Why the Name “Ferret Flush?”

Can you guess the top question we get asked? Yup, you guessed it. What the heck is Ferret Flush? We often have to clarify that we don’t sell ferrets. We don’t sell toilets. And, we don’t sell laxatives for ferrets.

What an adventure it was to try and determine a name for this card game. At first, Anthony and I called the game “Deal with It.” However, as we had conversations with attorneys, this name could not be trademarked and would get lost in the card game world. How to play the game was becoming more certain than the name. What are we going to call this? It was so challenging to find something that aligned with the game and could be trademarked. (Months later…)

One day, in my pondering, I started searching animals whose names are also verbs in Merriam-Webster. The badger is a burrowing mammal. To badger means to harass or annoy someone persistently. The fox is sly, cunning, and crafty. “Sly as a fox.” The Snipe, The Rat, The Parrot. We kicked around different animal names. Antagonize the Ant. Pause the Platypus. Pangoline Pie.

Unexpectedly, I came across the Ferret. I read about how ferrets are seen as pets today but previously they were used by hunters to flush out rabbits, game, and vermon that had burrowed underground. To ferret out means “to find and bring to light by searching.” This is exactly what this game does. It brings to surface things we can’t see in each other, namely, our thoughts and emotions.

Ferret Flush. I could barely say it without cringing. I can’t believe I’m going to suggest this, I thought. Having no idea how this name would be received, I hesitantly and awkwardly grabbed my phone and typed “Ferret Flush” in an email to our attorney. She responded, “You made me smile!” And people have kept smiling ever since.

Here is some fan art that was sent our way in the early branding process. Thanks @mommav16.

It Started in the Night

It was a quiet cool Miami night in October 2020. The house was peaceful. The kids, my husband, Anthony, and our Labradoodle, Brownie-Bell, were deep in slumber. Yet, my mind was restless. I kept oscillating between positive and negative thoughts. I rolled over to jot notes in my night-stand journal. Just get it out of my head, I figured. But, it wasn’t enough.

Eventually, I quietly rolled out of bed and whisked the journal to the home office. Click went the lamp. I skimmed the scribbled notes on my journal in the dim lamp light. Suddenly, I felt prompted to turn the mental battle of our thoughts into a card game and board game. After two hours of feverishly writing more notes, I finally felt the release to go back to bed.

In the morning, I shared with Anthony what happened. “I think God wants me to make a card game,” I excitedly (yet sheepishly) shared. He thought I was crazy,“God wants you to do what?!” But, after explaining the idea further, he agreed, “I think you’ve actually got something here!” Then, within 24 hours, we created the first draft of what is now Ferret Flush®.