'Tis the season to shop, and Google hopes you'll use Android Pay to do it. For users in the UK, Google is sweetening the deal with virtual crackers. Well, not only virtual crackers (it's a regional thing). The crackers might come with gift cards worth up to £500. If you don't live in the UK, your consolation prize is a series of holiday animations in the Android Pay app (they get those in the UK too).

For UK folks, you'll get a virtual cracker in the app each time you use Pay in a store or on the Transport for London network. Open the cracker package to see if you've won a gift card. There will apparently be 100,000 gift cards up for grabs including £10 Costa Coffee cards, a pair of tickets for ODEON Cinemas, £500 House of Fraser gift cards, and £500 gift cards to Currys PC World.

In addition, each of your first five payments per day earn you a virtual coin. Five coins can be traded for a £3 Costa Coffee gift card. The coins and crackers are only live through the end of the year. If you're not in the UK, you still get a dose of holiday cheer in Android Pay. The payment screen will begin showing a variety of holiday animations in many regions across the world, some of which you can see at the top.