SQUASHED Game – Best Family Game

Squashed Game is a fun new game from PlaSmart Toys. This game includes a game cube, one king piece, 16 pawns (4 of each of the 4 colours), I die and a squash pad. The squash pad is a felt pad slightly larger than the game cube, which is placed under the game cube to keep the game cube from moving during play and to protect your playing service.

I did not use the squash pad, as we played the game on our ottoman in the living room. This game is for 2-4 players and the recommended age is 6 years of age and up. The age suggestion seems accurate, as I played Squashed with my 7 year old daughter and she seemed to grasp the concept quite well. If she were much younger though, she would have probably had some difficulty understanding the game.

The goal of this game is to move your pawns across the 3D board game and to squash your opponents. To start all of the pawns are placed on a designated starting point on 4 sides of the cube. The one king piece is placed at the center of the top of the cube. Turn by turn each player roles the die and moves any of their game four pieces the amount they rolled. The amount can be either moved with one piece or several, totaling the amount on the die. If you either end on or move over any of your opponents pieces you squash that game piece into the cube and that player looses that game piece for the rest of the game. Continuing on, each player is racing towards the king piece. Once a player reaches the king piece, that player then has the ability to turn the cube onto another side therefore squashing all game pieces on the side which is now facing down. The king piece is then moved to the new ‘too’ side of the cube and the game resumes. This continues until the last player standing wins the game. Once all but one players game piece/pieces are remaining the game is then over.

Initially when I read the instructions included with this game I was a bit confused and overwhelmed. It seemed almost too complicated. But, once I read over the instructions again and played a practice round, I grasped the games with ease. Squashed is such a fun, competitive game for the whole family. My seven year old daughter loved this game, and not only because she beat the pants off myself and her father, but she loved the overall concept of ‘squashing’ her competitors. I liked the fact that each player has four pawns initially. This allows each player a few chances to win.

Although the game pieces stay securely attached to the game cube, I found this poses a slight problem for little hands while playing. My daughter has some trouble removing her pawns. Her little hands couldn’t quite grasp the pawn and disconnect it from the cube. Not that this was a major issue, but I felt the need to mention it.

Overall, my family really enjoyed playing Squashed. I look forward to sharing this game at extended family game nights.

Did you know that SQUASHED was initially created by Chicago Toy and Game Fair (ChiTAG) Young Inventor Challenge winner, Nicholas Metzler, when he was just sixteen?

About PlaSmart Inc.

PlaSmart is a global toy distributor specializing in smart, simple, and fun products that bring families together. PlaSmart’s products include the popular Plasma family of riding toys: PlasmaCar, PlasmaBike, and the new PlasmaBug; Ninja Cards, Morphology, Squashed and many other popular children’s toys and games.  PlaSmart’s products are available on five continents and in more than 60 countries.

For more information visit www.plasmarttoys.com