Yankee SwAPP

Facilitate frictionless White Elephant gift exchanges

Yankee SwAPP is an educational side project for a group of product managers, designers, and engineers that want to practice their skills while bringing people together through building connections.

The product helps groups host White Elephant Gift Exchanges more seamlessly. A White Elephant Gift Exchange is a popular Christmas social event where groups get together to play a game while exchanging gifts. Players are organized into a random order (usually by drawing numbers). A player can choose to open a new gift or steal a gift from someone else when it is their turn. The tricky part is a gift can only be stolen 3 times. The goal of the game is to walk away with the best present, but most people’s motivation to participate is to spend time with their colleagues, friends, or family.

White Elephant events usually have a facilitator that keeps track of the gifts that have been opened, who has what gift, the number of times a gift has been stolen and the player order to keep the game moving. It can be challenging to facilitate when game play moves fast or group conversations make it hard to know what is happening. Players can become upset and frustrated when it’s not clear what gifts they can choose from.

Yankee SwAPP helps the facilitator keep track of the gifts and players involved in the game so the game will progress smoothly. It is a web-based application that can be accessed from any device with Internet access. Facilitators can list gifts as they are opened, track how many times a gift has been stolen and who currently has a gift, and keep track of the player order. It also provides players insight into the gifts they can choose from and allows them to make more strategic choices. The app helps with the game play without being distracting which allows players to continue to interact and socialize with each other.