Black Friday to Boxing Day: free smart shopping game

What is Black Friday to Boxing Day?

One gift list of five presents, tracked across the whole season: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, mid-December and Boxing Day. At each stop, every gift still to buy shows the shop's sticker and the price history you've tracked since early November. Buy now or wait? Judge each price against its usual price, not the sticker, and don't miss the day each gift is needed.

Black Friday to Boxing Day is a free Christmas shopping game about timing. You have one gift list of five presents and four sale stops: Black Friday, Cyber Monday, mid-December and Boxing Day. At each stop, every gift still to buy shows the shop's sticker ("was $76, now $38, −50%!") next to the price history you've tracked since early November.

For each gift you choose: buy now or wait. A real deal is judged against the usual price, not the sticker, and every gift has a deadline: Christmas Eve gifts must be ordered by mid-December, January gifts can wait for the after-Christmas sales. After each stop you see which stickers were inflated, which drops were real, and what waiting too long costs.

At a glance

Category

Seasonal

Difficulty

Medium

Play time

3–5 min

Price

Free, in your browser, sign-up optional

How to play

Buy or wait

At each of the four stops, choose Buy now or Wait for every gift still on the list.

Usual price first

A real deal is 15% or more below the usual price you tracked. A big "was" price can be inflated.

Mind the deadline

Christmas Eve gifts must be bought by mid-December; January gifts can wait for Boxing Day. Miss one and you pay 25% more, last minute.

Score

50 per smart call, plus up to 200 per gift for what you saved against its usual price.

Scoring

50 points for each smart call: buy on a real deal (15% or more below the usual price) or at the last stop before the gift is needed, otherwise wait.

Plus up to 200 per gift for what you saved against its usual price. Waiting past the deadline means a last-minute buy at 25% over the usual price.

What it trains

Price tracking

Judging a price against the usual one, not the sticker.

Spotting fake discounts

Seeing through inflated "was" prices and price rises before a sale.

Planning purchases

Working back from the day each gift is needed.

Strategy and tips

Track the usual price

Before the sales, note what each gift normally costs. That's your yardstick, not the sticker.

Distrust big "was" prices

A −50% badge means nothing if the "was" price was never the real one.

Know a real drop

In this game, a real deal is 15% or more below the usual price.

Work back from the deadline

A gift needed by Christmas Eve has a last order date. Past it, you pay extra for rush delivery.

Let January gifts wait

Gifts needed after Christmas can ride out to the Boxing Day sales.

Why play Black Friday to Boxing Day?

Sale seasons are designed to create urgency, and inflated reference prices make ordinary prices look like bargains. The habits that beat them are simple: know the usual price, judge the drop against it, and plan around the date you need the item. Black Friday to Boxing Day trains those habits over a whole season, so a fake discount stops looking tempting.

Frequently asked questions