Board game satirizes impending L train shutdown nightmare

With the 15-month shutdown of the L subway line just months away, two Brooklyn creatives thought, 'Why not have some fun with it?' They created a board game called "Escape from Hell."

"We thought, 'What would be a cool way to satirize all the pain we're going to live through?'" co-creator Hunter Fine said.

The game is pretty straightforward: roll the dice, draw a card, and move forward or back. The first player who gets to Manhattan wins.

"When you draw a card in the game, you'll face a setback—maybe the bus you're taking stops on the Williamsburg Bridge or maybe the bike you're on falls apart," Fine said.

Fine and Gil Arevalo designed the game, raised money on Kickstarter, and then hired an illustrator to bring it to life.

Players select a hipster character and wind their way through Williamsburg and Bushwick landmarks like the Domino Sugar Factory and Peter Luger Steakhouse. And while the game is mostly satire, it has a few real tips on getting around during the shutdown.

"Just a few little things, like maybe you start dating outside the borough so maybe you end up somewhere else and find your way to work every day," Arevalo said.

We're now officially in the year of the L train shutdown, so the guys hope the game is a reminder to riders that you need to figure out how you're going to get around.

"We're not poking fun at the MTA so much as we are poking a finger at 'Wake up—you need to figure this out now,'" Arevalo said.

The board game is currently in the production phase and should be available for sale in local stores and maybe even a pop-up by February or early March with plenty of time to spare before the train shuts down in late April.