Like Magic
Open the game- Brand
- Weglot
- Year
- 2022
- Objective
- Awareness
- Industry
- Tech & Telecom
- Mechanic
- Puzzle
- Platform
- Web
- Agency
- Refokus
Objective
Weglot was sponsoring Webflow Conf 2022 and wanted a presence that reached past its physical booth to the conference's 20,000-plus attendees, including everyone who couldn't be there in person. The brief was to bring the campaign concept "it works like magic" to life while making the case for Weglot as the fastest way to translate a website, and to pull the Webflow community into a shared leaderboard tied to a charity giveaway.
Solution
The player opens on a darkened theater stage where the cursor becomes a magician's torch, dragging light across the scene to burn back the shadows and reveal a magician's props — a rabbit, a top hat, a pocket watch, stars — while unseen creatures lurk just out of reach. A word in a foreign language appears at the top of the screen with a set of possible meanings below it; the player picks one and holds down a button to lock it in, with 10 seconds per word over seven rounds. A language switcher in the header (English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese) lets the player flip the whole interface into another language mid-session, which is the trick itself: that's Weglot translating the page live. Clearing all seven words lets the player submit their score to a shared Webflow-community leaderboard, and the top three finishers each get Weglot to donate to a charity of their choice. Anyone who opens the game on a phone instead gets a screen asking them to send the link to their computer, since it only plays on desktop.
Results
Over the two days of Webflow Conf 2022, Weglot used the activation to meet with hundreds of Webflow community members.
- 1
"Like Magic" is a desktop-only browser game; a player who opens it on a phone sees a screen asking them to email the link to their desktop instead. On desktop, a language dropdown (English, German, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Simplified Chinese) instantly translates the entire game, not just its menus.
- 2
Before play begins, the game explains the goal: find the meaning of seven words shown in different languages before time runs out, using clues hidden in the dark, while avoiding creatures lurking in the shadows. The menu also reveals that a submitted score triggers a charity donation, with top scorers ($1000/$750/$500 tiers) directing Weglot's donation to a charity of their choice, matched by a donation to Make a Wish France.
- 3
Once the player starts, a curtain opens on a dark stage and the cursor becomes a torch, lighting only a small circle around it. The player sweeps the torch across the darkness to uncover themed props (a rabbit, a top hat, a pocket watch, a rope) as clues to a foreign-language word shown onscreen, while a countdown timer and a "words left" counter track progress.
- 4
The player points the torch at one of several answer options along the bottom of the screen and presses and holds it to confirm — a click alone doesn't register — before the timer runs out.
- 5
Confirming an answer triggers an instant "CORRECT!!" or "wrong!!" message, and the scene resets with the next of the seven words.
- 6
A round ends in one of two ways: letting the timer run out on any word brings up a defeat screen offering another attempt, while correctly working through all seven words leads to a closing screen thanking the player, with options to play again or learn more about Weglot.
- 7
After finishing, players can optionally submit their details to see how they rank against other players, receiving a confirmation once submitted, or decline and go straight to learning more about Weglot.
- 8
Throughout, a menu gives access to brand modals about Weglot, the agency Refokus, and the Webflow conference the game was built for, each linking out for more information.
