The small size of 1975 White Christmas disguises a well-thought-out Eurogame
I’m always on the lookout for big experiences in small boxes. Over my years in the hobby, I’ve realised that I get more fun out of 10-minutes-to-play Coup than I do from 10-hours-to-play of Twilight Imperium – and the small ones are certainly easier to get to the table, too. Having a home already stuffed with big boxed extravagances also makes me value the skill it takes to condense big ideas down into small, tight experiences. Looping Games has this concept firmly in its sights with its 1900 Series, which it describes as “Compact games with rich narratives set throughout the 20th century.”
1975 White Christmas is, unsurprisingly, set in the mid-1970s. It’s based on an amazing incident in Vietnam called Operation Frequent Wind where massed evacuations were synchronised using the playing of the song White Christmas on national radio stations in April. Players compete to rescue the most passengers from embassies, taking them directly to their aircraft carrier for points and glory.
Once each round, new embassy stair tiles are placed in the centre of the table, but face down so their passengers are not revealed, and the main game cards can begin to be selected. The game operates in three phases: drawing cards; playing cards; and Sighting. Like many of the neat mechanics in White Christmas, drawing cards has multiple effects. The potential actions you can take in the next phase are determined by the cards you choose. But these cards are also arranged into five slots, so where you pull them from also triggers an action. This often creates the interesting decision of choosing the card you don’t really want later to take the action you want to take right now.
After drawing cards, the embassy stairs are revealed, showing which new people are available for pickup in each location. This is the moment where players who have been daring enough to pre-place their helicopters by rooftops either groan or smile with cocky assurance as their gamble pays off. The next phase involves the same actions, but is triggered by spending cards, and really feels like an urgent evacuation, as all the Character tokens suddenly appear for players to scramble towards. The Sighting round is a hidden-token bid for rewards, which requires collecting radar meta-currency alongside everything else you are focusing on.
The game’s component quality is quite high, with wooden tokens and a fold-out action board. I never love small-size cards, but these are used to generate a board rather than held in hand, and I understand the compromises necessary with a box that’s about a sixth of the volume of Catan. The themes are largely well represented, my only negative note more of a cultural issue – the Vietnamese tokens being brown people who are worth less or no points for rescue in much of the game. Although we should remember that Operation Frequent Wind evacuated only 5,600 Vietnamese citizens, while historians estimate 100,000 Vietnamese who wanted to flee were left behind. In comparison, only 10 US citizens didn’t make it out.
It’s the game’s depth that is surprising. The small size of 1975 White Christmas disguises a well-thought-out Eurogame, full of trade-offs and multiple paths to victory. It shares the feeling of all the best games, offering too many things to do and not enough actions to do half of them. Upgrading your helicopters and aircraft carrier is vital, but so is collecting radar tokens and advancing up the Influence board! There’s just enough player interaction by taking the passengers you suspect another player wants, with just enough luck that your strategies can use it or ignore it. Most play-throughs take around 30 minutes, and that’s the perfect length for these small cards and components.
Review by Chris Lowry
Yes
A tiny box with big gameplay that blends historical themes, helicopters and giant, upgradeable warships.
The White Castle, which also comes in a compact box, is one of the tightest games in the world with only nine actions available. 1975 White Christmas is less frustrating and a little easier to pick up.
Category: Strategy Games
Designer: Albert Reyes
Publisher: Looping Games
Time to Play: 30-40m
Players: 2-4 Players
Age: 12+
RRP: £25
Scoring and influence board
4 Scoring markers
4 Influence markers
32 Character tokens
18 Radar tokens
66 Cards
48 Mini cards
Rulebook
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