
Prototype event cards
The South Bronx also underwent significant demographic, economic, and social changes during this period. The existing European immigrant population, which had watched World War II unfold from the Bronx, went on to use post-war financial incentives to leave for the suburbs. With the introduction of commercial air travel, a new wave of migrants arrived from Puerto Rico, while segregation in the South saw many African Americans moving to the area. This growing minority population led to redlining policies which restricted real estate investment. At the same time, roadway and infrastructure projects used eminent domain laws to seize property and move forward with large-scale redevelopment, often at the cost of those already living locally. Neglected housing and social services reached a boiling point in 1977, when a citywide blackout combined with looting and arson to devastate the Bronx.

Prototype Event Cards
Throughout this period, a wide cast of public figures would take interest in the Bronx, including Robert Moses, US Presidents like Ronald Reagan, and New York Mayors like Rudolph Giuliani. For some, the area served as a publicity prop, while others saw it as a set of statistics to be manipulated from a distance. Yet each of these manipulations, no matter how far removed, had their impact on those that were fighting for survival in the borough.

Prototype Event Cards
Cross Bronx Expressway models this rich history as a competitive economic city builder with collective loss conditions. Three playable factions
—Public, Private, and Community
—attempt to save the city from the brink of bankruptcy and protect the Bronx's vulnerable population throughout this tumultuous period, while also working to achieve their own conflicting objectives. The game progresses using a shared event deck, divided into decades. Each decade features a semi-random series of historical cards whose effects will always occur but can be manipulated by the players. The factions perform actions around these events in order to mitigate their effects, while hoping to tip the balance in their favor. Infrastructure will be built and sometimes demolished, coalitions formed and abandoned, populations housed and displaced, and the vulnerable encouraged and discarded, while each faction struggles to stay out of debt and achieve their own objectives. At the end of each decade, census numbers are tallied to determine which factions have achieved their objectives and at what cost. If they manage to keep the city afloat, each decade provides the players with new opportunities to transform the South Bronx according to their own vision, but if too many vulnerable people are lost or if the city goes bankrupt, everyone will lose. Can you cooperate better than the historical actors did and pull the South Bronx back from the brink of disaster?
Components:
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22x34" mounted game board
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Event Deck
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Card-Driven Solo-System Deck
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152 Wooden Pieces
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One half-size, full-color counter sheet
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Three fold-out player aid sheets
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One fold-out solo play aid
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One custom 6-sided die
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One standard 6-sided die
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1 Rule Book
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1 Playbook
Number of players: 1-3 (includes full solitaire system)
Game Designer: Non-Breaking Space
Game Developer: Joe Dewhurst