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Angry Birds Launches First Fully Branded Game ‘The Hunt for the Golden Pistachio’

via Mashable! by Todd Wasserman on 12/1/11

The relationship between Wonderful Pistachios and Rovio's Angry Birds entered a new level Thursday with the launch of The Hunt for the Golden Pistachio, the first fully branded Angry Birds game.

The game, which rolled out Thursday morning on GetCrackin.com, requires a Chrome browser and functions much like the standard Angry Birds games except that the birds are used to crack open pistachios as well as destroy pigs. Though Rovio partnered with 20th Century Fox for Angry Birds Rio in January, a Rovio rep says that in the case of Rio, characters from the movie were integrated into the game. In contrast, Golden Pistachio is the first game conceived from inception with the advertiser in mind.

Users will also get the chance to win a total of $300,000 in prizes, which range from free pistachios and Angry Birds plush toys to $25,000 cash. Those prizes will be offered through Dec. 31.

This is the second collaboration between Wonderful Pistachios and Angry Birds. The latter were featured in a September ad for Wonderful's 2 year-old "Get Crackin'" campaign as well (see below).

The game is the latest twist to that campaign, which has featured surprising cameos by the Winklevoss twins, and Snooki and the Keyboard Cat, among others. Rovio, meanwhile, has been exploiting Angry Birds's success in every possible way, including with a planned TV show, movie and, most recently, a cookbook.