Sopranos Game Ties to Loyal Viewers
A&E Television Network is tapping into the huge popularity of The Sopranos with a game that tests viewer’s knowledge of the series.
The board game, called The Sopranos A&E Connection, synchs online play at SuitcaseofCash.com to real-time broadcasts of the show. Each week, players will attempt to predict what will happen in the show and earn points based on accuracy.
Weekly prizes will be awarded ranging from digital cameras to PlayStation 3 consoles. The top scorer at the end of the season wins $100,000 in cash.
Players began at attempt to collect 36 game pieces last Friday either at the site or by photographing pieces that appear on billboards, kiosks and in magazine ads. Game pieces photographed by either a cell phone or digital phone can be e-mailed to [email protected]. Mobot, a provider of search and recognition technology, confirms which game piece the player has collected.
In addition, players design their own online game board and try to mirror the action and scenes of the episode. Players earn points based on how they arrange the game pieces.
Game play officially starts Jan. 10 during the broadcast of the first two episodes at 9 p.m. ET on A&E and continues through Feb. 21. The network secured the rights to air a syndication rebroadcast of HBO’s The Sopranos in a sanitized format in 2005.
A&E will promote the game via TV spots, online ads and on Sopranos fan Web sites. Consumers who buy merchandise from the A&E store will receive a game piece.
The game “is just one example of the network’s focus on utilizing emerging platforms to drive our business,” said Bob DeBitetto, executive VP and general manager of A&E, in a statement. “There has never been a television series like The Sopranos. The depth of the characters and the attachment that people feel for them is beyond anything that we have ever seen and lends itself very well to this personal, interactive experience.”
Civic Entertainment Group, New York, helped conceive the concept and manages the promotion. Area/Code, New York, co-created the game with Mobot.
“A&E is ushering in a new way for people to watch television,” said Stuart Ruderfer, co-CEO of Civic. “It’s the first opportunity for viewers to play along with a TV drama. It turns that experience into a live, national event.”
And it’s no ordinary event.
“We are creating for people an event in their homes,” Ruderfer said. “It’s a kind of event where we are not limited to a stadium of 50,000 people. We can have 1 million people playing along as they are watching the show.”
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