You may or may not set a place where everyone must buy the gifts. I recommend that you do. For example, everyone must only buy in the educational section of the department store. Or everyone must only buy in a specific mall.
  4. Gift wraps are not included in the value of the gifts nor in the pointing system later.

What You Need

  1. P500 for buying gifts.
  2. P100 or more for the winner of the game.
  3. A set value for the gifts.
  4. A set place where gifts must be purchased.
  5. Pen and paper.
  6. Obviously, everyone must know the pointing system before buying the gifts so they can strategize.

How To Play

  1. Before everyone buys gifts, write down three things you think everyone else will buy. Use a stapler to make sure the paper won’t be opened again until it’s time to do so.
  2. Everyone involved should buy as many gifts as they can. All gifts should amount to a total of P500.
  3. On the day of the exchanging of gifts, give points for the following
    > 3 points for the most number of gifts
    > 2 point for the most expensive item
    > 2 point for the cheapest item
    > 1 point for the smallest item
    > 1 point for the biggest item
    > 1 point for the item with the most number of letters printed on it
    > 1 point for the item with the most number of numbers printed on it
    > 1 point for the longest item
    > 1 point for the shortest item
  4. This is why the receipts should be kept. The points for the cheapest and most expensive items will be given after verification using the receipts. For ties, give 2 points each.
  5. Deduct a point for every peso above P500.
  6. Deduct a point for every peso below P500.
  7. Deduct three points for every item mentioned in the paper written before the buying of the gifts. (For example, Player 1 and Player 2 wrote down “pen.” If Player 3 bought a pen, he will have six points deducted from his score.)
  8. Each person will give P100 to the player with the most number of points after scoring.





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