10.) You like cracking puzzles more than you like re-watching The Nutcracker, and Sifteo cubes are perfect for that. With over 16 unique games with a wide range of difficulty levels, you’ll stay occupied for hours in your holiday downtime.

9.) Awkward (but awesome) family time: we all know how it goes. You love these guys, but you have to insist—again—that you won’t be joining Uncle Hurnold in his Slanket on the La-Z-Boy and if you have to play one more game of Yahtzee with Aunt June you’ll be seeing dice in your sleep. With so many fun, hands-on, and multi-player games, Sifteo offers more quality time, less awkward time. (And yes—less Yahtzee time.)

8.) The will to give gifts that people actually keep. The lines to return crappy gifts are practically as long as the lines to buy them. Order Sifteo cubes online and have more time for doing fun stuff.

7.) You’re way too indie for Apple…or at least that’s what you say when people wonder why you’re still using a Samsung flip phone that folds open like a book. No, not a Google Book, a straight up book. But Sifteo brings you gadgetry that rivals Apple’s awesomeness while allowing you to remain a persistent advocate of lifestyle alternatives. After all, Sifteo is a small, San Francisco-based start-up, and supporting the underdog is undeniably cooler than buying mainstream merchandise at any time of the year.

6.)    Drinking games, which you can make using Sifteo’s Creativity Kit. Trust us, this is easy. And amazing. Do not add eggnog. (Or do, and let us know how it goes…)

5.) Holiday nostalgia. It’s unavoidable: at some point this December, somebody’s going to pull out that photo album and pass around the pic of your mullet from 1984. Your relatives can laugh their well-groomed heads off—but hey, wasn’t that also the year Tetris came out? And doesn’t Tetris probably still rank in the Top 5 Gifts you’ve ever received, and didn’t it usher in a personal Golden Age during which you vanquished all contenders in your sibling rivalry? Sifteo offers classic play patterns and amps them up with the coolest technology available today (see reason #4).

4.) You wish to bamboozle your brother, to flummox your Luddite cousin. With the latest and most exciting technology, it’s easy to amaze even spaced out, sugar-overloaded and food-comatose friends and family with Sifteo cubes, which have been called “magical” as well as “the world’s smallest computer.” We find that the combination of LCD screens, wireless play, accelerometers, and proximity sensors tends to have that effect.

3.) Gene Autry, Jingle Dogs, Wham!’s “Last Christmas” (something from 1984 we really do wish could be forgotten), and every single existent version of “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus.” Of course, we love holiday jams, too—but selectively, and in moderation. For sanity’s sake, we think it’s acceptable to tune out on occasion. Sifteo currently has two games, LoopLoop and Planet of Tune, which allow you to make your own music. Enjoy.

2.) Blizzards. Like I said, we’re Californians. But we’ve heard that it snows in other parts of the world and we’ve even watched the plows exhume your residential roads on the evening news. We sympathize, so Sifteo’s proposal is this: put down the shovels, make some hot cocoa, and play with Sifteo cubes to beat your cabin fever, where ever you may be.

1.) You want to keep the kids happy, no matter what the holidays bring. It’s not like you’re a softy or anything, but you love to see their faces light up—and not just in the blue glow of the television, but with true, beautiful wonder and excitement. Sifteo does just that, period.