Christmas Four in a Row: red baubles against gold

How to play

Take turns choosing a column: the bauble drops to the lowest free hole in it – red always goes first. The first to line up four baubles of their colour – across, down or diagonally – wins. If the board fills up and nobody has four in a row, it is a draw – so play another round.

For teachers: put the game on the interactive whiteboard and play the whole class against Santa, or split the class into two teams on the same screen. The children take turns choosing a column and say why before the bauble drops.

Fun fact: the side that starts can always win with perfect play – as long as its first bauble goes into the middle column.