Crackables
View the case- Brand
- OnePlus
- Year
- 2018
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Puzzle
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- UNIT9
- With
- Google ZOO
- With
- Le Polish Bureau
Objective
OnePlus wanted to prove its 8GB-RAM flagship was a serious gaming machine, not just a spec on a page, so it built a case built around hardcore mobile gamers rather than a spec sheet. The campaign doubled as a loyalty play for OnePlus's tech-savvy fanbase, seeded with a pre-launch teaser and countdown to build anticipation before launch.
Solution
Players open crackables.oneplus.com in their mobile browser, sign in with Google to save progress, and meet Crax, an AI voice claiming to be trapped inside a six-walled digital prison who asks for help breaking out. Each wall is a timed cipher puzzle — a maze that spells out letters, a tap-and-swipe rhythm sequence, an image or binary code — solved by typing the answer into a code field to bring down that wall. Everyone gets up to three days to clear the first three walls, but only the fastest 1,000 solvers advance; they're mailed a physical circuit board and move into a hardware phase, holding it up to the phone to crack audio codes over a touch-tone protocol for the final three walls. The six fastest players in that round go on to compete live for the grand prize.
Results
Crackables drew 10,000 players in its first second, 145,000 in its first day, and 580,000 total, spread entirely by word of mouth.
- 1
Before launch, players see only a teaser film and countdown pointing to crackables.oneplus.com and promising a major prize.
- 2
At the announced launch time the player opens the site on a mobile browser and signs in with a Google account, which is required to save progress and appear on the ranking.
- 3
A talking AI character, Crax, frames the premise: it is imprisoned inside a six-walled digital cube and asks the player to break down each wall to free it, coaching the player throughout.
- 4
The player works through a mix of puzzle types — a letter-tracing maze, a tap-and-swipe rhythm code, and image puzzles built on binary and procedurally generated line drawings — entering the solved code into a text field to unlock the next wall, with a hint button available if stuck.
- 5
The digital stage is timed: players have up to three days to clear all three challenges, and only the fastest 1,000 finishers qualify to continue.
- 6
Qualifiers are mailed a physical Crackables microcontroller board, since hardware places are limited to the fastest solvers.
- 7
In the hardware phase the player pairs the board with their phone, using a touch-tone protocol to crack audio codes and break the Cube's remaining walls.
- 8
The six fastest hardware-phase players advance to a finale for a roughly $30,000 grand-prize gaming setup, with lesser prizes for runners-up and along the way.
