We all know them: The small blue creatures that live in mushroom-shaped houses in the forest.
The Belgian comic franchise captures the life of the Smurfs and their evil opponent Gargamel.
Besides Gargamel, two of the main characters are Smurfette, the only girl in Smurf Village and the 543-year-old Papa Smurf.
Since this game is called “The Smurfs”, you get to be a Smurf for the whole duration of the game and can even experience what it is like to be one of the main characters.

What do you need?
There is no additional equipment required to play this game. You only need a minimum of four players, though I strongly recommend playing with at least six players. If you then also have a space to play in, you are ready to go.

How to play?
The idea of the game follows the story of the comic: The evil wizard Gargamel chases the Smurfs through their town and tries to catch as many of them as possible. However, Papa Smurf and Smurfette are always there for others and ready to help them in every situation.
And that is exactly how the game goes.
To start, one player has to be selected to play Gargamel. This player has to either leave the room or turn around and close their eyes and ears because they are not allowed to hear who the other characters are. Following the selection of Gargamel, the other characters, Papa Smurf and Smurfette, have to be selected. Once this is done, Gargamel is allowed to enter the room again.
The players then have to decide where the tagged players have to go on. It does not matter where or what this safe place is but I would recommend choosing a spot central in the area that you play in.
On the count of three, the game starts.
Gargamel has to chase the other players and try to tag them. When a player is tagged, they have to go to the selected spot and wait there until Papa Smurf or Smurfette free them. The important part about this is that Gargamel cannot find out who Papa Smurf and Smurfette are. This means that these two characters have to try to be sneaky while freeing the players. When both Smurfette and Papa Smurf are tagged, the game is over and Gargamel won.
To make things more interesting and depending on the number of players, you can play with two taggers. Additionally to Gargamel, we then have his cat Azrael, his right-hand man. The game still works as described, just with two “evil” players chasing the Smurfs, instead of only one.

I hope you enjoy this game and have fun playing!