The belt now brings your toy

Someone complained they waited thirty seconds for a single toy body while I called them new. Upon review, that was the belt's fault. I have spoken to the belt.

• When a letter lands, its toy comes with it: the body within about two seconds, then its parts right after.
• Lose something off the end of the belt, or bin it, and it comes round again. Please don't treat this as a strategy.

Decoys

The belt now also carries things that look almost right. A green car when the letter says blue. Claw arms when the letter says rocket arms. A top hat for a kid who clearly drew a party hat.

They are a test. Grab one in a hurry and it gets glued on, and you know how the glue works. Chapter four.

Try: read the letter before you grab. Revolutionary, I know.

Crates, plural

Someone asked for storage under both benches. Fine. There's now a crate under each bench, two spaces each. Four in total. Do not hoard. I can see your crates.

On being called new

We will now only call you new when you are actually slacking: a part you need is right there on the belt, or a finished toy is sitting on your bench, and you're doing nothing.

If the belt is late, we'll blame the belt. I'm fair like that.

• Stand around for real and the review of your performance gets steadily more detailed. It ends with Nutmeg leaving.

We notice things now

The shelf now comments on what you actually do, which I've always done anyway. Now it's official.

• Grab a decoy and you'll hear about it.
• Make the same mistake twice and it becomes your style.
• Build something suspiciously fast and I'll check whether you read the letter.
• Recover from a disaster and we'll act surprised. We will be surprised.
• When a letter lands, someone may share a note about that kid. Hazel's lawyer, for example, has called several times.

Mornings, revised

• Forgotten kids now get the sad Christmas movie they deserve: letterbox bars, a slow zoom on the window, sad piano, a title card. There used to be an IOU. It was not funny. This is.
• The sad trombone now plays once per morning. Someone said it got annoying. Someone was right.
• The kids have more to say. Some of them now get so upset you'll hear a beep. Do not ask what they said.
• An empty sleigh is now called an empty sleigh. Santa will have thoughts.

Try: send nothing all night, just once, to see the movie. Then never again.

New: the kids

Twelve children now write to us every night. They have names. Please use them.

Susie, Max, Priya, Theo, Ruby, Otis, Hazel, Gus, Arjun, June, Leo and Mila.

Each one has their own face, their own house, their own door colour and their own voice.

Things to try, for those who need to be told:

• Listen when a letter lands. The kid tells you what they want, out loud, and their letter bounces while they talk. They are not subtle.
• Watch the little face at the top of the letter while you build that kid's toy. It smiles at the right parts, goes red the moment you glue a wrong one on, and sweats when time runs out. Ruby cries instead. Please don't make Ruby cry.

They remember you. Permanently.

If you send Susie the wrong toy, Susie will mention it. Every night. Frankly, I sympathize with Susie.

Things to try:

• Let a kid down, then play the next night. They'll hold a grudge. Forget someone completely and they'll mention that too. Get it perfect and they're lovely about it.
• Tap NAUGHTY LIST on the title screen. It shows every kid, your record with each, and how they feel about you, from "Adores you" to "Never forgiving you".
• Tap a kid on the list to hear what they think of you. Brace yourself.

The morning returns policy

When a kid gets the wrong toy, they now come outside and dispose of it personally. Each in their own way. I have catalogued them.

• Max kicks it
• Susie throws it overhead
• Mila spikes it
• Hazel bats it with her letter
• Leo bowls it
• Otis throws it on his own roof
• Theo does a hammer throw
• Arjun heads it
• June dainty toss, hair flip
• Priya frisbees it
• Ruby one finger, very slowly
• Gus gives it to the dog

Try: find all twelve. You will have to get things wrong on purpose. Most of you won't find that difficult.

Pace

It came to my attention that some of you were standing around waiting for parts. Standing. Around. That has been corrected.

• Big Elf starts hot. Two letters land right away and the belt is already moving.
• The mess. Anything that falls off the end of the belt, or that you drop, lands in a pile by the bin. The MESS meter at the top fills up. When it's full, Santa trips over it, and the oldest letter goes in the fireplace. Good toys get some of it swept up. On Little Elf, Santa just laughs. He's nicer to the little ones.
• The crate under the first bench holds three spare parts or toy bodies. Grab the duck now because you know you'll need the duck later. That's called planning. Look it up.

Try: ignore the belt for thirty seconds and see what happens. Then don't do that again.

Glue

On Big Elf and Christmas Eve, snapped parts are permanent. Chapter four of the Handbook. I have been saying this for years.

• Snap a wrong part on. It stays. Drop another part on top and it bounces off ("GLUED!") into the mess.
• Your options are to send it anyway and face the kid, or bin the whole toy. Choose wisely, for once.
• Little Elf can still swap parts. They're five.

Wobbly, explained, since it was apparently a mystery

• Drag a part slowly over a toy. A gold circle shows the dead centre, and the word above it says SOLID or WOBBLY before you let go. You are being told the answer in advance. Use it.
• Line up the part, not your finger. The part floats just above your fingertip so you can see it.
• Miss the centre and a big orange WOBBLY! pops up and the part rattles. Wobbly toys still count, but score less, end your streak, and fall apart in the kid's hands the next morning.
• The target is now finger-sized on phones. You're welcome.

Sound

• Music: a title theme, a workshop tune that speeds up with the belt, a frantic one when the sleigh countdown starts, and a cozy one for the morning.
• Everything else: the elves, Santa, all twelve kids, snaps that sound like what they're made of (metal clinks, wheels squeak), sleigh thumps, doors banging, toys landing in snowbanks, and the dog.
• iPhone: sound now plays even with the silent switch on. No more excuses.

Other items

• We are now called Elf Overtime, at elfovertime.com. Update your records.
• The endless mode is Christmas Eve. Three lumps of coal and you're out. It records your best time, so you can bring it up at work.
• Tap an elf repeatedly and we get crankier each time. Please don't.
• Add it to your Home Screen. It has an icon now, and works offline once it's loaded.

Reporting problems

Tell Matthew. Say what happened, what you expected, and send a screenshot. "It's broken" is not a report.

He would also like to know:

• Which kid made you laugh, and which made you yell.
• Whether anything felt too hard or unfair: the mess, the glue, the speed.
• Whether any kid's voice sounds wrong.
• Anything that broke or looked strange.