Doritos Crash Course is a free Xbox Live Arcade game, released on 8 December 2010, in which you race your Xbox avatar through obstacle courses against the clock. A fan, Jill Robertson, pitched it in Doritos' Unlock Xbox contest; Wanako Games built it. On 19 October 2026 Microsoft still listed it free for Xbox One and Series X|S.
We traced both Unlock Xbox games through Frito-Lay's press releases, Microsoft's posts and store pages, the agencies' award entries and Game Developer's leaderboard tables, noting what each number counts.
What is Doritos Crash Course?
Doritos Crash Course — Doritos (2010)
Concept: Jill Robertson · Developer: Wanako Games / A2M · Agencies: The Marketing Arm, Ketchum · Mechanic: Arcade & Action · Platform: Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade
It was a free download from Xbox Live Arcade, Microsoft's store for smaller console games. You play as your own Xbox avatar, which runs from left to right while you speed it up, duck and jump: you clear gaps, dodge swinging hammers, swing on ropes, bounce off springy platforms, float on fans and ride travelators that speed you up or slow you down; your friends' best time stays in the top right corner (VideoGamer). Microsoft's listing promises 15 platformer levels across three countries and up to four players, online or in split screen (Xbox).
Result: more than 1 million downloads in two weeks, according to the agencies' award entry (Chief Marketer), and a Metascore of 74 from five critic reviews (Metacritic). Other figures, and what they count, follow below.
When did Doritos Crash Course come out?
On 8 December 2010, free on Xbox Live Arcade, on the same day as the other finalist, Harm's Way (Engadget). Microsoft told players to download both, earn the achievements and vote in a poll on the Xbox dashboard (Xbox Wire). Voting closed on 26 December, and on 30 December 2010 Frito-Lay announced that fans had picked Crash Course (PR Newswire).
A paid add-on, City Lights, followed on 2 January 2013. For 160 Microsoft Points (about $2) it added 10 courses in Las Vegas and London and new versions of the Japan levels (Engadget); Microsoft's store lists it at $1.99 today (Xbox).
How did Doritos' Unlock Xbox contest work?
Unlock Xbox ran twice. Each time fans pitched, judges and public votes cut the field, and a professional studio built the result as a free download: user-generated content at the level of the idea, with fans writing the concept and studios the code.
Round one, 2007–08. Entries ran from 21 June to 29 July 2007. Frito-Lay brought the idea to Xbox, which got space on Doritos packs to promote Xbox Live Arcade (Chief Marketer). Doritos and Microsoft judges cut more than 2,300 submissions to five finalists, built as playable betas (PepsiCo). After a fan vote, Doritos named Mike Borland of Sewickley, Pennsylvania, the winner on 19 November 2007, with NinjaBee to build his game (press release via Kotaku).
Round two, 2009–10. Announced on 31 August 2009 for US residents, it asked for video pitches by 4 October (PepsiCo). More than 1,500 ideas came in and eight quarter-finalists went to a public vote (PepsiCo). The top three pitched in Seattle, and on 25 January 2010 two finalists were named: Robertson, from Raleigh, North Carolina, with Avatar Crash Course, and Justin Carpenter, from Ogden, Utah, with Harm's Way (PR Newswire). Each built a full game with a professional team. Robertson won $50,000 and six months of consulting with Doritos; after fan feedback, Carpenter got a second $50,000 (PR Newswire).
Dash of Destruction — Doritos (2008)
Concept: Mike Borland · Agency: The Marketing Arm · Developer: NinjaBee · Mechanic: Arcade & Action · Platform: Xbox 360, Xbox Live Arcade
The first winner came out free on 17 December 2008 (Wikipedia; Chief Marketer). Seen from above, a hungry T. rex chases a Doritos delivery truck through a town it can smash apart. You pick a side: finish the deliveries, or eat the trucks first (Wikipedia; press release via Kotaku).
Result: PepsiCo called it the fastest Xbox Live Arcade game to reach one million downloads, and Microsoft's Mark Kroese called it "a record breaker in terms of first week downloads" (PepsiCo). According to The Marketing Arm's 2009 award entry, more than 100,000 people played the betas and voted, downloads passed 1.5 million, and dollar sales of single-serve Doritos bags grew by double digits (Chief Marketer). The game is no longer sold, though earlier downloaders can fetch it again (Wikipedia).
How many people played Doritos Crash Course?
Three kinds of number circulate, and they count different things.
- Downloads, from the brand side. The agencies' entry claims more than 1 million downloads in two weeks and calls Crash Course the fastest-downloaded Xbox Live Arcade game ever (Chief Marketer), a title PepsiCo had already claimed for Dash of Destruction. During the vote the two finalists together drew more than two million downloads (PR Newswire). Microsoft's store copy for the 2013 add-on says over 3.5 million worldwide downloads (Xbox).
- Leaderboard players, from Game Developer. Its Xbox Live Arcade tables count players on each game's leaderboards and put Crash Course at 1,449,359 at the end of December 2010 (Game Developer) and 4,222,820 at the end of 2011, after 2,773,461 more that year; a footnote to the 2011 table says the game was given away free for a period of time (Game Developer). Game Developer's own headlines call these figures sales, and Wikipedia repeats them as units sold; for a free game, players on the leaderboards is the accurate label.
- Ad response, from a survey. Research cited in the award entry found that 72% took action after seeing the ads on Xbox Live, 49% of these respondents bought Doritos, 24% told friends about the contest and 21% visited Doritos.com (Chief Marketer). The entry names it only as an AdEffectiveness study and gives no sample size.
Is there a Doritos Crash Course 2?
Yes. It came out free on Xbox Live Arcade on 8 May 2013, and Xbox's launch post presents it as a sequel, with no contest mentioned. Your avatar runs, jumps, slides and wall-jumps through four new worlds, stars buy new courses, power-ups and vanity items, and you race the best times of up to three friends (Xbox Wire). Microsoft credits Behaviour Interactive as developer (Xbox Wire); Games Asylum names the worlds (the Amazon, the Antarctic, Egypt and a pirate island) and notes that extra stars sold from 80 Microsoft Points for ten to 1,600 for 200 (Games Asylum). In April 2014 Microsoft Studios set its closure for 15 October 2014 (TrueAchievements).
Can you still play Doritos Crash Course?
On a current console, the listing says yes. Crash Course joined Xbox One backward compatibility on 17 December 2015 (TrueAchievements). On 19 October 2026 Microsoft's backward compatible games library showed it at $0.00 and the store page named Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S (Xbox); the same search found neither Crash Course 2 nor Dash of Destruction. We could not confirm that online play and leaderboards still work.
The Xbox 360 Store stopped selling on 29 July 2024, though games already bought can be downloaded again (Xbox Wire), and Microsoft called its November 2021 batch the final addition to backward compatibility (Xbox Wire).
- 21 June 2007Unlock Xbox opensFans pitch Doritos game ideas for Xbox Live Arcade until 29 July. On 20 August, more than 2,300 submissions are cut to five finalists, who then build playable betas.
- 19 November 2007Fans pick the dinosaurMike Borland's concept wins the fan vote; NinjaBee will build it.
- 17 December 2008Dash of Destruction releasedFree on Xbox Live Arcade. PepsiCo later calls it the fastest Xbox Live Arcade game to reach one million downloads.
- 31 August 2009Second round announcedUS residents send video pitches by 4 October. More than 1,500 ideas come in; on 30 November eight quarter-finalists go to a public vote.
- 25 January 2010Two finalistsAfter a final pitch in Seattle: Avatar Crash Course by Jill Robertson and Harm's Way by Justin Carpenter.
- 8 December 2010Both games released freePlayers vote in a poll on the Xbox dashboard until 26 December. The two finalists draw more than two million downloads during the vote.
- 30 December 2010Crash Course wins$50,000 and six months of consulting with Doritos for Robertson; a second $50,000 for Carpenter.
- 2 January 2013City Lights add-on10 courses in Las Vegas and London for 160 Microsoft Points (about $2), plus new versions of the Japan levels.
- 8 May 2013Doritos Crash Course 2A free sequel on Xbox Live Arcade with four new worlds.
- 15 October 2014Crash Course 2 closure dateThe date Microsoft Studios set in April 2014.
- 17 December 2015Backward compatibleDoritos Crash Course joins Xbox One backward compatibility.
- 29 July 2024Xbox 360 Store stops sellingGames already bought stay playable and can be downloaded again.
- 19 October 2026Our checkMicrosoft's backward compatible games library shows Doritos Crash Course at $0.00; Crash Course 2 and Dash of Destruction are not listed.
Why it worked, and when not to copy it
- Free, inside the store. The game sat where its audience already was: the agencies' entry counts 25 million Xbox Live members averaging over 40 hours a month (Chief Marketer).
- The player is the hero. You raced as the avatar you had already customised, so the brand needed no mascot.
- Fans as co-authors, again. Doritos ran the same idea through Crash the Super Bowl, where consumers made its Super Bowl ads (Chief Marketer), and through Fight for the Flavor (2007), where online fights decided which flavour stayed on shelves.
- Professionals did the building. Both rounds paired a fan's concept with an experienced studio.
Don't copy it if you cannot live on someone else's shelf. Dash of Destruction is no longer sold, the sequel's closure was set for October 2014, and the Xbox 360 Store stopped selling; Crash Course and Harm's Way survive through backward compatibility. Contests also take time and paperwork: the first round opened in June 2007 and shipped in December 2008, and the second limited entry to US residents and put its submission terms on the contest site (PepsiCo). And ask for methods before quoting results: the download-record claims and the survey come from the brand and its agencies.
More Doritos games
The Doritos page holds eight campaign games. The Quest (2008) hid a new flavour behind a puzzle hunt with clues printed on the bags; Dodgeball Challenge (2009) let UK site visitors fire real balls at players in a London studio; and Triangle Tracker (2022) turned any triangle into a chip through a Snapchat lens. For the other brand-on-Xbox story, read Sneak King and the Burger King Xbox games; the library holds 56 console games in all.
FAQ
Is there a Doritos Crash Course 2?
Yes. Doritos Crash Course got a free sequel on Xbox Live Arcade on 8 May 2013, with four new worlds and stars that bought courses, power-ups and vanity items (Xbox Wire). Microsoft Studios set its closure for 15 October 2014 (TrueAchievements), and it was not in Microsoft's backward compatible library when we checked on 19 October 2026.
When did Doritos Crash Course come out?
On 8 December 2010, free on Xbox Live Arcade for Xbox 360 (Xbox). It launched as one of two finalists in Doritos' Unlock Xbox contest; players voted until 26 December, and Frito-Lay named it the winner on 30 December 2010 (PR Newswire). See the case.
Can I still play Doritos Crash Course?
Microsoft still lists it: on 19 October 2026 its backward compatible games library showed Doritos Crash Course at $0.00, and its store page names Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S. The Xbox 360 Store stopped selling on 29 July 2024, but games already bought can be downloaded again (Xbox Wire). We could not confirm that its online modes still work.
What is the name of the obstacle course game on Xbox?
The free one starring your own Xbox avatar is Doritos Crash Course (2010): up to four players race through 15 platformer levels across three countries, online or in split screen (Xbox). Its sequel, Doritos Crash Course 2 (2013), added four new worlds. The first game began as a fan's winning pitch in Doritos' Unlock Xbox contest.
Both Doritos Xbox games sit among the 27 games in our classic advergames collection, and more console work is on the in-game platform page; if your studio built one we are missing, send it to us.