Chili's Smashes 'Fast-Food Syndicate' Prices With BurgerTime Game Reboot

The beloved video game of yesteryear—BurgerTime—has received a retro level-up from Chili’s, offering players a chance to destroy the competition’s rising burger prices.

Fans with a My Chili’s Rewards account can win free burgers for life (well, 40 years) while smashing fast-food villains in Chili’s Big Smasher BurgerTime.

In the brand’s first video game, created by Jon Marshall & Daughters and Media.Monks, folks play as Joe ChiliHead, build Big Smasher Burgers, throw pepper at baddies and hopefully make it through all six levels to defeat the “evil Fast-Food Syndicate.” This group, we’re told, has been raising prices and reducing quality in their value meals. (We’ve got work to do as we’ve only made it to level three so far.)

The game’s on through July 14, and the high scorers wins free burgers and a limited-edition Chili’s Big Smasher BurgerTime arcade cabinet. The next pair of high scores also nab an arcade cabinet.

“Matt [Sorrell] and I work as a freelance-based creative team for Chili’s, handling a variety of projects, ” says Jonathan Marshall of Jon Marshall & Daughters.

“A while back, we were discussing a new burger they were working on that would become The Big Smasher. Matt made a joke that we should recreate ‘BurgerTime’ and everyone immediately nodded and we started on that basically right away. We had Chili’s—known for their burgers—partnering with a nostalgia-inducing game about making burgers. Some things are just meant to be.”

After the contest concludes, the game will be playable until June 2025.

“The goal was to create an authentic recreation of the complete game, not just a quick one-off level or smaller experience,” Marshall tells Muse. “This was a childhood favorite of all our’s, and the game has a huge and dedicated following, so we needed to nail the details. Start to finish, that took probably three or four months. The storyline of the original BurgerTime prophetically nailed the current burger landscape: someone’s trying to stop you from making big, delicious burgers. Fast forward 40 years and you have this environment where everyone is tired of overpriced fast-food, just as Chili’s is launching a new burger in a deal that’s only $10.99.”