GamesBeat Challenge: Solve the mystery of the kidnapped monster tamer and win $5,000

This sponsored post is produced in association with Kabam.

Kabam has invited gamers to meet the cast of the upcoming Creature Academy with a special contest: Can you solve the mystery of who kidnapped monster tamer Pike?

New video clues drop today, tomorrow and Thursday — the date of Creature Academy’s worldwide release. Be the first person to correctly determine the “who, why, and where” and claim the $5,000 bounty. Runner-up gets $1,500. Just check out the first video clue below, come back tomorrow for the next clue, and on Thursday go here to enter your best answer.

At first, Creature Academy’s melding of monster collection and RPG genres could seem like a little bit of an unlikely setting for a mystery. The game (which some have likened to a cross of Pokemon and Diablo) might not immediately call to mind, “Whodunit?!”

But Kabam’s Senior Creative Director Maria Waters says the contest — which prompts fans to determine who kidnapped monster tamer Pike via a series of video clues – acts as a great way to introduce you to the game before you play. Specifically, she says, through its enormous and varied cast.

“We want to show just a taste of what Creature Academy has to offer,” Waters explains. “Hundreds of fun characters to collect and upgrade, who are not only different in looks but also in fighting styles, which enable you to make a killer combo for each of the different playing modes of gameplay.”

The cast’s wide variety of personalities and fighting styles are what Waters finds most appealing about them — and what she and Kabam hope to spotlight through the contest.

“You will have to find out what characters match your style,” she says. “One of my favorite characters is Dragu, who is innocent-looking, but when you put him in battle, his all-contact fighting style is very easy to control for me — and deadly to the enemies!”

But which of them could have been responsible for kidnapping the academy’s top monster tamer, Pike? We ran down the list of suspects with Waters to get her thoughts on each of their possible motivations.

TALLIWAGO

It’s said this fearsome crocodile man has dirt on half the Academy and the remaining half is scared of him. “He’s the kind of guy who would sell his own grandmother to make a profit,” Waters says, “so if he saw any advantage for himself in kidnapping Pike, he’d do it.”

DRAGU

Though a good fighter, Dragu isn’t known for the steady concentration required for careful plotting. But, that doesn’t necessarily take him out of the running, according to Waters. “He’s eccentric enough to be unpredictable and could very easily have kidnapped Pike because the resulting chaos would amuse him.”

BABBIT

The smartest and prettiest of all in the Academy, Babbit inscrutably somehow chose to marry Phrankie. “Shemay seem sweet,” warns Waters, “but she’s got a nasty temper on her and would lash out at anyone who upset her.

CLAUDE

The spoiled son of a rich family, Claude is used to getting whatever his heart desires. “If Pike got in the way of something he wanted,” adds Waters, “Claude wouldn’t think twice about getting rid of him. Plus, I hear he’s got some secrets.”

PHRANKIE

This Frankenstein-like creature isn’t the smartest monster tamer around, but at least he’s prone to fits of jealousy and rage. “He’s always resented being the second best monster tamer in the academy,” Waters confides, “and resented Pike for being number one.”

That’s all the inside scoop available on the Creature Academy contest suspects. For more, make sure to watch today’s video clue and the next as they drop over the next two days.

Be ready to submit your solution to the mystery of who kidnapped Pike this Thursday — when Creature Academy is released worldwide on iOS and Android – and you might claim the $5000 bounty.

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