Christmas dice game

Everyone brings one or more small parcels, and they all go into a pile of presents in the middle of the table. Round one hands that pile out. Players take turns to throw the dice, and whoever manages to roll a six picks a parcel, while every other face does nothing. Round two begins when the last parcel has gone. A timer starts, and now every face moves presents between players by passing, swapping or stealing. Nobody opens anything yet. When the time runs out, the rule is simple: keep what you are holding. Then the unwrapping starts, and some groups add a short third round of trading. Because the timer can be hidden, nobody knows whether the parcel on their lap is safe or about to leave it.

Here one phone, tablet or laptop replaces both the dice and the timer. It counts the pile down and offers the next round when nothing is left. In a timed round it rolls only while the clock runs. Pause covers a parcel dropped under the sofa. A group that already holds one present each can skip straight to the timed round.

The game does not record who holds which parcel, keep names or keep scores. The table does that, as it would with a real dice.

That depends on the round. In the starting rules here, only a six counts at first, and it takes a present from the pile. On the clock every face has a job, with the six letting the roller take a parcel from anyone.

A two or a four sends one of the roller's presents to the neighbour on that side. A three or a five moves the whole table at once: everyone has to pass to the left on a three and pass to the right on a five. A one lets the roller swap presents with anyone, and a six lets them steal a present from any player without giving one back.

No rulebook fixes these faces. Groups agree that a six hands out presents and disagree on most of the rest, so this set is the site's own default, picked from the most common pattern. Each face of each round can take any of 20 actions. Every change goes into the page link, so Copy link shares a group's house rules.

With one dice and one taking face, a present needs 6 rolls on average, since only one face in six does the taking. The game opens on 8 players with 2 presents each, a pile of 16. Emptying it takes 96 rolls on average, about 10 minutes at 6 seconds a roll.

Luck stretches or squeezes that. At least 90% of games need 63 to 135 rolls, with about 5% finishing sooner and as many taking longer. These figures are the site's own arithmetic, from the negative binomial distribution. The 6 seconds a roll is an assumption, which the planner replaces with the table's real pace once play starts.

Three settings shorten the wait. One present per player halves the pile: 8 players then need about 48 rolls, roughly 5 minutes. Giving a second face the take action has the same effect, 48 rolls for the default pile. Two dice rolled together also halve it, since each counts on its own: 48 rolls, about 5 minutes.

Group size matters most. With 15 people bringing 2 parcels each, the pile holds 30. That is about 180 rolls with one dice, or 18 minutes, against 90 rolls with a pair.

The timed round lasts as long as the clock allows, and the game opens on 3 minutes, hidden. A hidden timer ends at a random second between 75% and 125% of the set length. For the default round, that means somewhere from 2 minutes and 15 seconds to 3 minutes and 45 seconds. The screen shows only how long the round has been running. Nobody can count down, so nobody can cling to a good present for the final seconds.

At home a kitchen timer turned away from the players, or set in secret by someone not playing, does the same job. The game adds Pause and Resume, three short tones at the end that can be switched off, and a vibration where the browser allows it. During the round the screen stays awake on browsers that support it (W3C Screen Wake Lock).

Lengths on offer are 1, 2, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 30, 45 and 60 minutes. At 6 seconds a roll, a round of 3 minutes gives about 30 rolls, roughly 4 turns each for 8 players. Twice the players means half the turns each, which is why a larger group may set a longer round.

In Denmark the game is called pakkeleg. A note from the economics department at Aarhus University calls it "a game most Danes play during Christmas time, children as well as adults" (Aarhus University). It also warns that the game "brings out the worst in people".

The note's rules are short. Each player brings a small gift for the middle of the table. In the first round players roll in turn, and whoever rolls a 6 chooses a gift until all are taken. In the second, a 6 lets the roller steal from another player, but only for a limited time. When the alarm clock set by the party committee rings, everybody opens their gifts.

That is all: no length for the second round and no job for the other faces. Pakkeleg is a Danish tradition that has found its way onto British tables, where the passing and swapping faces vary from house to house.

Besides a second dice, most variations change what a face asks for or how many rounds there are. Both can be set in the rules panel below the dice.

• Task cards add small challenges, and a few of them move presents. The built-in deck holds 24, shuffled so that every card comes up once before any repeats. A group can add up to 50 of its own, which stay on the page only.
• A trading round comes third. In the optional round, the last scramble, a one or a five opens a present, so people can see what they are swapping for. It runs for 5 minutes unless changed.
• A sweets version, with sweets or chocolate in each parcel instead of a present, keeps the stakes low with children.

The built-in cards avoid drink and religion, so the same deck works for colleagues, families and children.

Small presents suit the game because each one may change hands several times before the end. Groups usually agree a price limit before anyone shops. No fixed figure exists, and this page suggests none.

Typical parcels are things anyone could use or laugh at: a candle, socks, a mug, a jar of jam or a puzzle book. A few prized items among the silly ones draw most of the steals.

Among gift exchange games, this one is closest to what American hosts call a white elephant or Dirty Santa party, where presents can be stolen. Here the dice, not choice, decides who takes and who loses, and nobody buys for a named person.

Yes. Each roll here behaves like fair dice, with every face equally likely. A standard dice has six possible outcomes, and outcomes are equally likely when they share the same probability (BBC Bitesize). One face therefore comes up with a chance of 16.7% on every roll.

Each roll is drawn from the browser's cryptographic random generator (W3C Web Cryptography). The few raw values that would slightly favour faces one to four are discarded and drawn again, and nothing is sent anywhere. A standard dice spreads its spots so that opposite faces add up to seven (NRICH, University of Cambridge).

Fair does not mean evenly spread. A run of 12 rolls without a single six happens in 11.2% of runs, so a long wait at the start is normal, not a fault. The roll log shows how often each face has come up.

A bonus roll tilts play further towards chance. A face set to Roll again gives whoever throws it a second action, so one lucky roll can lead straight to another, and the starting rules leave it out. The same arithmetic of equally likely outcomes runs the lotto wheel calculator, and the methodology explains how the site checks its figures.

The game suits any gathering with presents, from an office Christmas party to a family afternoon on Christmas Day, 25 December, or Boxing Day, 26 December. Both are bank holidays in every UK nation, and when either falls on a weekend a substitute weekday takes its place (GOV.UK).

At work it needs no sign-up, no names and no app, just one phone and the pile. A second phone can open the same link, so a large team can keep two dice going round under identical rules.