Gelt Galore - a Hanukkah Board Game

For the first time ever, we actually played a Hanukkah themed board game on Hanukkah. We broke from our usual holiday game night routine and gave Gelt Galore a spin at the table

🚨 Spoiler alert: Gelt Galore is surprisingly educational

Trivia games aren’t usually my thing, but this one mixes holiday cheer with learning. The game comes with four types of trivia cards covering a wide range of topics about Hanukkah. If you’re playing with people new to the holiday or with kids, you can add the Tater Tots deck, which is easier. I do think that even then, some questions might still be tricky

Gelt Galore is designed by Anya and Irina Kagan and the game is published by Gifts Galore. The game is for 3 to 24 players, though it works at 2, and plays in about 30 minutes. You can use the tokens provided, candy, chocolate coins (gelt), or gifts. Players move around the board around the Hanukkiah (Hanukkah's menorah) by rolling a die or spinning a dreidel (highly recommend using the dreidel instead of the die). You answer trivia, follow prompts, collect perks and treats, and work your way up to the shamash (middle of the menorah but also the special ninth candle in a hanukkiah)

How it Plays

1️⃣ First player is whoever most recently made latkes (or ate french fries, that's our house rule)

2️⃣ Spin the dreidel and move around the board

3️⃣ Land on a color, answer trivia, follow prompts, and collect treats or perks

4️⃣ Interact with other players’ treats when instructed

How to Win

In this game, everyone comes out a winner. The goal of the game is to learn a little, spin the dreidel, and end the game with gelt, snacks, or maybe even a gift. The game does have a variant to assign points, but we did not play it this way as we had new to Hanukkah friends

Who's this Game for?

• Trivia lovers

• Family and friends looking for a festive way to learn about Hanukkah

• Groups that want to play a thematic board game that includes gifts and snacks

  
  

Pros

🕎 super festive and thematic for Hanukkah

🍬 can use gifts or snacks as tokens

👥 scales well for any player count

Considerations

🗣️only available in English

🧠 trivia covers a wide range of topics

📖 rules could be clearer, and some true/false questions are a little confusing

📚 assumes some Hanukkah familiarity. The Tater Tots deck helps, but newcomers or kids may still find some questions challenging

Bottom Line

Trivia games aren’t my thing, but Gelt Galore is festive and educational. It’s not perfect, and I personally found it a bit overwhelming at first, but it’s a fun way to mix snacks while learning. There are still more nights of Hanukkah (and next year too!), and honestly, who doesn’t love doughnuts or gelt? Big thanks to Anya and Irina for adding such a fun, festive game to our collection