Teletoon has teamed up with Secret Location to launch an online and mobile companion game to its original series, Grojband.

Available in English at Grojband.com, and in French at Grabujband.com, the game, called Grojband: The Show Must Go On, is targeted at the show’s core audience of kids aged six to 12. It allows kids to play games to earn guitar picks (the in-game currency) and build custom three-second scene transitions for the show. They can also preview their transitions and watch 50 8-second vignettes featuring the shows characters and themes that were created specifically for the game.

Gavin Friesen, director of interactive, Teletoon, says that games are a key part of Teletoon’s strategy for many of its properties, as it increasingly tries to extend its own brand, and the brands of shows like Grojband across multiple screens.

He adds that an expansive game and a contest that relies on user-generated content, while new for Teletoon, were a good fit for Grojband because gaming is a major activity for the show’s audience, and because they’ll keep kids engrossed in the show and its characters for a longer time.

Friesen says this game experience differs from experiences created for other shows because it doesn’t simply slap the character onto a generic game mechanic and call it a Grojband game, but instead features the same characters, animation style and themes from the show to keep it true to the brand.

Using their in-game currency, kids can also unlock custom effects and objects to add to their transitions, and then submit the transitions to a contest for the chance to have their transition aired during an episode of the show along with a personal shoutout.

Each week, Teletoon will select the top five entries and then allow kids to choose their favourites. While the game will be available indefinitely, only the first 13 winners will have their transitions aired. The contest will be promoted on Teletoon properties, including during each episode of Grojband and on-air promotions during Teletoon’s Can’t Miss Thursday block.

From Media in Canada