Your shortlist needs to be interrogated.
Battle is for when everything on your list is *fine* and 'fine' is the problem. Instead of ranking eight things at once — which nobody can do honestly — it shows you two at a time and makes you commit.
Screenshot slot
Two gift cards side by side with a VS badge between them, one card beginning to shake as it loses.
public/games/battle/01-duel.pngScreenshot slot
The winning gift on a gold platform with confetti, and a single line of insight text underneath about the choices made.
public/games/battle/02-insight.pngWhat it actually does
Every round puts two gifts side by side and asks which one you'd rather give. The other one is gone for good. That's the entire mechanic, and the no-takebacks rule is exactly what makes it work: it forces a real preference instead of endless hedging.
Two at a time is far easier to answer than "which of these eight is best". You never have to hold the whole list in your head at once, which is why people finish this one instead of abandoning it.
It also pays attention. Battle is the only game here that reads your choices back to you at the end — if you picked experiences over objects in every single round, it will say so. That's the part people screenshot.
Reach for it when…
Everything looks equally good
A list where nothing stands out usually means nothing has actually been compared yet. Head-to-head forces the comparison, and the winner tends to surprise you.
You keep flip-flopping
Flip-flopping is re-running the same comparison and getting a different answer each time. Doing it once, all the way through, with no way back, is the cure.
You want to understand your own taste
Seven decisions leave a pattern behind. If you've ever wondered whether you lean practical or sentimental when it actually counts, this is a cheap way to find out about yourself.
What you walk away with
- One surviving gift, plus the reasoning path that got there
- A one-line read on what you consistently chose
- A plan for the winner
Skip it if…
- You're short on time — at two to three minutes it's the longest game here.
- You only have two options. Use Kaleidoscope; a tournament of two is a coin flip with extra steps.
That's the pitch. Try it on your own gift.
One round takes 2–3 min and ends with a gift plus a plan.
Play Gift BattleWant the rules before you start? Every game page ends with a short how-to-play section.
The other machines
You don't want to be asked anything.
One question, one lever, one gift. The fastest way to stop thinking about it.
Read the storyFive boxes. None of them are marked.
You pick a box instead of a gift. The reveal comes in three stages, and there's no peeking.
Read the storyYou've got five ideas and no nerve.
Put your own shortlist on a wheel and let something with no feelings end the argument.
Read the storyYou want it to feel invented.
Pick a feeling, a shape and a twist. Get something that isn't on anybody's list.
Read the story