Plan a Squishmallow Soirée with This New Card Squad

What could be better than a family or friend game night? How about a Squishmallow squad soirée! (Yes, please!)

The company Relatable (formerly What Do You Meme?) has a new game called the Squishmallows Take 4 Card Game! It is a quick-thinking, fast-acting card game for players ages 8 and up (but this reviewer thinks rising Squishmallows fans can play with gameplay modifications!).

The card game is simple. You have an exclusive version of Benny The Bigfoot wearing an adorable black hat. Then there are 84 playing cards — Squad Cards and the Number Card sets. The goal of the game is to collect an entire squad of Squishmallow cards, comprising of four different Squishmallow cards of the same Squad.

There are four Squishmallow Squads in the game. There is the Classic Squad comprised of Cam. Winston, Malcolm, and Lola. The Fantasy Squad comprises Tatiana, Michaela, Leonard, and Patty. Then Archie, Sheldon, Stacy, and Gordon are in the Sealife Squad. Finally, Maui, Carl, Chanel, and Floyd round out the Food Squad. So a player wins, for example, if they collect all the Classic Squad character cards or all the Food Squad character cards.

You play the game by placing number cards 1-4 on the table. Then, each player gets their own set of number cards. One person shuffles the Squad cards and places one Squad card by each number on the table. Benny then gets placed in the center!

Players count down from 3, then place one number card on the table next to their desired character card. For example, if Gordon from the Sealife Squad is next to the number 3 card and Patty from the Fantasy Squad is next to the number four card, but I want Gordon for my Squad, then I would place my number 3 card down. If I am the only person to put down the number 3 card, I get the Gordon card! If a fellow player put down their number 4 card, they would get Patty, and so on.

However, if we both put down our number 3 cards, we must battle for Benny! Once you realize that you matched a number card with someone else, whoever grabs Benny first gets to keep the Squad Card in question. Then, play resumes, and new Squad Cards are placed next to the number cards. This repeats until someone gets all four characters for a Squad! The game is best played with 2-4 players; the average playtime takes about 10-15 minutes.

Another way to play is by being sneaky! You can always play a number card for a Squad Card, even if you do not need it, to make it harder for your opponents to win! Or you can make gameplay last longer by trying to get two Squads to win. For kids under the recommended age 8, leave out the grab for Benny and play rock, paper scissors, or flip a coin to see who gets to keep the Card. Then, the winner gets to hang out with Benny for the day. Alternatively, you may want to have a competitive prize. There may be a Squishmallows prize for the winner or some coins to win.

The game comes in a sturdy and colorful box, making cleanup and game storage easy. The only thing to watch out for is to keep Benny from wandering off so that Benny is not missing the next time you want to play the game!