The Grape Escape was a board game

Board game

A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...

 released in 1992 by Parker Brothers

Parker Brothers

Parker Brothers is a toy and game manufacturer and brand. Since 1883, the company has published more than 1,800 games; among their best known products are Monopoly, Cluedo , Sorry, Risk, Trivial Pursuit, Ouija, Aggravation, and Probe...

 (now Hasbro

Hasbro

Hasbro is a multinational toy and boardgame company from the United States of America. It is one of the largest toy makers in the world. The corporate headquarters is located in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, United States...

) and licensed by Rehtmeyer Inc.. The game was intended to entertain younger audiences of 5+ years old. The game was short-lived having only been available for one year.

The game consisted of playing pieces constructed of various colored Grape Goop (Play-Doh

Play-Doh

Play-Doh is a modeling compound used by young children for art and craft projects at home and in school. Composed of flour, water, salt, boric acid, and mineral oil, the product was first manufactured in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA as a wallpaper cleaner in the 1930s...

) that were fashioned after grape-like action figures. Game play consisted of maneuvering clay playing pieces through several plastic obstacles on a board that were aimed to physically disfigure or decapitate the playing piece; destroying the Grape Goop figure often resulted in losing the game, but sometimes had the affected player re-mold their Grape Goop figure using one of the included grape mold templates and returning to the start space. Some obstacles included: crank/rubber band operated scissors, steam roller, and grape stomping boot activated by lever and rubber band.

Game play

Each player rolls the die in turn. They then move their grape the number of spaces indicated on a factory conveyor belt style board. The hazard stations are counted as a place as well. The Grape Leap roll allows the player to jump ahead one space of the grape in the lead. If a player rolls Turn Crank they can operate the apparatus and take out any grape on one of the four stations (in which case, the affected player must re-mold his or her grape piece and start over). Should a player land on the same place as an opponent's grape, that grape is pushed to the next hazard station. The first grape to reach the finish wins.

Advertising

The Grape Escape was advertised primarily through television commercials aired during children's television programs. The commercials consisted of elaborately animated figures being violently crushed and decapitated while little children played the game. Aside from the animations and regular game play, the television advertisements played a Grape Escape theme song written to sound like the famous Italian song Funiculì, Funiculà

Funiculì, Funiculà

"Funiculì, Funiculà" is a famous Neapolitan song written by Italian journalist Peppino Turco and set to music by Italian composer Luigi Denza in 1880. It was composed to commemorate the opening of the first funicular cable car on Mount Vesuvius. The 1880 cable car was later destroyed by the...

except with modified lyrics .