Smash Up (10th Anniversary)

Pete: Hey Rick, did you ever play Cops and Robbers as a kid?

Rick: Yes. It’s not a game that has aged well, but yes.

Pete: Fair. But did you ever play Cops and Robbers and end up taking on the role of someone other than a cop or a robber?

Rick: Of course.

Pete: Did you ever pretend you were a Ninja Turtle, or a Power Ranger, or a GoBot?

Rick: You’re super old.

Pete: Well, what if I told you that I invented a game with my friend, Stavie, where you could take on the role of any popular cultural character you could think of and battle whatever popular culture character your friend could think of.

Rick: I can say with remarkable assuredness that you and your friend were not the original inventors of that game.

Pete: No, dude. We definitely were. We called it The Mixed-Up Game.

Rick: Dude. Just because you happened to create your version of the game and branded it as The Mixed-Up Game does not mean that you invented the game of make-believe. That’s a greater claim than claiming that you invented the wheel or the upside-down ketchup squeeze bottle.

Pete: What an odd pairing.

Rick: You get the gist.

Pete: I do. But speaking of, my friend, Crystal Cupp, invented the upside-down ketchup squeeze bottle.

Rick: Again, with remarkable assuredness, she did not.

Pete: No, she absolutely did. She told me that she remembers, as a three-year-old girl, writing to the president of Heinz at the time about the idea for the upside-down ketchup squeeze bottle, and then, six months later, the thing was released.

Rick: Sounds like both you and your friend need a remedial course in causal relationships. Also, it sounds like your friend, Crystal, might benefit from a psychiatric consultation.

Pete: Speaking of make-believe and just having a jolly good time with or without medication, imagine the game make-believe codified, and with components.

Rick: Yeah, dude. Paul Peterson. Everyone knows about Smash Up (2012), published by Alderac Entertainment Group.

Pete: But what if I told you that they just released the 10th anniversary edition and that there are new cards and new ways to play the game?

Rick: I would be particularly annoyed that you wasted more of my time with your rambling nonsense when we could have spent that time unboxing and playing Smash Up 10th Anniversary edition (2022). Go unbox it right now so we can play The Mixed Up Game—I mean, Make Believe—I mean, Smash Up.

Pete: Got you.