Meet The World’s Largest Stuffed OctopusI

It’s simply enormous! It stands over 5 ft (1.52 meters) on its tentacles. Its circumference stretches 18 ft (5.49 meters) and it weighs 40 pounds (18.14 Kilograms). It’s Google search verified as the world’s largest stuffed plushie octopus and even comes with its signature 3 1/2 ft large sunglasses.  Inspired by a scene from the Tom Hank’s movie Joe Versus The Volcano, this adorable, pink eight-limbed plushie was recently created by the Rauch family of Carlsbad, CA to help promote the launch of the game called, Throw Octopus!

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The creator, Brian Rauch from FireStorm Labs, explained the inspiration, “There’s a scene where Tom Hanks goes through the Waponi Cleansing ritual which includes an octopus being wrapped around Tom Hanks’ face as he prepares to jump into the volcano. It was that moment that inspired the theme for this game.”

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It was special ordered from China to be an exact 10 times larger replica of a smaller version (6 inches versus 60 inches high) of their octopus plushie toy that's included in their Throw Octopus! game. During the transit from China, it got delayed in customs several times. It even had to be x-rayed.  It’s big enough to certainly stuff 2 to 3 small people inside it so why would any custom agent think there was a need to check out this monster sized stuffed octopus a little closer?

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It’s All Fun, Games & Tentacles

The Rauch family – Brian, Jennifer, McKenna, and their dog Monkey, lives in Carlsbad, CA, and share a passion for uncomplicated mind games. And they take their games seriously. In fact, they’ve gone so far as to throw out any game that’s deemed “too complicated” – we’re looking at you, Scythe. Basically, any game that takes more than 15 minutes to understand the basic rules, they scrap it.  What’s even better is that they take the same principle to heart when it comes to producing their games. If it’s not fun, easy to understand, and challenging, then off to the bin it goes.

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It’s A Shady Business!

The family launched their first game Shady Pets in 2020 and has already sold over 50,000 units on Amazon. This very popular game is a unique combination of Clue and Uno and is themed around the four popular pets (dogs, cats, hamsters, and reptiles) all wearing shades! See our Amazon Store.

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FireStorm Labs is the company they created to produce, manage and publish all the games they create!

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More About the Rauch’s

In addition to their love for board and card games, the Rauch family also enjoys camping and trips to the beach. Brian enjoys volleyball, screenplay writing and coaching soccer. His wife – Jennifer, on the other hand, regularly volunteers at McKenna’s school as well as the National Charity League. McKenna dreams of becoming an aerospace engineer or professional soccer player. And their Shih Tzu/poodle Monkey does take her role as protector very seriously. When she’s not enjoying his mandatory belly rubs, she’s busy protecting the family from a rat who’s trying to mark its territory on their backyard fence.