Hungry Hungry Horses | Peek & Poke

2,027,976 total games played

108,434 total players

29m 9s average player engagement time

Summary

Pub chain Hungry Horse were looking to boost engagement during a traditionally quieter trading period (October-November). No strangers to branded game campaigns, the team once again took this approach to deliver high levels of play, collect marketing opt-ins, and, crucially, bring people into pubs through exclusive in-venue content.

With a combination of fun play mechanics, a free prize draw, and instant-win rewards, the campaign gave guests plenty of reasons to play and to visit!

A match made in heaven

Hungry Horse have done several game campaigns in the past, including More Jingle More Bells and two versions of the high-octane Crazy Horse Racing. This time around, they decided to maximise engagement by tailoring our highly popular Match-3 game.

We worked with them to customise the tiles with popular items from their menu, which players would then have to match together against the clock in increasingly difficult levels!

Hungry Horse Branded Game Save Score Screen

Prizes galore

The Hungry Hungry Horses game involved two different competition structures.

In the first, anyone who played and submitted a score to the leaderboard would be in with a chance of winning something from the free prize pool at the end of the campaign. This included free drinks, vouchers, and branded merch packs from partners and suppliers.

But the real hook came with the pub-exclusive bonus levels… 👀

Scan to unlock

For the second prize format, Peek & Poke locked bonus content behind QR codes to encourage players to head into pubs. Scanning in-venue unlocked special levels – and with them, access to a pool of instant-win prizes that couldn’t be claimed anywhere else!

To add to the excitement, prizes weren’t revealed until after players had submitted their score. A playful animation of a shaking present box appeared, opening to show what they’d won (or displaying a “Sorry, you’re not a winner” message if luck wasn’t on their side).

Watch the prize mechanic in action below! 👇

See the prize mechanic in action!

No horsing around

By blending free prize draws with exclusive QR-locked bonus levels, Hungry Horse created a campaign that not only entertained players but also drove footfall to pubs and kept customers coming back for more.

Importantly, the experience was designed with players in mind – easy to access, rewarding to play, and free from unnecessary barriers – ensuring the campaign delivered strong results without sacrificing enjoyment.

The instant-win mechanic tied to score submissions – complete with the suspenseful shaking present animation – gave players a reason to stay engaged and it clearly worked. Here are the campaign results at a glance:

Over 2 million total games played 🤯
Over 100,000 total players 🎮
An average player engagement time of nearly 30 minutes 🧲
Meaning over 6 years of total brand engagement time! 🚀

It was a playful idea with a serious payoff, proving that there’s no horsing around when it comes to game-based marketing! 🐎

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