Sales Slow for 'The Bridge' Board Game

SAN FRANCISCO, CA  - A board game based on the 2006 documentary film The Bridge has failed to gain traction for the third week in a row. Retail domestic sales remain stagnant for the Happy Time Fun product based on a movie about people leaping to their deaths from the Golden Gate Bridge. "Board games with a goal of committing suicide have never been huge sellers in the American market," said entertainment writer Leah Vanny. Vanny cited the fate of 1966 Japanese import Seppuku. Featuring a polished maple board and delicately-carved sandstone pieces, Seppuku was set in a cave on Saipan. Players assumed the roles of surrounded Japanese soldiers who must outwit each other in order to obtain a grenade they need to blow themselves up. Losers were captured by American Marines and endured shame. The game appeared in select U.S. stores the day after Thanksgiving and disappeared completely by mid-December. Vanny feels a similar fate awaits Happy Time Fun's dour product. "I think they really overestimated the popularity of the film."
Bound for Glory

In The Bridge game, players move simple wooden tokens across a board version of the Golden Gate Bridge. Rolling dice determines how many squares you may move. The object is to outmaneuver bridge security, the California Highway Patrol, Cal-Trans workers, religious suicide prevention groups, and concerned pedestrians in order to leap off the bridge. Players must then roll to see how they fared post-impact. Vanny explained, "Depending on the roll, there's either no afterlife, a very specific afterlife with judgement, or a California afterlife minus judgement but with a commitment to sustainable eternity." Several calls to Happy Time Fun Product's Delaware headquarters went unanswered. An email press release from the company stated they were  "collating additional market studies or something." Vanny concluded, "I think they've [Happy Time Fun Products] learned their lesson. Still, negative press could hurt their upcoming launch of the board game for Angela's Ashes." (Image: Wickipedia)