Braintree ASCII Arcade

Objective

Braintree, a payments platform targeting software developers, created a delightful brand experience by embedding a hidden Easter egg in their website. The campaign aimed to engage and entertain their developer audience with an unexpected, retro arcade gaming experience—reinforcing Braintree's playful, developer-friendly brand culture while rewarding users who explored the site's source code.

Solution

Braintree embedded four retro ASCII arcade games directly into their website's source code as a hidden Easter egg. Developers who inspected the page source or used browser developer tools discovered tokens linking to four playable games: Deployer, Algorithmoids, Incubator Invaders, and SDK Knockout. The games were fully playable in the browser and allowed players to track and share their scores, creating a social element around the nostalgic gaming experience.

Results

The campaign earned an Awwwards Honorable Mention, gaining recognition from the design community.