PlayHard
View the case- Brand
- Red Bull
- Year
- 2020
- Objective
- Engagement
- Industry
- Food & Drink
- Mechanic
- Puzzle
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Priska
Objective
Red Bull France wanted to bond with the country's gaming audience through an owned play experience rather than sponsorship, extending its PopCorn Garage/PopCorn TV content into gaming. The pitch was to gather every generation of gamer in one room and let them prove themselves as the ultimate tryhard, using a live leaderboard as the hook.
Solution
The player lands in a single richly illustrated gaming room stuffed with posters, shelves, and consoles, and has to spot 66 references hidden among the clutter. They pan around the scene, zoom into details, click on an object, and type the name of the game it's nodding to — a correct guess adds points and ticks up the found counter, a wrong one costs points and one of three lives. Bonuses and combo quizzes unlock as the player progresses, adding extra points along the way. Three mistakes end the run, and the player can then register their score under their own name on a real-time leaderboard.
- 1
The player opens a free browser game hosted on Red Bull's site, tasked with finding 66 hidden video-game references inside a single illustrated scene.
- 2
The scene is one densely packed gamer's room, its four corners cluttered with objects and posters that disguise nods to games ranging from retro classics like OutRun, Punch-Out and Metroid to modern titles like Halo, God of War, Minecraft and The Sims.
- 3
Players pan around the room and zoom into its corners to make out small details, with the game best played on a larger screen (PC or tablet) rather than a phone.
- 4
Spotting a suspicious object, the player clicks it and types the name of the game it references; a correct guess adds points and advances a visible counter of references found out of 66, while a wrong guess deducts points and costs one of three lives, ending the run on the third mistake.
- 5
As the session progresses, bonuses, quizzes and combos unlock as extra ways to earn points beyond straight guessing.
- 6
Players can register under their name to have their score posted to a real-time leaderboard against other participants.
- 7
A full clear means identifying all 66 references before losing three lives, a feat some players have documented in full solution videos.
