PULTEVENT
Boxing Day family games: 7 things to play on the telly with the whole family
The 26th of December, just after two. The turkey has become sandwiches, the sandwiches have become a plate of crusts on the arm of the sofa, and the living room holds fourteen people across four generations. Uncle Mike wants the football on at three. The teenagers are on their phones in a row by the radiator, which is where teenagers go on Boxing Day. Nan has asked twice whether anybody wants a game of something.
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Boxing Day is the hardest family day of the year to host. Christmas Day has its own programme: presents, dinner, crackers, the King's speech. Boxing Day has none. Relatives arrive at different times, half of them are tired and the other half have come from the in-laws, and the traditional board games need a table nobody can clear.
What I do is plug a laptop into the telly and run a few rounds on PULTEVENT. Everyone joins from their phone by pointing its camera at a code on the screen; it opens in the browser, no app to fetch. It turns the teenagers' phones from the problem into the controllers. You need internet on the phones, so share the Wi-Fi password before the first round.
7 Boxing Day games that get four generations playing
1 Drift Arena
A 3D arena on the telly with up to twelve cars, each one steered from somebody's phone. Heats and a grand final.
How to run it. Start with the teenagers so they show everyone else how it works. Then a round for grandparents only.
The teenagers become the experts in the room. That tends to be the moment they put down whatever else they were doing.
2 Bowling
A bowling lane on the screen, players take turns rolling from their phone. Slow, easy, and very satisfying when the pins go.
How to run it. Pair the smallest children with a grandparent and let them share one phone.
It has the pace of a Boxing Day afternoon. Nobody gets left behind.
3 Whose baby is this
Baby photos of family members on the telly, one at a time. Everyone guesses on their phones, then you reveal the name.
How to run it. Raid the photo albums at your mum's house in the run-up to Christmas. Include a great-grandparent if you can find one.
The older relatives remember things about each photo that nobody else knew. It is the round people talk about longest.
4 Our year, in order
Things that happened to the family this year on cards: the new puppy, the house move, a wedding, a first day at school. Put them in order on the phones.
How to run it. Write it the week before and ask one person from each household for two events. Check the dates.
The whole family's year told in five minutes, including the bits from the branch that lives in Scotland.
5 Karaoke battle
Two singers, two songs, the family votes from their phones for the winner. Grandad against granddaughter is a classic.
How to run it. Let the singers pick their own songs. Dad will choose something from 1983 and nobody should stop him.
It is loud in the good way, and it wakes up anyone who has fallen asleep after the sandwiches.
6 The aquarium
A 3D aquarium on the telly. Everyone adds their own fish from their phone and watches it swim about with the others.
How to run it. Put it on while people are arriving or when the little ones need calming down.
No winners, no losers, just a tank full of fish with your family's names on them.
7 Forfeits from the randomizer
A random task on the screen for whoever lost the last round: do an impression of Auntie Jean, sing the first line of a carol backwards, tell your worst cracker joke.
How to run it. Write the tasks together on Christmas Eve. Children write the best ones.
It keeps the losing side laughing instead of sulking.
The phones are the controllers
The teenagers are already holding them. Now they are playing with Nan.
Games that need no reading
Racing, bowling and the aquarium work for a six-year-old and a great-grandmother.
Your family, on screen
Baby photos and a timeline of the family's year, made from your own pictures.
Done before kick-off
Forty minutes and the telly goes back to the football.
The grandparents
Some grandparents are quicker on a phone than their grandchildren. Others have a flip phone, or no phone at all, and no interest in changing that. Give the second group a shared phone with a grandchild as their driver. They will still be shouting instructions at the racing within five minutes.
Choose bowling and the photo round for them. The baby photos in particular belong to them: they are the only people in the room who were there.
The teenagers
Do not ask them whether they want to play. Put Drift Arena on the telly, put the QR code up and say the first heat is for under-twenties only. Then let them win.
"This is actually quite good."
"Don't tell your mother."
The in-laws and the new partners
Boxing Day is often when a new boyfriend or girlfriend meets the extended family for the first time. Games are a mercy for them. A racing heat gives them something to do with their hands, and the photo round gives them a way into family stories without having to ask. Leave them out of the forfeits the first year.
The football and the sales
Boxing Day fixtures are a British tradition in their own right, and somebody in the family will want the three o'clock game on. Plan for it. Run the games between lunch and kick-off, or during the second half for those who are not watching. Anyone who has gone to the sales can join from their phone when they get back in.
Setting it up in the living room
Laptop on the coffee table, HDMI cable into the telly, phones on the home Wi-Fi. Check the router can take fifteen phones at once. Most can, but an old one in a cupboard sometimes struggles. Relatives can also use their own mobile data. With no connection, the phone games will not load, although the photo round can still be run from the laptop with everyone shouting out guesses.
When the family is spread out
The sister in Canada, the cousin working a shift at the hospital. Share the stage window in a video call and they see the telly screen from wherever they are. They scan the code from their own monitor and race the rest of the family from their phones.
Getting it ready
Start the free 3-day trial on the 23rd or 24th, with no card needed, and you can load the photos, write the timeline and try a race in the evening. If the family wants it again next year, the full version is a single purchase and never becomes a subscription. Price details are on pultevent.ru/en.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run Boxing Day games on the telly
- 1
Before Christmas, collect baby photos and a couple of events from each household.
- 2
Build the photo round, the family timeline and the forfeits list.
- 3
On Boxing Day, connect the laptop to the telly and share the Wi-Fi password.
- 4
Start with the aquarium or bowling while people arrive.
- 5
Run the racing heats, the photo round and the karaoke battle.
- 6
Hand the telly back in time for kick-off.
FAQ
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See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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