Lunar New Year is traditionally a time where families come together and share good fortune, not just with red envelopes, but with customary lucky dishes.
This past year Panda Express wanted to invite all guests, especially those unfamiliar with the holiday, to come together over a Panda Family Meal, filled with those same lucky dishes. To achieve this, the brand developed an interactive 8-bit arcade game — the Good Fortune Arcade — packed with multiple engaging levels, cultural easter eggs, real life redemption codes and a fun, immersive way of learning about the meaning behind each lucky dish.
The goal of the game was to chase down Nian — a mythological creature of the holiday — who has stolen your Panda Family Meal! Playing as a running, jumping, somersaulting Panda, players must collect as many lucky dishes dropped along the way with the ability to earn digital high scores and IRL coupons.
Streamers and influencers started playing the game, it was made playable in select stores and even on the biggest screen at Barclays Center. In just a few weeks, over 400K unique players, spending over 3 minutes playing the game, had led to over 500K coupons unlocked for guests all across the country.
