Play The Championships
- Year
- 2020
- Objective
- Engagement
- Mechanic
- Arcade & Action
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Lostmechanics
Objective
When the 2020 Championships were cancelled for the first time since World War II, Wimbledon lost the two weeks of direct fan contact the tournament normally provides. "Wimbledon: The Greatest Championships" was built to hold fans' attention on wimbledon.com and social media across those original dates, and the game piece was aimed squarely at younger fans and retro-gaming enthusiasts — the audience archive replays and AI-generated content were least likely to hold.
Solution
Players open Play The Championships in a browser, on desktop or phone, and land on an 8-bit tennis court rendered in chunky arcade-era pixel art, dressed up like one of Wimbledon's real show courts. They knock the ball back and forth to win points and matches, working through a bracket that mirrors the real tournament — seven rounds standing between them and the title. Every result posts to a public leaderboard, and the run doesn't end at the last point: the top score wins a grand prize, with nine more prizes going to the best runners-up.
- 1
The game opens on its own site, gaming.wimbledon.com, rendering the All England Club and its grounds entirely in 8-bit pixel art, styled like a retro arcade cabinet rather than the main tournament website.
- 2
Players play tennis matches on the show courts, pixel-art versions of Wimbledon's real main courts.
- 3
Matches are arranged as a tournament bracket of seven rounds; winning a match unlocks the next round, mirroring the real Championships draw.
- 4
A session ends when the player wins the final and is crowned "Wimbledon Champion" within the game.
- 5
Performance is tracked as a score on a leaderboard: the top scorer wins a pair of sneakers autographed by a Wimbledon champion, and the next nine highest scorers receive other prizes.
