Video Games for Giveaways: “Roadtrip to CLE” and the 2024 Eclipse
How are video games designed for giveaways and prize contests?
Today we’re taking a closer look at a truly special case: Roadtrip To CLE.
The video game was developed as part of the Ultimate Cleveland Total Solar Eclipse campaign, organized by This Is Cleveland, the non-profit organization that promotes the U.S. city internationally.
Published online through the campaign’s official channels, the game became the core of an effective giveaway, free to enter and open to all U.S. citizens aged 18 and over.
In a moment, we’ll explore the game in detail and see how it was strategically integrated into the communication plan for the prize initiative.
2024 Solar Eclipse: where, how, and when…
Before we dive into the project itself, let’s look at the context: here are a few details about the solar eclipse that will affect Earth in April 2024.
A solar eclipse is the spectacle that occurs when the Moon passes in front of the Sun, partially or completely blocking it.
If the Moon fully covers the Sun, it’s a total solar eclipse.
During this event, sunlight is temporarily blocked, the sky becomes dark, and the solar corona appears, a bright halo around the Sun. Solar eclipses aren’t always visible, because they require specific conditions, such as the precise alignment of the Sun, Moon, and Earth.
And that’s exactly what will happen on April 8, 2024.
The total solar eclipse will be visible in several parts of the world, mainly in North America. It will cross the United States from southwest to northeast, starting in Mexico and passing through states like Texas, Arkansas, Illinois, New York, and Maine, before exiting into eastern Canada.
The “path of totality” will be the area where the Sun is completely obscured, and it will include U.S. cities such as Dallas, Indianapolis, Cleveland, and Buffalo.
Among all the cities involved, Cleveland is the one most actively promoting the event, planning interactive communication and a prize initiative to engage online audiences.
The Roadtrip to CLE video game: how it started
February 2023. A major U.S. agency we’ve been collaborating with for several years asked for a digital meeting to talk about an “upcoming” project.
So we scheduled a call with the 270B team, who were extremely excited about the proposal they were about to share.
They needed a video game to promote a major event that would take place in 2024.
What’s happening in 2024 besides the European football championship? We thought, like good Italians who never disappoint stereotypes!
So we asked our partners directly: what’s happening in 2024?
The Solar Eclipse! they replied.
And not just any eclipse. Nicknamed the Great American Eclipse, it’s a fairly rare optical-astronomical phenomenon that happens only when the Sun, Moon, and Earth are perfectly aligned between the celestial equatorial plane and the ecliptic plane. One of the most powerful in recent years.
The video game, however, had to launch much earlier, because it was meant to be the main channel for a giveaway they were planning for May, just three months after that meeting.
So we caught that contagious enthusiasm… and started developing.
Roadtrip To CLE: details and gameplay
Roadtrip To CLE is a racing game, meaning a video game where the player drives a vehicle (in this case, a car) through a virtual environment. The style is arcade-like, so the gameplay is smooth and doesn’t require complex skills.
- The game is split into three worlds, each with two different tracks.
- The goal is to reach the finish line (Welcome to Cleveland!) before the Moon fully covers the Sun—so, before the eclipse begins.
- At the start, the player chooses a route (track): Downtown or Erie Lake. The first represents the main road leading to Cleveland; the second runs along Lake Erie, which the city faces.
- Next, the player chooses a vehicle: Yellow for Team Sun, and Blue for Team Moon.
- Along the way, Cleveland’s most loved attractions appear on the sides of the road.
In the first track, you’ll find:
- A Christmas Story House
- Westside Market
- Terminal Tower / Public Square
- Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse
- Progressive Field
In the second track, you’ll find:
- FirstEnergy Stadium
- Great Lakes Science Center
- NASA Glenn Visitor Center
- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
- Edgewater Beach House
We designed Roadtrip to CLE starting from Car Rush, one of our classic titles, perfectly adaptable to the “gameplay needs” and communication goals of each project.
the before and the after:
As mentioned, this game falls into the video games for giveaways category and engaged a very broad audience. Let’s see how the giveaway was designed!
The giveaway: all the details
“Can you make it to The Land in time to see the Total Solar Eclipse? Find out by playing Road Trip to CLE now. This interactive game takes you on a race through Cleveland with the goal of making it downtown before the Moon completely blocks the Sun. Trust us, it’s really something special.”
With these words, the audience is invited to play Roadtrip To CLE. The page then explains that players can join the final draw and win many prizes: all they need to do is share their score on social media using a specific hashtag.ico.
The Ultimate Cleveland Total Solar Eclipse Giveaway page included several prizes:
- A one-night stay for up to four people at a downtown Cleveland hotel
- Tickets for two attractions in Cleveland
- A $50 gift card for a downtown Cleveland restaurant
- Four pairs of eclipse-viewing glasses
After playing, users shared their score on Facebook or Twitter using #SolarEclipseCLE by the end of the contest, May 26, 2023. The giveaway was open to legal U.S. residents aged 18 or older.
A winner was randomly selected in the final draw on June 5, 2023.
The video game, developed in JavaScript, was implemented on the official website: in this case it’s a webgame, meaning an online game you access via a browser.
Choosing to distribute the game as a webgame is often a winning approach for giveaways and prize contests, because a direct link makes it easy to access, and can be shared across multiple channels, from social media to websites.
However, playing does require an internet connection.
Do you have an idea you’d like to develop? Write to us and tell us about your project!
