The strongest company anniversary celebration ideas let customers play with a brand's history instead of reading about it. A campaign game does this well: decades become levels, archive objects become collectables, and the prize ties the milestone to a sale, a sign-up or a store visit. Here are nine brand anniversaries built as games, with sourced results.
Most corporate anniversary ideas online cover the party and the gifts. This list covers the public side: games from our library made for a real company, product line, programme or club birthday, favouring cases with published figures. Several belong to the longer story of advergames.
Which brands have celebrated an anniversary with a game?
World's Biggest PAC-MAN — PAC-MAN (2011)
Agency: Soap Creative Australia · Mechanic: Puzzle · Platform: Web
Namco Bandai wanted PAC-MAN back in the web conversation for its 30th anniversary. You opened a giant map stitched from maze thumbnails. Clicking a tile dropped you into a standard PAC-MAN maze, and leaving by the exit took you straight into the neighbouring one. Anyone who logged in with Facebook could claim an empty tile and draw a new maze, adding it to the grid for good.
Result: Guinness World Records lists it as the largest PAC-MAN videogame, with 62,721 mazes as of September 2011, built to mark 30 years since Namco's arcade original (Guinness World Records).
The Pie's The Limit — Ubisoft (2011)
Agency: Diplomatic-Cover · Mechanic: Arcade & Action · Platform: Web
Ubisoft marked its 25th anniversary with a pie fight (Marketing Directo). You picked a Raving Rabbid dressed as a Ubisoft hero, started from a real Ubisoft studio on a Google Maps globe, and set angle and power to fire a cream pie as far as it would go. The top scorer was promised Ubisoft games (Esperino, archived). The map also showcased Ubisoft's studios and gave the staff in them a rallying point.
Result: our case file records more than 180,000 games played in the first month; its source is offline, so we could not re-check it.
Twist, Lick, Dunk — Oreo (2012)
Agency: PikPok · Mechanic: Arcade & Action · Platform: App
In its 100th year, Oreo put its eating ritual on the phone. Cookies flew at you, and you swiped to twist them apart, lick the cream and dunk them in milk. The century showed up as collectables: dozens of flavours and limited editions from the brand's 100 years could be found and unlocked as boosts (PikPok). A Facebook leaderboard kept friends competing.
Result: by 2016, about 7 million downloads and over 5 billion virtual cookies dunked, and Mondelēz said the game had made twice what it cost through in-app purchases and ads (CNBC).
GTi Legend The Game — Peugeot (2014)
Agency: DPDK · Mechanic: Racing & Sports · Platform: Web
A product anniversary: the limited 208 GTi 30th marked 30 years of Peugeot's GTi line, and the brief allowed six weeks to create and launch an activation that picked up where the TV spot ended (Emerce eGuide). You drove across a frozen lake as the ice cracked and missiles fell, surviving as long as you could on phone, tablet or desktop. Daily high scores named new winners.
Result: players averaged 5 plays each on mobile and tablet and 8 on desktop, with visits averaging more than three minutes, according to the agency's case entry (Emerce eGuide).
Defying The Odds Since 1885 — Southampton FC (2020)
Agency: UNIT9 · Mechanic: Arcade & Action · Platform: Web
Lockdown cancelled the film shoot for Southampton FC's 135th-anniversary kit, so a club email carried an 8-bit browser game instead. You dribbled a pixel-art Saints player through club history from 1885, dodging comic obstacles such as Harry Redknapp in his Range Rover. Each of three levels was set in a different era, and clearing one revealed another piece of the new strip. A leaderboard offered prizes to top scorers, and the next email pointed to the pre-order. UNIT9 built it remotely in seven weeks (UNIT9).
Result: the email-led campaign generated nearly £16,000 in kit sales, with 106,000 unique opens (15%) from 728,000 sends, according to the club's email platform (Dotdigital).
The Xbox Vault — Microsoft (2021)
Agency: Makemepulse, Assembly Media Inc · Mechanic: Quiz & Trivia · Platform: Web
For its 20th anniversary, Xbox borrowed a heist from Netflix's Red Notice: help Dwayne Johnson protect Xbox artefacts from Ryan Reynolds and Gal Gadot (Xbox Wire). Inside a 3D vault, you hunted for 27 objects from Xbox history and answered a four-option question on each one you found, against a four-minute clock before the doors shut. Points bought extra sweepstakes entries, and you could replay with only your best score counting.
Result: more than 230,000 players and over 130,000 sweepstakes entries in a ten-day run from 15 November 2021 (Makemepulse).
Virtual Kids Workshops — The Home Depot (2023)
Agency: BBDO · Mechanic: Simulation & Strategy · Platform: In-Game
The Home Depot marked 25 years of its free in-store Kids Workshops inside Redcliff City RP on Roblox (Adweek). A virtual employee in an orange apron offered three DIY projects; you hunted the aisles for materials, built the piece and carried it around the city. The build area needed a code handed out only at real workshops on the first Saturday of the month, so the game sent families back to the event it celebrated. More store-led games are in our retail gamification guide.
Result: 7 million users entered the activation (Adweek); it was a 2024 Webby Honoree (Webby Awards).
Most Searched Playground — Google (2023)
Agency: Google Brand Studio · Mechanic: Puzzle · Platform: Web
For its 25th birthday, Google turned search data into a hidden-object game behind the homepage doodle (Shorty Awards). You pan around a hand-drawn park of more than 1,700 figures, hunting 25 of the most searched people, places and moments of the past 25 years (Google). Each clue comes with a compass, and each find reveals a fact from Search.
Result: 24.3 million users with an average play time of 2 minutes 40 seconds, more than 1.8 million who found all 25 objects, 52% outside the US, and a 9% uplift in brand advocacy among a nationally representative US Gen Z sample (Shorty Awards).
The House of Wonders — Audemars Piguet (2025)
Agency: Makemepulse · Mechanic: Adventure & Quest · Platform: Web
For its 150th anniversary, the watchmaker built a year-long online hub. You sign in or enter as a guest and move through 3D rooms laid out like cabinets of curiosities. Each holds short activities: quiz questions, assembling a movement by dragging its parts, a 150-year timeline, arcade challenges. Activities earn badges, and badges lead to gifts, the top one a two-day visit to the manufacture in Switzerland (The Stable). It can still be played.
Result: 311,000 visits in three months, more than 10 minutes on average for logged-in users, an 80% engagement rate and 40% of games completed (The Stable).
Anniversary games at a glance
| Game | Brand | Year | What it did | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| World's Biggest PAC-MAN | PAC-MAN | 2011 | Fans drew mazes for the 30th | 62,721 mazes |
| The Pie's The Limit | Ubisoft | 2011 | Pie contest from Ubisoft studios | 180,000+ games, first month (not re-checked) |
| Twist, Lick, Dunk | Oreo | 2012 | 100 years of flavours as boosts | About 7 million downloads by 2016 |
| GTi Legend The Game | Peugeot | 2014 | Ice-racing game for the GTi's 30th | Average of 8 plays per player on desktop |
| Defying The Odds Since 1885 | Southampton FC | 2020 | Era levels revealed the new kit | Nearly £16,000 in kit sales |
| The Xbox Vault | Microsoft | 2021 | Timed trivia hunt, 27 artefacts | 230,000+ players |
| Virtual Kids Workshops | The Home Depot | 2023 | Roblox build gated by store code | 7 million users |
| Most Searched Playground | 2023 | Hidden-object doodle | 24.3 million users | |
| The House of Wonders | Audemars Piguet | 2025 | Heritage rooms with badges | 311,000 visits in three months |
How do you turn a company's history into a game?
Make the decades the levels. Southampton gave each level its own era. Tesco's centenary Christmas game, Delivery Dash, sent a delivery van through five decades on Facebook Messenger, from Ford Model Ts in the 1920s to DeLoreans in the 1980s (UNIT9). More seasonal cases are in our Christmas round-up.
Turn the archive into collectables. Oreo's limited editions became boosts and Xbox's artefacts became the thing you hunt. Dr. Martens' Unlaced hid 60 clues across six decades for its 60th anniversary, and promised Dr. Martens products to 60 players who found them all (Communication Arts). A finite set gives players a goal.
Let the audience build part of it. PAC-MAN's map was drawn by fans; Google's park was made from what people searched for. The audience becomes the subject, which travels further than a brand talking about itself.
Tie the prize to the business goal. Southampton's game revealed a shirt you could then pre-order, and The Home Depot's code brought children into stores. Burger King's 70th-birthday carnival game, Balloon Burst, gave Royal Perks loyalty members sweepstakes entries and points (Marketing Dive).
Pick the format by goal. If the target is data, an instant win does the job fast. Ocean Casino Resort's fifth-birthday slot machine collected 265,549 emails from 466,688 participants over three months (Drimify), and Somfy's always-winning version for its TaHoma hub's 15th brought 34,000 leads (Drimify), both by the platform's own count. The reels carry the birthday theme rather than the brand's history, so if the story is the point, pair them with a bigger idea.
Put staff and customers in one game. Ubisoft's public contest started from its own studios, so employees had a stake in the same game as the fans.
Borrow a bigger moment. Xbox paired its 20th with a Netflix release. Wimbledon launched WimbleWorld on Roblox in Centre Court's 100th year (The Drum) and kept it running; The Gang reports 15.3 million visits (The Gang). More in brands on Roblox.
When is a game the wrong way to mark an anniversary?
When it is a timeline with nothing to do. A history page people only scroll gives nobody a reason to come back. Put an action on the history instead: The Xbox Vault hid its artefacts in a timed hunt, and Unlaced spread 60 clues across six decades.
When there is no distribution. Several games above rode a channel with an audience already in place: the Google homepage, a club mailing list, Roblox, a TV spot. A microsite with no media behind it is mostly played by the people who made it.
When the audience fits in one room. To thank a team of forty, a dinner and a good history book do more. A game earns its cost when the audience is large and outside the building.
FAQ
What do companies do to celebrate anniversaries?
Many run an event for staff and a separate campaign for the public. The campaigns that show results give people a task built on brand history and a reward tied to the business. Southampton FC revealed its 135th-anniversary kit level by level in a browser game, and its email-led campaign generated nearly £16,000 in kit sales. The Home Depot's Roblox workshop drew 7 million users.
What are some creative ways to celebrate a company anniversary?
Turn decades into levels, archive products into collectables, or let fans build part of the celebration. Oreo made 100 years of flavours into boosts in Twist, Lick, Dunk, and the World's Biggest PAC-MAN let fans draw their own levels and had reached 62,721 mazes by September 2011.
How do you celebrate 20 or 25 years as a company?
By then a brand has fans with memories of their own, so build on them. Xbox marked 20 years with a four-minute trivia hunt through 27 artefacts from its history and drew more than 230,000 players in ten days. Google marked its own 25th birthday with a hidden-object doodle of 25 of the most searched people, places and moments of the past 25 years, played by 24.3 million users.
How do you celebrate 100 years of a company?
A century gives you enough material for a level per era or a collectable per decade. Tesco's centenary Christmas game, Delivery Dash, drove a van through five decades, and Oreo's 100th year produced a game with about 7 million downloads by 2016. At 150 years, Audemars Piguet's House of Wonders logged 311,000 visits in three months.
Browse games that launched a product, the loyalty collection and games you can still play, or send us an anniversary game we have missed.