Rick & Morty Wormageddon Website Case Study | PRPL | Case Study

Project Overview

When Adult Swim was ready to kick off their Season 6 premiere of their hit show, Rick and Morty, they came to PRPL to execute an over-the-top global scavenger hunt. From themed installations to a real-time, mobile-first component, we collaborated and concepted to bring their vision to (larger than) life and create an interactive contest for the cult favorite masses.

Work

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Total Visits

58% North America
25% Europe, Middle East, Africa
9% Latin America
8% Asian Pacific

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Global Unique Visits

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Minutes Watched

A new threat lands on Earth in the form of a mysterious alien worm that aims to take over the planet. Somewhere around the world were 14 unique and immersive Rick & Morty installations featuring different characters battling the giant worms.

It was up to fans to solve clues and be the first to visit the physical locations of the installations. But first, it was up to XD Agency and PRPL. Coming together on the project with our Agency Partnership approach, our specialized teams became one as we worked to create the kind of scavenger hunt that would keep loyal fans of the show guessing—and traveling—to find what they were looking for.

The Prize

For each of the hidden locations, the first contestant to arrive and enter the given codename to awaiting brand ambassadors would receive one of only nine life-size golden Rick heads.

Development

Our dev team designed both the front and backend of the treasure hunt site which was built on the Next.js framework to serve the front-end code, and it was rolled out in three stages: The Teaser, The Clue Release, and the Found Installation. To build excitement for the event, we displayed a 12-day countdown clock to the treasure hunt on the website, and fans everywhere began theorizing online in an effort to crack clues and track locations—all the way down to an organically created subreddit /r/wormageddon.

Design System

With such a fast-paced experience happening in real time, it was important for us to create a global design system that was easy for users to comprehend while quickly reflecting a location's given status.

Green

Primary interface and unlocked locations

Yellow

Used to indicate an active scavenger hunt

Red

Represents a locked location or video

Blue

Indicates a countdown to a new card release

Colors

We incorporated bright and easy-to-scan primary colors in order to clearly indicate the state of the given UI components.

Layout

We divided the desktop layout into two main columns: the left serving the navigation interface and the right containing main content.

Tiles

The foundation of both the mobile and desktop experience were built around a tile grid that provided real-time feedback responding to status updates for the user—no page refreshing necessary.

Location Tile

Once a location was found or revealed this tile would display that location’s name and thumbnail, leading to that location’s card view.

Clue Tile

When a scavenger hunt for a location would begin this card would sequentially reveal each clue until a location was found and the prize was claimed.

Countdown Tile

Only a single countdown was programmed to display at a time to mark when a clue, location or video were to going to be revealed in order.

Locked Tile

These tiles display before a countdown would be activated for a location or a storyline video reveal.

Next-Level Security

Because we were managing the concealment and release of each clue and location, and had to be ready to announce them across the world at a moment’s notice, having the content preloaded somewhere—and in 12 languages—was critical. So we built a protected back-end to manage a custom API which managed each location.

Launching a Seamless Experience

On day one of the Wormageddon hunt, the site transformed from the timer countdown to displaying 14 locked tiles and the scavenger hunt rules.

Getting a clue

The PRPL team was in control of releasing the clues for each location, every two days for two weeks, and the site displayed a countdown to the next clue. Using real-time data fetching, we were able to update the front-end of the website instantly every time a new clue was posted on the back-end.

Revealing Locations

When a participant discovered an installation, the Adult Swim team would alert PRPL and we immediately updated the site with a HD video from the installation. From Atlanta to London to Brazil, installations were revealed across the world, some being strategically placed due to brand partnerships. Every new reveal attracted more buzz, attention and fans, and we ultimately integrated the Rick and Morty Youtube channel into the website to garner even more traffic.