Funko makes Christmas games. Well, Funko makes a lot of games actually with Funkoverse being a line that we have been on the fence about ever since we first saw teasers about the line. Even Morgan (our bearded dragon) wants to see what happens when you face off a Velociraptor against the Golden Girls. That odd tangent aside, we found out about their line of Christmas-themed games a bit too late last year and as such made it a point to pick them up for this holiday season. We sifted through those available, watched a bit of Youtube on them to figure out which we were most likely to enjoy mechanically, and grabbed them from a local store when they were put on the shelf this year.

Frosty the Snowman: Follow the Leader was actually released as part of the 2020 set of games. It is a quick-playing cooperative game where players use cards from their hands to move one of the children in the parade marching behind Frosty. Each child can move either forward or back one space as players attempt to have said children in an order matching the current objective tile. Players may also combine their efforts with another player to swap a character depicted on one of their cards with the child on their partner’s card. All hands are face up and shared knowledge thus providing an opportunity for players to strategize and plan out their sequence of moves. Once a card is played it goes into the collective discard pile and is replaced with a new card from the deck. The game is won if at least 3 parade tiles can be completed before the draw deck is exhausted, but players may choose to increase the difficulty by making that number 4 or 5 tiles.

Disney Cookie Swap uses the idea of set building to see who can create 3 sets (or more if they want an additional challenge) of Christmas cookies first. Each set is represented by Disney character-themed gingerbread cookies in four colors. Players will have a number of face-down piles of cards in front of them that on their turn they can take one of and see what treats it contains. They will then need to swap one card from their current hand with one from the cookie sheet in an attempt to create a set of four. If they succeed then that pile is set face-up as they exclaim “Ding!” noting a set of cookies is done. If the set is not completed then the hand is set back face-down and it will be the next player’s turn. The trick is to remember what you have in each pile since you can only look at one each turn and must swap one card from it even if it’s not advantageous to your goal. Play will continue until one person has completed all of their piles with full sets. There are plenty of cookie sets to choose from and a number of sets equal to the number of prospective piles plus one should be selected and shuffled before dealing them out.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Making Christmas is a competitive race to complete the most toy requests by players working in the toy factory. A number of parts are laid out in the assembly area to create a 3 by 3 grid and there will be 3 goal cards set beside the board to indicate the currently requested toys. Some requests will also come with the bonus of being allowed to make an additional move when completed and, as such, a player may have the chance to build more than one toy on their turn. Building is accomplished by swapping two toy parts on the board and if doing so creates a requested toy. The used parts are discarded and the goal collected. Each removed card is then replaced once a player’s turn is finished, meaning if they want to complete multiple toys then that must be done from those parts available before they are replenished. If a full round of turns is taken with no goal cards claimed then the parts board is flushed and replaced with all new cards. Should the deck run out it is reshuffled and used again until all goal cards have been claimed and the player with the most collected goal cards will be the winner.

Each of these games was quick, fun, and thematic. None were terribly hard to play or learn and as such are great for playing with younger gamers and family less familiar with the hobby. There was really no deep strategy or challenge to any of them, but the fact that they played so well while keeping the holiday theme in such small boxes makes them terrific stocking stuffers and something the whole family can enjoy this season as well as in the future. The price points are low and they are easily available at retail or online. Our article may be a bit last minute to pick them up before Christmas, but if Funko continues the trend then these and more will be available for the next round. We enjoyed them for the light games they were and found the art delightful. All 3 got quite a few plays and there is no doubt we will be picking up more to add to our collection next year.

All photos of Funko Games products were taken and edited by Krista.