Room Escape Artist

Taskmaster Christmas Crackers is a holiday party game themed on the show Taskmaster. It was produced in conjunction with Puzzle Post. We reviewed the 2023 Christmas Crackers here.

Format

Style of Play:

• Party game

Who is it For?

• Any experience level
• Taskmaster fans

Required Equipment: Some household items may be used for tasks. You’ll also want mobile device (or computer) to find out about the final task, which is presented as a video. We suggest a pen and paper for keeping score.

Recommended Team Size: 6 is ideal. There are extra tasks for up to 4 additional players, which then means that the game works with a team size of 4-10.

Play Time: No game clock, but expect to spend the evening playing off and on, with dinner in the middle.

Price: about $32 (USD) plus shipping from the UK

Booking: purchase and play at your leisure

Description

Each cracker contains:

• a secret task
• a dinner table task
• an after-dinner task
• a few other things

The set up is identical to the original Taskmaster Christmas Crackers, where we explain how each type of task is played and judged.

When all tasks are complete, the scores are tallied, and a grand winner is crowned.

Andrew Reynolds’ Reaction

Since playing the 2023 version of the Taskmaster Christmas Crackers, I’ve become much more of a fan of the show. I’ve watched more of the older seasons and gotten familiar with the show as a touchstone of modern British humor. And so when we gathered again to play the 2024 version, I felt more prepared to enjoy the inside jokes and tropes of the series. However, this iteration felt a little less Taskmaster-y than last year’s. Many of the tasks took place around the dinner table and were based in word or categorization games – things I enjoy, but things that lacked the Taskmaster weirdness. Other games, such as the singing/ guess the song task, felt truer to the show (similar to a stage task) but needed another round of playtesting and polish.

This is not to say that I didn’t enjoy the game. The tasks brought a level of elation after success and misery following failure that would be missing from most dinner parties. I would recommend them to most people looking for a way to gamify dinner, even if they didn’t have quite the same level of Taskmaster built into them as the previous version.

Brett Kuehner’s Reaction

• + Everyone had a turn as Taskmaster, and THE TASKMASTER’S WORD IS FINAL (at least for their task)
• + Good task variety, including tasks based on words/ language, dexterity, and creativity
• – Secret Task difficulties were uneven, with some being considerably harder than others
• +/- Most of the tasks felt like they could have been from the show, though a few were a bit too simple to feel like a show task
• + Extra tasks were included to allow up to 10 players total, which is a good improvement from last year
• + Final task and bonus tasks were presented as videos from Alex Horne, and were relatively quick, which is important at the end of an evening
• – Totaling up the scores required careful record-keeping, which is harder when there is no dedicated Alex to track every point

Tip: Some tasks benefit greatly from having a teammate who lives in the place where the game is being played, so split teams up appropriately.

David Spira’s Reaction

When we reviewed Taskmaster Christmas Crackers in 2023, I described it as inconsistent, and leaning hard on how much you enjoy hanging out with your friends. The 2024 version of Taskmaster Christmas Crackers felt the same, but a little bit worse.

Why worse? I felt like the tasks were less charming than the previous year, and I really was hoping that this new edition would build on the previous installment… it didn’t.

I’m thankful for this game because it gave me a reason to spend time with my friends, but if I am being honest, I would have had a better time doing most anything else. I award this task 1 point.