PBM rules version 1.0 by Richard Smith 2026.
A postal adaptation of the popular BBC game show for 4-6 players.
Each player has his own Individual Crossing to negotiate to accumulate money for the pot. At the same time all the players work together to try to complete the Final Crossing of a bridge to claim the pot. Whilst it is a cooperative game, the player raising the most cash gets extra kudos.
Each player is given the same choice of categories for his Individual Crossing and should give a preference order. There will be one more category than there are players to choose from.
The GM will try to allocate the categories equitably according to the preferences given.
The categories will be broad like “music”, “geography” and “movies” but will all be a based
on a specific true or false premise, that will be revealed at the start of the first round proper.
For example “movies” might become “Films directed by Stephen Spielberg” and the statements are Truths
if directed by Spielberg and Lies if they were not directed by him.
There is no specific topic for the Final Crossing – the statements are general knowledge, true or false, with only one in each row being true.
The game ends when the team successfully crosses the final bridge, or finds the same number of Lies as there are players. If the crossing is successful, after one final move, the total pot from all the Individual Crossings is calculated and paid to the players. If it fails, the game ends immediately.
The Final Crossing will take 6 - 13 rounds, depending on the number of players and the number of Lies selected.
In the TV show, the bridge has 32 statements (22 truths, 10 lies [31%]) and 2 safety squares.
For the postal game the initial and final 2-statement lines are omitted and there are 19 truths and 9 lies [32%].
The player starts in one corner of the diamond (the pink arrow in the image).
Each round, the player must step on one of the exposed statements.
If the statement is a Truth £100 is added to the pot, and adjacent unexposed statements are revealed
If the statement is a Lie, the pot is halved if it is first or second Lie, if the third the player
is out and no money is banked (but see panic button rule).
If a player makes it to the grey arrow at the other side of the diamond, the money in the pot is doubled and banked. If the game ends with the player’s crossing incomplete, the current pot is banked (not doubled).
If and when the Final Crossing is completed, all players with incomplete Individual Crossings
get one more move in an attempt to boost the score and possibly get to the end step.
However, the other players get to vote on whether or not to press the “panic button”, separately for each player.
If it is pressed, the pot prior to the final move is banked and this could save the player
from going out but also result in a smaller pot.
Landing on safety square (golden shield) causes a random Lie (amongst the visible statements) to be revealed. Apart from that it effectively “wastes” a turn which may or may not be a good thing.
As per the TV show, the final bridge has the shape 3,4,3,4,3,2 with 4 players. With 5 players it is 3,3,4,3,4,3,2 and with 6 players 3,4,3,4,3,4,3,2.
In each row, only one statement is true. Stepping on the Truth clears the row, stepping on a Lie
causes the player to be eliminated (but they may still vote).
Note that if a player selects a Lie on the final row, a new pair of statements appear, one Truth, one Lie.
Players tackle the Final Crossing one at a time, in random order.
In the TV show, if the player has not selected a statement by the time the wave reaches them, they are out. In the postal game, it is the same but instead of real time being used, the wave hits if no decision is made, as described below.
All players (including those eliminated) get to vote on which statement should be stepped on. If there is a tie, and one of the tied options is the current player’s choice, that is selected. If the current player’s choice is not one of the tied options, no statement is chosen in time to avoid the wave. Note that this can only happen with five or more players.
At the start of the game, Alice, Bill, Carol and Dave all have to tackle the first row of their Individual Crossings. At least one of the options is a Truth, but it could be two or even all three.
FINAL CROSSING: Vienna was a UK number one hit for Ultravox, Paula Radcliffe has never won an Olympic medal, The speed of light is 3x108 miles per hour.
Bill is randomly selected to be the first player on the bridge.
So Alice has found a Lie and must choose between the other two options next time.
The other three players have found Truths, gain £100 in their pots, and more statements are revealed.
On the Final Crossing, the team has voted for Paula Radcliffe, the correct answer, and the first row is cleared, giving a choice of four new statements in the second row. Had Bill chosen the speed of light it would have been 2 vs. 2 and his choice would be the casting vote.
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