If you're playing a game with friends and family, you have the option of creating a free, personal game for up to 10 participants. If you wish to play with more than 10 participants, you will have the option to upgrade your game after you create it. You can follow the instructions here to upgrade a game.
- Log in to White Elephant Online and navigate to your dashboard
- On the right hand side, click on the "Create Personal Game" button
- You will see the "Create New Game" Screen
- Fill in the following details:
- Game name: you will want to make this something everyone in your group with recognize as it will show up in their invites, as well as on their Dashboards
- Gift Distribution Option
- Event Details
- Game Rules
- Click on "Create Game" button at the top right of the pop-up window
Your game will now be visible in the "Your Games" section of the dashboard. You can click into the game to see/edit details and to submit your gift.
Gift Distribution Options
Personal games only have one option for gift distribution: Participants will purchase & ship gift themselves (requires participants to share addresses with each other). The system will default to this option. If you wish to treat gift distribution differently you will need to upgrade to the Standard version.
Collecting Addresses
You may choose to ask your players to add their address to a game for automatic sharing after the gift exchange has been completed. You can learn more about those options here.
Event Details
Here you will fill in the specifics of your event:
- Date
- Time
- Price limit for gifts
- Video conference link
- Any additional notes or details you'd like to share with event participants
Background
You have the option of changing the background image for your gift exchange. You can choose between several festive and seasonal options.
Game Rules
Here you will specify the rules for your gift exchange:
- Select your style of play: steal vs. swap. Stealing means that players choose whether to steal an already opened gift, or open a new one. Swapping means that players open a gift first, and then choose to either keep it or swap with another player's, already-opened, gift.
- Additional options:
- Play a bonus swapping round, where each player goes one more time choosing to either keep or swap their gift
- Allow player #1 to steal again at the end of the game
- Limit number of steals per round
- Limit number of times a given gift can be stolen per game
- Limit number of times a given person can be stolen from per game
- You can default back to the standard system house rules at any time by clicking the red "Reset" button
Game Admin
Here you have the option of giving participants Game Admin or Game Lead privileges.
- The Game Lead will be the one to run the game; if not specified, this defaults to the game's creator
- By default, the Game Lead will be playing in the game; if you'd like this person to lead the game, but not submit/receive a gift, you can uncheck this box
- The Game Admins can invite new players and can edit these game settings, such as the name, event details, and game rules. However, they cannot add, edit, or remove other admins.