Carvana
Tap Tap Sold: Arcade Minigames
We made selling a used car feel like playing a classic arcade game.
The Challenge
Turning car selling into pure play
Carvana, the brand that made buying cars feel effortless, asked us to bring that same energy to selling them. The challenge was to create an activation that could live anywhere: at events, in campaigns, or online, and still capture that signature mix of ease and excitement.
It needed to be fun enough to stop the scroll, smart enough to generate leads, and flexible enough to adapt from a mobile screen to a trade show floor.
So we took something inherently practical — the process of valuing a car — and turned it into a playful, game-based experience people would actually want to try.
The result is visually bold, instantly intuitive, and technically flawless. In short, as smooth as trading in a car with Carvana.
The Project
Game On, Trade In
We set out to transform the process of car valuation into a nostalgic, playful journey. The result was a retro-look, web-based mini-game composed of three challenges that together tell the story of selling your car:
Mileage Hero: Keep your mileage low and your ego high. A playful nod to how every kilometer counts when it comes to car value.
Feature Catcher: Catch the best car features before they hit the ground and avoid the bad ones. Every right move boosts your car’s value.
Obstacle Dodger: Take the wheel and steer clear of roadblocks. The smoother your ride, the better your chances of sealing the deal.
Every piece of the experience, from how it plays to how it looks, was built side by side with the client. Fast prototypes, quick feedback, and plenty of playtesting kept us fine-tuning until it felt just right: smooth, satisfying, and impossible to quit.
Under the hood, the entire game lives on the web, powered by a custom CMS that puts control in Carvana’s hands. They can spin up new sessions for different events, track engagement in real time, and collect leads faster than you can say “trade-in.” Designed for flexibility, it runs flawlessly across mobile, desktop, and even event totems.
Visually, Tap Tap Sold blends 8-bit nostalgia with a modern twist. We used AI to generate the base art, then our design team took over: hand-pixelating, refining, and polishing every frame until it looked perfectly imperfect.
The Results
Gamifying the Everyday
Tap Tap Sold turned a routine transaction into a moment of play and in doing so, proved that creativity and technology don’t just coexist, they amplify each other.
By blending retro charm with real-time tech, the experience became a perfect paradox: nostalgic and futuristic, handcrafted and AI-driven, playful yet purpose-built. It pushed our team to explore new territory in game mechanics, dynamic content, and hybrid art workflows setting a new standard for how we merge storytelling with interaction.
What started as a car valuation challenge ended up as a creative milestone: a reminder that when design, code, and a bit of imagination meet, even the most practical experiences can feel extraordinary.