Door 21 · Tapper
Unwrap Rush: Day 21 of Sunburnt Santa
Christmas morning, and the presents are piling up under the tree faster than you can open them. Tap each one two or three times to rip it open, leave Aunty's socks well alone, and beat Digger the dog to anything you ignore.
How to play Unwrap Rush
- Presents pile up under the tree. Tap one 2 or 3 times to rip it open.
- Toy 100, book 150, bike 300, gold ticket 500. Opens in a row build a combo.
- Leave the boxy ones wrapped in sock paper: that's Aunty's socks, -150. The dog takes anything you ignore.
Scoring
| What | Points |
|---|---|
| Toy | 100 |
| Book | 150 |
| Bike | 300 |
| Gold ticket | 500 |
| Aunty's socks (the boxy one in sock paper) | -150 |
Opens in a row build a combo: x2 from 4, x3 from 8, up to x5 from 16. Opening Aunty's socks costs 150 and resets it. A tap that misses, or a present the dog drags off, doesn't break the combo. From 20 seconds to go two more spots open under the tree, and the last 10 seconds is a frenzy. 60 seconds.
Stars: the three targets
Stars don't lock anything; they show how you're going, and doors with at least one star count towards the bonus games.
Tips for three stars
- Missed taps are free. Tapping empty floor doesn't cost points or your combo, so tap fast and don't hesitate between presents. The only thing that punishes you is ripping open the socks.
- Learn the sock paper. Aunty's socks are boxy and wrapped in sock-pattern paper, and they take a couple of taps, so you have time to spot them and stop. Every other present is worth opening, and the dog taking one costs you nothing but the points.
- Toys and books take two taps (sometimes three); bikes and gold tickets always take three. When your combo is up at x4 or x5, put those three taps into the bikes and gold tickets first: a gold ticket at x5 is 2,500. They turn up more in the final 10 seconds, and bikes wait an extra second before the dog gets them.
The real story: Australia's billion-dollar pile of unwanted presents
Not every present is a gold ticket. Polling released by The Australia Institute in December 2024 put the value of Australia's unwanted Christmas gifts at about $1 billion, much of it headed for landfill [1]. The same report found more Australians buy single-use wrapping paper (69 per cent) than reusable gift bags (52 per cent), and repeated the estimate that Australians get through the equivalent of 150,000 kilometres of wrapping paper over the festive season [1]. Envirohouse, a community sustainability centre, says Australia's waste goes up by about 30 per cent at Christmas [2].
So the socks are a family joke with a point. The easy fixes are the ones from the SBS report: give an unwanted gift a second life at an op shop (a charity shop) or a charity, or sell it online [1], and keep the nice paper or a gift bag for next year.
In Unwrap Rush the rule is simpler: rip open the good stuff, leave the socks wrapped, and if you're too slow, Digger the blue heeler will happily take care of the rest. Meet him on Digger's page.
When it opens
Door 21 opens on day 21 of your own calendar (your Day 1 is the day you first play), and for everyone by 21 December. Play the door before it to open it. Once it's open you can replay it as often as you like, and after Christmas Eve all 24 doors stay open. How the calendar works.
Play now
Same kind of game: Blowie Swat, Bon Bon Snap, Mozzie Mayhem.