Checking out the 45 Flavors booth at Dragon*Con

Dragon*Con in Atlanta has sadly come to an end.  All the amazing cosplays, merchandise, panels, celebrities, and loot have all vanished until next year.  Whether you’re already back home, still in Atlanta, road triping, or in the airport it’s hard not to reflect on the experience and good times had at Dragon*Con.  Some of the art displayed this year really blew me away.

Amongst those packing it up from Dragon*Con are the good folks from the 45 Flavors booth.  Truth and Legacy had their popular booth set up to showcase their Flavor Monsters game and to educate people on the dangers of tobacco.  At this booth, you can try out both the Flavor Monsters game and film your monster hunting training video.  I had the opportunity to make my own monster hunting video and it was both a ton of fun and hilarious – I strongly suggest doing so if you happen to go to upcoming conventions where Truth will be present.

The origins of Flavor Monsters stems from tobacco companies adding desirable flavors to their products to try to lure youngsters into getting hooked.  Truth, as the anti-smoking campaign, invented Flavor Monsters to educate young gamers about the ploys of tobacco companies.  The more informed our youth is about these dangers the less likely they will be immune to the allure of flavored tobacco.

The game itself takes place in a very near future where Flavor Monsters are invading.  You are the first and last line of defense against the legion of monsters.  From your trusty blimp, equip your plasma cannon and defend a certain location from three waves of flavor monsters in this tower defense style game.   As you play you receive coins in the match which can be used to upgrade and buy new tools in fighting the Flavor Monsters.

We had the privilege of getting to see the demo of the second level, the Pacific North-West.  This level and the rest of the other levels will go live at the same time.  You’ll be able to buy multiple tools and use them by just clicking their icon on the side.  These tools don’t share over heating cool downs so mixing and matching often will help against the swarms of monsters.  Also, different tools will be more effective vs. certain monsters; so mix it up while you play to maximize efficiency.

In addition to the three wave mode, they are adding a horde mode to the next edition.  In this mode, you can expect more monsters and more coins.  You play until you are overwhelmed.  The point of this mode is definitely to ramp up the challenge and therefore horde up coins.  As a hint, when using the plasma cannon, tap the screen instead of holding your finger down on it.  This way the cannon won’t overheat as much.  The team behind the game listened to a bunch of player feedback and decided to rework the game a bit, such as allowing players to pick up coins without using their weapon.

If you haven’t picked up Flavor Monsters yet there isn’t an excuse.  It’s free, and you can get it on both the iOS, and Android.  Right now in the current version, there is only the one map and tool; though the next update with all the levels, weapons and tools will release soon.  You can see the Flavor Monsters 45 Flavors Truth booth next at Comic Con: Baltimore.

Winners don’t use drugs.