Jack is needing all hands-on deck as he is replacing Sandy Claws this season. Who can create the most toys and be on Jack's nice list?
Summary
Players: 2 – 6
Ages: 6+
Time: 15 – 30 min
In Making by Funko Games (https://funkoeurope.com/) you and the other players are creating combos of the different “nightmarish” toys to hit different goals each round. During your turn, you will swap pieces and manoeuvre pieces on the workbench to create a few of the famous toys like Scary Teddy and The Toy Duck.
Gameplay
This game can take up as many rounds as needed until the goal deck is depleted. Once the goals are gone, each player then counts to see who completed the most goals and becomes Jack’s #1 assistant.
Before you even start the toy building, each player draws two Toy cards for their starting hand. Each turn is comprised of one player using two actions of swapping toy pieces on the workbench to create specific toys on the goal cards.
The way you swap cards is by either moving one piece and literally swapping places with another, or you place a toy piece from your hand for the piece on the workbench. Once your turn is complete, the toys are taken off the workbench and placed in the discard pile and the goal cards you completed are placed near you as your Victory Points (VPs). Place new card pieces from the Toy deck onto the workbench and the next player begins putting their toys together.
Remember Jack is watching to make sure his Christmas isn’t a disaster!
Bonus Swap?
If you obtain a goal with the swapping symbol, you immediately get another swapping action which could get you another goal added to your VPs.
Replayability
From a gamer point of view, this has a decent amount of replayability if you are a fan of The Nightmare Before Christmas and you are competitive. This is a perfect game for those that want a quick puzzle card game, or if you have children in your family that enjoy finding connections and obtaining goals to gain points which then lead to them beating their parent (this has happened every time with my son). However, I will say if you are playing this and expect a big strategy style game, this will be on your shelf of shame sadly. This is very much tailored to the family setting which is great when you want to play multiple games with the kids or your loved one. Just make sure the toys don’t start coming alive!
Production
For the price, the box, workbench and cards are all good quality material. I actually enjoy the workbench being a puzzle rather than the foldable boards, it was a nice twist for me. The cards are a perfect fit for the box as well. Unlike many games that waste box space, this game does not. It does have sections for the two separate decks of cards with hardly any wasted space that is a big bonus to me. Mentioning the cards, they are the gloss style of cards, but the quality is good, and I have already played a good amount of rounds with no damage on them. For the price the quality is there!!!
Theme
This game hits the mark on theme because everything from the back of the puzzle workbench to the back of the cards make you feel like you are helping Jack get things together for Christmas. Look at the back of the toy cards, tell me that isn’t a present waiting to be unwrapped! This is a must have for fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas (even if you don’t enjoy the game, the designs on this are amazing). Each goal card has a famous monster from the movie, and they have added the chef’s kiss to the already amazing theme.
Complexity
As I mentioned in replay ability, I feel the combos are great and you can strategize by using a turn to move a piece of a toy to a section so that another player may have to use their two actions to get one goal (which is horrible by the way). There can be some strategy to this game which does make it fun but with only a very limited selection of toys you create there isn’t many complex actions that you can perform. If more toys and goals were added this game would sit better with me, but nothing beats the joy my son gets when he becomes a better assistant to Jack than me.
Rules
Since this is more tailored to a “family” setting, the rules were very easy to understand. I was even able to teach my son (five years old) how to play in just a few minutes. He took the game and even started helping me with my actions and show me swaps I didn’t notice. Overall, the rules and gameplay are very fluid and easy to understand!
Uniqueness
I will start off by mentioning the workbench (gameboard) again. The board is a literal 4-piece puzzle, which is something that I haven’t come across until now and I love that. When dealing with the gameplay, the style of puzzle card game is a new addition to me that I thoroughly enjoy when playing this game. Would just love to see more toys if that opportunity may show.
Value
This is a very inexpensive game for the amazing quality, theme, and family fun that you get from Making Christmas. I highly recommend giving it a shot and seeing if you have what it takes to create the toys in time for Christmas!
This scrapes in at a 4, because this is already a favourite of my sons and an enjoyable experience with my family. The added bonus is also that I am a fan of anything to do with Tim Burton. So, I could see how this could easily rank lower on others lists if you purchase for an everyday game group or you’re not a fan of the movie itself.
Nathan, NightWatchReviews
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