It’s like Russian roulette but with whipped cream, and Hasbro can’t make it fast enough to satisfy raging demand.
Sapna Maheshwari/BuzzFeed News
A game that revolves around the eternal human desire to fling piles of whipped cream into the faces of friends and enemies is flying off shelves this holiday season.
Such is the strange draw of Pie Face, a popular 1960s kids toy that's become a surprise hit this holiday season thanks to a viral video from earlier this year.
Pie Face is best described as Russian roulette, but with whipped cream. Players use a spinner to determine how many times they must turn the toy's handles. Eventually, one turn will trigger a plastic hand, flinging "pie" into the player's face. That's basically it! The entire game.
If you're vegan, or no fun, or both, the game makers say you can also use a wet sponge instead of whipped cream. They even include a sponge.
Here's what it's like to get "Pie-Faced"
Heroically demonstrated by BuzzFeed News reporter Molly Hensley-Clancy.
As simple and absurd as it sounds, Pie Face has become wildly popular. Alongside Star Wars and Frozen toys and talking Barbies, the $20 Pie Face game is "selling well and is just about sold out everywhere," BMO Capital Markets analysts wrote in a Dec. 1 note. It was No. 5 on a list of eBay's bestselling toys and games on Nov. 29 and named a "fastest-trending" product on Black Friday by IBM.
As of Wednesday, Pie Face was out of stock at ToysRus.com but available from third-party sellers on Amazon, where it's No. 1 in the board games category, and No. 3 for all toys and games after Cards Against Humanity and "Exploding Kittens".
"Nothing is quite as satisfying as watching your children get pied in the face over and over again ... I have laughed until my stomach hurt," one reviewer wrote on Amazon. Another described Pie Face as "the purest form of dumb fun there is."
Jonathan Berkowitz, Hasbro's senior vice president of marketing for gaming, told BuzzFeed News that Pie Face is a "top item" for the company this year. "We're doing our best to keep up with consumer demand," he said.
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