Want to spend some face-to-face time with family and friends over the holidays, but not sure how to make it happen? Fear not! We have a series of game recommendations for you that are great for gamers, non-gamers, adults, children and any kind of mix! First up, Trapwords from Czech Games Edition.

Trapwords is a great game, a bit like the classic Taboo, but much more interesting. Players divide into two teams, each trying to be the first to reach the end of the dungeon and defeat the boss. On a team’s turn, one players will take on the role of clue-giver. Just like in Taboo, the clue-giver will choose a card, read the secret word, and then try to get her team to guess the word. Each room as a number value printed on it, which represents the numbers of trapwords out there that the clue-give is not allowed to say – and here’s where the twist comes in. The clue-giver does not know what theses trapwords are – the other team chooses them and keeps them secret. If the clue-giver says any of these hidden trapwords, her turn is over and play passes to the other team.

To make things even more interesting, some rooms also contain a curse, adding a further challenge to both teams while in that room. The clue-giver may have to give clues all in one breath or only use words with 5 letters, making the clue-giving experience even more hilarious.

Here’s why we think Trapwords is a fantastic holiday game:

1. It’s super easy to learn and doesn’t take long to get into – no trying to keep everyone focused for 20-minutes while you explain the rules.
2. It keeps everyone engaged because, even if it’s not your turn to guess, your team needs to come up with the trapwords and listen to the clue-giver so you can call her out when she falls into your trap!
3. The game length is variable; you can use more rooms for a longer game and fewer rooms for a shorter game.
4. You can vary the difficulty level.  The rooms have numbers ranging from 1-10, so you can choose how challenging you’d like your game to be. There are also two decks of curse cards and boss cards, which further allows you to change the difficulty level. If adults and children are playing together, you could each use different decks to even the playing field.

Familiar enough to be accessible, yet new enough to keep your interest, we highly recommend Trapwords as a great game for any holiday gathering!