Tomten Components Overview and Review

Is it July yet? Can we say Christmas in July? Well never mind, today we have the fantastic pleasure of looking at the components for an upcoming crowdfunding campaign for the game Tomten. Tomten is a Christmas themed game of fun where players and work cooperatively, in teams, or competitively to complete contracts while preparing for the holiday season. There isn’t a ton in the box, but based on the copy I am looking at, the production quality is great! Let’s take a look.

The Swedish Christmas gnome, know as Tomten, is eager to bring joy and gifts during the holiday season. Each turn, place dice onto cards to complete holiday tasks. Collect cards to accelerate your scoring as the end of the season approaches – culminating in an exciting end-game bonus as you win!

There isn’t a ton in the box when you open up Tomten, but that doesn’t make any of it unimpressive. With 44 task cards, 8 beautifully detailed player mats, 50 black dice with gold pips, tokens and a central calendar board, there is still loots to see here.

The rulebook for Tomen is very concise and easy to follow. There aren’t a ton of rules to worry about, with each type of game only requiring a few pages to explain. The numbered setup and frequent illustrations within makes getting a game going pretty easy and effortless. The box also includes player aids for both the basic game and the advanced game, which I really enjoy. So often games are not coming with small player aids, and to see them here is a big positive in my opinion.

The card quality itself would be standard in my opinion. It’s not fantastic like you’d see in a Stonemaier Game, but it’s not bad either. If you were going to play Tomten a lot, I would suggest sleeving up the cards. If you plan to play it a bit more casually throughout the holiday season, I think it’s more than adequate to get you a few dozen plays before you start seeing wear and tear. What I do love, however, is the unique card art on each of the contract cards, as well as the player boards! The central calendar board, on the other hands, is fantastic. It folds in two, which generally I’m not a fan of, but is beautifully detailed and feels really nice.

There is nothing crazy about the small wooden player discs. They have a purpose and serve that purpose well, so I really cannot complain. The most impressive part of this package, however are the dice. These dice are fantastic, all black with gold pips, which really make them pop when on the table. Yes, dice are pretty basic, but I’m a sucker for games with dice, and you don’t often see gold pips on a black background. When set out all over the table they are not only easy to read because of the contrasting colours, but it’s eye catching as well!

Overall I would say the production value of Tomten is above normal. While much of what you find in the box is pretty standard for board games, I do love the extra thick box the company is using, and the dice take this to the next level. This is a game we are really enjoying at the moment, so having components are both functional and look good is a pretty big deal for us!

You can follow along with the Kickstarter page and get notified when the campaign goes live!