Eighteen numbered questions, each a pair of festive options with the word or between them, drawn from a larger bank so no two sheets are the same. A tree that touches the ceiling or one you can carry under your arm. The one who carves or the one who washes up. The instruction at the top is the rule that makes it work: read one out, and everybody answers before anybody explains.
The questions are close calls
A would you rather only works if both answers are defensible, and the bank is written that way throughout. Snow and no presents or presents and no snow splits a room. One perfect present or twelve small surprises splits a family down the middle.
None of them are gross-out questions and none need any knowledge, so the sheet works at a table with children and grandparents at it. Staying up to put the presents out or waking up and finding them there gets a different answer from every generation.
Running it
Reading one out and going round the table in order is faster than letting people volunteer, and it stops the same two people answering everything. Eighteen questions takes about fifteen minutes with eight people.
The better version is to make everybody answer before anybody says why. The reasons are the interesting part, and hearing one person's argument first changes what the rest of the table says.
Settings
The questions control offers fourteen, sixteen, eighteen or twenty, and eighteen is where it opens. Fourteen leaves the most space on the page, which is worth having if people are writing answers down rather than saying them.
Shuffle redraws the sheet with a different selection, so a second sheet for a different group is not the same questions in the same order.
Questions
- How many questions are on the sheet?
- Eighteen as it opens, with fourteen, sixteen and twenty on the control above the page. Each is a numbered pair of festive options separated by the word or.
- Is it suitable for children?
- Yes. The questions are light and need no knowledge to answer, so a six year old can take part at the same table as an adult. Nothing on the sheet is rude or aimed at one age group.
- How long does it take to play?
- About fifteen minutes for eighteen questions with eight people answering, longer if you let everybody explain. Reading one out and going round the table in order keeps it moving.
- Can I get different questions?
- Yes. Press Shuffle above the sheet and a different selection is drawn, so a second group or a second evening gets a new sheet rather than the same questions in the same order.