First Major Fun Advergame Award Goes to Pop

I am apparently about to grant the coveted, and also first Major FUN Award for Advergame Design to a company called "Pop."

Advergame? Well, we're certainly not talking infotainment here. We're talking genuine game, with all the fascination and replay value therein implied, designed specifically to promote a commercial product. Like, for example, the cybersolitaire game RSVP and the evermore puzzling Open House, both created for Lifetime Television. Not to mention the lightning fast poker-like game of Lucky 8s created for Puma. Each uniquely hypermediated. Each significantly playworthy.

It's an amazing feat of game design, really, when you can make a commercially-supported game that respects its players - offering genuine invitations to play, and yet clearly inviting the player to think about the product or company sponsoring the whole experience. It restoreth the soul. It might as well filleth the wallet.