White Elephant
White Elephant Rulebook
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Overview and Objective
Your goal is to enrich your personal collection without accumulating too much junk. You win if you have the fewest points (the fewest and least useless gifts) at the end of the game.
Most cards are junk, which score the number printed on them... but if you manage to get the most of a certain type of gift, you get to make a collection out of it, which means you count only 1 point per card of that type!
Components
75 Gift cards:
| Gift | Count | Character |
|---|---|---|
| Snow Globe | 11 | Aloha Alvin |
| Mug | 10 | Rascal Rosie |
| Gift Basket | 10 | Peppy Paula |
| Grill Kit | 10 | Tiny Tom |
| Board Game | 9 | Checkered Cherri |
| Football | 9 | Leopard Linda |
| Bird House | 8 | Hipster Harry |
| Socks | 8 | Elated Edgar |
Each card has a suit (the Gift) and a number between 0 and 10. Each suit starts at 0 and counts up, with no duplicate numbers.
35 Peanut tokens.
1 Start Player marker (White Elephant meeple).
Setup
- Prepare the Gift deck by removing specific suits, based on your player count. Shuffle the deck and put it in the center of the table.
| Number of Players | Gift suits removed from deck | Deck size |
|---|---|---|
| 3 | Grill Kit, Bird House, and Socks | 49 cards |
| 4 | Snow Globe, Grill Kit | 54 cards |
| 5 | Mug, Grill Kit | 55 cards |
| 6 | Grill Kit | 65 cards |
| 7 | None | 75 cards |
| 8 | Snow Globe | 64 cards |
-
Give each player 1 Peanut, and place the rest in a supply pile near the deck.
-
Give the Start Player marker to the player who most recently ate peanuts. (If none of you like nuts, randomly pick a first player however you want!)
How to Play
White Elephant is played over a series of rounds. Start each round by dealing cards in the center of the table to create the Gift Exchange. Next, take turns taking cards from the Gift Exchange or trading your cards with other players.
Each round ends when the Gift Exchange is empty, OR when everyone has at least 1 card in front of them. If the Gift deck is also empty, the game is over!
Start of a Round
To start each round, follow these steps:
- Start Gift Exchange. Place the Start Player marker and 1 Peanut from the supply in the center of the table.
- Deal cards. Deal a number of faceup and facedown cards to the center of the table, based on the number of players (see table below). You can arrange the Gift Exchange however you like, as long as everyone can see each card.
- Add Peanuts. Place 1 Peanut on each facedown card in the Exchange.
| Number of Players | Gifts Dealt |
|---|---|
| 3 | 5 Faceup, 2 Facedown |
| 4 | 6 Faceup, 3 Facedown |
| 5 | 8 Faceup, 3 Facedown |
| 6 | 9 Faceup, 4 Facedown |
| 7 | 11 Faceup, 4 Facedown |
| 8 | 11 Faceup, 5 Facedown |
Surprise Gifts
Facedown cards are called Surprise Gifts. No one knows what these mysterious packages hold! Each Surprise Gift also comes with a Peanut, which must remain on the Surprise Gift (i.e. can't be spent) until the Gift is opened at the end of the round.
Turn Order
The Start Player takes the first turn of the round. Once a player finishes taking their turn, play proceeds clockwise to the next player who has no cards in front of them. (In other words, if you finish your turn, but the player to your left already has cards, turn order will skip them.)
Turn Actions
On your turn, choose one of the following 3 actions:
-
Take 2 or more gifts. Take 2 or more cards of your choice from the Gift Exchange and place them on the table in front of you. Keep each Surprise Gift you take facedown, with its Peanut on it. If you want to know what it is, you'll need to peek at it (see next page).
-
Trade Gifts. Place one of your Peanuts in the Gift Exchange to take all cards in front of one other player, and place them in front of you.
For example, if Blake takes an Aloha Alvin card and a Surprise Gift on his turn, his opponent Maryann can spend a Peanut to steal the Alvin and the Surprise Gift (along with the Peanut on it).
You must take all cards in front of the player you trade with. You can only take cards collected this round – cards on a players' Shelf are safe (see next page).
If you have no Peanuts, you can't take this action. (Remember, you can't spend Peanuts on Surprise Gifts you haven't opened.)
-
Clear Out Gift Exchange. Take all remaining cards in the Gift Exchange, along with the Start Player marker and all Peanuts in the Exchange. This ends the round immediately!
If you take this action, you must take all remaining cards.
Spending Peanuts
Whenever you spend a Peanut to do something, place it in the Gift Exchange, near the Start Player marker (instead of returning it to the supply). Whoever takes the Start Player marker will get all Peanuts that were spent during the round.
Remember, you can't spend Peanuts that are on Surprise Gifts in front of you. You don't "get" these Peanuts until you open your Surprise Gifts at the end of the round. (And if someone takes your Surprise Gifts, you won't get them at all!)
Peeking at Surprise Gifts
On your turn, either before or after taking an action, you can spend one of your Peanuts to secretly look at any Surprise Gift at the table. This includes facedown cards in front of you, in front of other players (but NOT cards on their Shelf; see below), or still in the Gift Exchange. You can do this multiple times on your turn, as long as you have enough Peanuts.
End of a Round
The round ends when either:
- Someone takes the Start Player marker and all cards left in the Gift Exchange; OR
- Everyone has some number of cards in front of them.
When the round ends, take the following steps:
- Open Surprise Gifts. Secretly look at each Surprise Gift in front of you, and take the Peanut on it.
- Shelve gifts. Place all cards in front of you on your Shelf (a face-down stack beside you).
- New round. The Start Player deals new cards to fill the Gift Exchange and starts the next round.
Your Shelf
Cards in your "Shelf" stack will be scored at the end of the game. Once a card is Shelved, it can't be taken or peeked at by other players. You can look at your own Shelf at any time (but no one else can).
Leftover Gifts
If the Start Player marker was not taken to end the round, it stays in the Gift Exchange along with any leftover cards and Peanuts. The Start Player remains the same for the new round.
The Start Player always deals the full number of new cards to fill the Exchange, not counting leftover cards. (For example, in a 3-player game, if you have 2 cards left at the end of the round, you deal 7 new cards, for a total of 9 cards in the Exchange.)
Game End and Final Scoring
When the last cards in the deck are dealt, this signals the final round of the game. At the end of the final round, players count their final scores:
- Reveal Shelves. Reveal all cards on your Shelf and sort them by suit (the Gift type).
- Make collections. If you have the most cards in a suit (or are tied for the most), add all of your cards in that suit to a Collection (flip them facedown).
- Determine Score. Add up your final score based on the table below. The player with the lowest overall score wins!
| Scoring Category | Points |
|---|---|
| Collections | 1 point per facedown card in Collection |
| Junk (all cards that are not part of Collections) | Add up all numbers on Junk cards |
| Leftover Peanuts | -1 point per token |