The Rise Of Pablo Escobear
View the case- Brand
- Cocaine Bear
- Year
- 2023
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Entertainment
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Project C
Objective
Cocaine Bear was a mid-budget, R-rated comedy that sold itself entirely on one absurd premise, and Universal had ten days before release to turn that meme energy into something people would actually share. Rather than cut another trailer, the studio wanted a free, no-download piece of entertainment that let audiences act out the joke themselves and carry the film's tone into a playable form.
Solution
Players open the game free in a browser, on desktop or phone, and after confirming they're 18+ take control of the bear in an 8-bit maze modeled on the film's 1985 setting. Instead of dots, the maze is scattered with humans to eat, each kill rendered as a gory pixel-art animation matching the film's rating, plus lines of cocaine the bear has to keep eating to stay powered up — run too low and the session ends. Full duffel bags work like power pellets, triggering a burst of super speed, and chasing down the ambulance from the film's trailer scores bonus points. The game cycles through several maps and two distinct settings before ending on a score screen built for posting to social.
Results
Over 100,000 gameplays.
- 1
Players reach the game from a link shared in social posts or press coverage and it loads straight into a desktop or mobile browser at cocainebear.movie/game, free and with no download. An 18+ age gate stands before entry, and an NES-style 8-bit title screen introduces 'Cocaine Bear: The Rise of Pablo Escobear' with the film's branding and release-date messaging.
- 2
The player steers the bear through a top-down pixel-art maze — arrow keys on desktop, on-screen arrow buttons on mobile — hunting down and eating every human on the map, each catch triggering a gory 8-bit kill animation in the vein of Pac-Man's ghost chases.
- 3
Cocaine scattered along the corridors fuels the bear; the player keeps collecting it to stay powered up, and letting the supply run out too low ends the run.
- 4
Four duffel bags on each map act as power pellets, granting the bear a temporary burst of super speed when eaten.
- 5
An ambulance occasionally drives through the level as a nod to the film's trailer, and running it down scores bonus points.
- 6
Clearing a map advances the player to the next level, with custom pixel-art animations for the main characters spanning two distinct settings.
- 7
Points accumulate across the run, and finishing leaves the player with a score to beat and share on social media, which drove the game's spread.
