Google Pay’s Huat Pals back for 3rd year; features new characters, in-app activities

Google Pay’s Huat Pals makes its return with new characters and in-app activities to welcome the Year of the Rabbit. 

The third edition of the game, running from Jan 19 till Feb 5, features five collectable goodies – Carrot, Tart, Ingot, Drink and Decor – which can be obtained with any eligible transaction made over the next two weeks.

Once all five goodies are collected, users will be able to win one of three prizes – a scratch card worth up to $88.88, a Pixel 7 Pro worth $1,299 or a pair of Pixel Buds Pro worth $299.

Players collect a goodie each time they complete an eligible transaction method above $5 to merchants on Google Pay, split an expense with at least two people and receive a minimum of $3 from each of them, or gift goodies to friends and receive one bonus goodie per unique friend gifted.

The eligible transactions methods to merchants are Tap to pay, Pay via FavePay QR, Pay via PayNowQR or UEN and purchasing movie tickets via the Google Pay app.

Google Pay also debuts its Huat Scanner this Chinese New Year. Using image recognition technology, users are tasked to use the Google Pay app to scan items that they come across during house-visits including red packets, oranges, pineapples, coffee cups, and paper lanterns.

Each successful scan will earn players a goodie, or partner vouchers from local merchants such as Flash Coffee and Guardian.

Huat Scanner and Huat Riddles will be made available at random each day. Users can refer to the homepage to look out for the unique challenges of the day.

With each transaction, players will also unlock characters in their Huat Pals album, which can be accessed via the homescreen. Users can also send in-app messages to share the different Huat Pals that they have collected.

Huat Pals inspired viral memes and even articles in the first edition it ran, where Singaporeans hunted for the elusive BB Loh.