What's Dirty Brickster? I'm glad you asked. If it was happening around X-mas for a gift exchange it would be called something like "Naughty Santa". But it's not so it isn't. But it is still very much a gift exchange. Everyone who wants to join in brings a $10.00 Lego gift. It has to be official LEGO product and the original retail value has to be or add up to $10.00. If you manage to find a $10.00 set on sale for $3.00 that's fine but if you find a $20.00 set on sale for $10.00 that's even better. You can also give several smaller things that add up to $10.00 but they should be wrapped in one box, not several boxes. If you're giving a actual LEGO set (which most people do) then it should be unopened. If you're giving an opened set then it should be at least several years old and have some kind of undisputed value - something of historic interest, or something a collector would want. If you question if you gift is legit you can always ask me. Your gift has to be wrapped so people can't tell what it is. You can have fun with this and putting a smaller gift in a larger box before you wrap it is completely acceptable. For those of you flying in and not checking your luggage please remember don't wrap it before you get here (It's an airport security thing). If you can wrap it beforehand please do so - there are always people running around at the last minute looking for bags and such to mask their gift with. Please come prepared. Wrapping your gift in something odd is always fun: Sunday comics, old Lego posters, aluminum foil (you're a LEGO fan, get creative!).

THE GAME:

Everyone puts their gift into he pile and gets a ticket. If we have over 40 people enter we may opt to split into two groups to make things move along faster. We draw a ticket to see who goes first and that person chooses a gift from the pile and unwraps it. We draw a second ticket and the person with that ticket has the option of either drawing a gift from the pile or stealing the first persons gift. If he or she steals it from the first person the first person takes another gift from the pile. The person with the third drawn ticket would therefore get to steal from person one or two or the pile. Likewise, if they stole from any of the previous players, then they in turn would get to either take from the pile or steal from someone else. You cannot steal back from someone who just stole from you, but if that gift is stolen again by someone else then you can steal it back from the second person who stole it. (confused yet?) Once a gift is stolen three times (the fourth person to hold it) it is LOCKED and cannot be stolen again. Hence, if it's a great gift you may not want to even bother stealing it early in the game because someone will probably grab it from you. Once all the tickets are drawn and the pile is gone the first person gets one last turn to steal a gift that is not locked. This is because since he went first he didn't have a chance to steal from anyone at all.

The game can be really fun and can take a while to get through depending on how much stealing is taking place. Hope you chose to join us.