Christmas with the family: 14 predictions for Typical

Christmas is the festival of fixed routines. Every year the same family sits at the same table, and plenty of things repeat themselves reliably: a present gets shaken before it's opened, the story of Christmas thirty years ago comes up over dinner, and after dessert the sofa becomes surprisingly popular. Typical turns that knowledge into a game for every generation. Before the holidays, everyone writes predictions about the others; over the festive days, you tick off what happens. What's written about you only appears once it has come true. How the game works in detail is explained in the how-to-play guide.

How to set up the round

• Card size by length of the visit. For a single evening of opening presents, 3 × 3 is enough. If you're together from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day, 4 × 4 fits. If it's just two or three of you, start with 2 × 2.
• Set the end date for the end of the visit. Choose the evening of the last holiday or the day the first guests leave. The round then ends by itself, and nobody has to remember it in the bustle of goodbyes. While you write, the end date also shows how far ahead a prediction may reach.
• Agree on a prize that costs nothing. The winner skips the washing-up, gets to sleep in the next morning or picks the evening's film. Prizes like these please children as much as grandparents.
• Blitz or free writing – depending on your family. Not everyone likes typing on a phone. With “Blitz” and the category “Typical us”, Typical fills the cards with ready-made sentences and you can start right away. If you want predictions that fit your family exactly, choose “Write freely” – a quiet hour before the festive meal is ideal for it.

14 predictions for the holidays

These sentences were written for Christmas and other family celebrations. On the card, each sentence is preceded by the name of a person from your round:

• shakes a present before it's unwrapped
• saves the wrapping paper to use again
• says “You really shouldn't have!” while unwrapping
• straightens a bauble on the Christmas tree
• nibbles from the biscuit plate before the food is on the table
• photographs the laid table before anyone may start
• goes back for a second helping of dessert
• asks for the recipe for a dish
• tells everyone how Christmas used to be celebrated
• sings a carol louder than everyone else
• falls asleep on the sofa after the meal
• calls relatives on a video call
• suggests a walk after the meal
• hands out leftovers in containers when saying goodbye

What happens in every family

Some things don't just happen at Christmas but at every family gathering. The following sentences come from the “Typical us” category in Blitz mode and suit long days in the living room well:

• tells a story everyone already knows
• rounds everyone up for a group photo
• shows everyone a video on their phone
• asks for a charger
• complains about the weather
• yawns loudly
• says goodbye and then stays another hour

Tips for a round with every generation

• One person runs the round. Ideally someone who knows their way around phones and has time before the holidays. This person creates the round, sends the code or link to the family chat and helps the grandparents join. In the browser a name is enough; nobody needs an account.
• Children play in a team. From four people upwards there is team mode. Anyone who can't read yet teams up with an adult: the adult reads the card aloud, the child keeps watch and calls out as soon as something happens. Children often notice more than anyone else.
• Tick off straight away, not in a batch at night. Whoever sees a prediction come true ticks it off at once. Otherwise half of it gets lost in the excitement of the presents, and in the end nobody remembers who really had dessert twice.
• Include the quieter ones through the writing. The person who says least at the table is often the one who observes most closely. Because everyone writes about the others, the quiet ones have their share of the game too – and their sentences hit the mark surprisingly often.
• Don't let the phone take over. Typical runs in the background. Put the phone away while you eat or open presents, and check in during the breaks. The game lives off the celebration, not the other way round.

Common mistakes

• Cards that are too big. A 5 × 5 card rarely fills up in a single evening, and the tension fizzles out. Better to start small and begin a second round in the days between Christmas and New Year.
• Sensitive topics. Inheritances, weight, old quarrels or the question of grandchildren don't belong on the card. What hurts at Christmas hurts twice as much.
• Predictions nobody can see. “Is happy with the presents” can never be ticked off; “says thank you with a hug” can.

When the round ends

Once the round is over, everything is revealed: each person sees what was written about them, including what never happened. At Christmas in particular, this moment often becomes the best of the evening, because it shows how well a family knows each other – and how fondly it laughs about its quirks.