Attack of the Mutant Artificial Trees

Lore & Background

Players are called upon to pelt mutant artificial Christmas trees with snowballs, while avoiding the elves interspersed between the garishly colored mutant trees. Mutant trees emerge from boxes that are marked '100% Fake' or 'Made in China'. The trees, as the game says, have 'mutated and are sucking the spirit out of Christmas'. The game features an 'Xmas Spirit Meter' light which dims for every mutant tree missed or elf hit by mistake. Between rounds the game provides 'facts' about Christmas trees, or, depending on your point of view, 'didactic little warnings about the evils of fake trees'.

Reader's Guide

Attack of the Mutant Artificial Trees is significant as an early example of an industry-funded online game used for direct marketing and advocacy. It represents a moment of conflict between natural and artificial Christmas tree producers, with the game serving as a lighthearted but pointed tool for the natural tree industry. The game's reception was mixed: Salon writer Andrew Leonard called it 'diverting for about three nanoseconds', yet it was played by 75,000 people in its first week. Some artificial tree producers were not amused; the CEO of Balsam Hill Company said he was surprised at the negativity of the tree growers' ad campaign, adding that it was not exactly 'warm and fuzzy'. The game's legacy lies in its demonstration of how trade associations can use interactive media to promote a specific product or viewpoint, and in the controversy it generated between competing industries.

Did You Know?

• The game was described as similar to Whac-A-Mole.
• Mutant trees emerge from boxes marked '100% Fake' or 'Made in China'.
• The game was played by 75,000 people in the first week of its release.
• Salon writer Andrew Leonard said the game was 'diverting for about three nanoseconds'.

Origins & Marketing Purpose

Attack of the Mutant Artificial Trees emerged from a very specific commercial purpose rather than from a studio's creative pipeline. The National Christmas Tree Association, a trade organization representing the Christmas tree farming industry, commissioned the project to champion the cause of real, cut trees over their synthetic counterparts. The association wanted to make a clear statement that natural trees represent the proper way to celebrate the holiday season. The development contract went to Kewlbox, a Dallas-based Internet marketing firm that also functions as a distribution platform for games produced by Blockdot. The finished product launched in November 2004, available both as a free download and as a browser-based experience, ensuring maximum accessibility during the holiday shopping season. Rather than being a standalone entertainment title, the game was explicitly a piece of industry advocacy, designed to funnel players toward a pro-natural-tree message while wrapping that argument in a lighthearted, interactive package. The free pricing model was central to the strategy, removing any barrier between the target audience and the association's promotional argument.

Gameplay & Mechanics

The core loop of the game draws a direct comparison to the classic Whac-A-Mole format, substituting mallets for snowballs and moles for garishly colored mutant Christmas trees. These hostile trees pop up from cardboard boxes bearing labels such as "100% Fake" and "Made in China," immediately framing them as foreign, artificial invaders. The in-game narrative declares that these trees have mutated and are actively draining the spirit of the holiday. Players must strike the mutant trees while carefully avoiding elves that appear between them; hitting an elf counts as a penalty. A visual element called the Xmas Spirit Meter serves as a persistent health indicator, its light dimming each time the player misses a mutant tree or accidentally strikes an elf. Between rounds, the game inserts short informational segments presented as Christmas tree facts, though critics have characterized these as didactic warnings about the supposed evils of fake trees. The interplay of timing, target discrimination, and the gradually dimming spirit meter creates a simple but escalating pressure loop.

Reception & Player Response

Critical reception was mixed at best. Andrew Leonard, writing for Salon, offered a characteristically blunt assessment, noting the game was diverting for roughly three nanoseconds—and even less if the player succumbs to the temptation of striking the elf, an action he felt was unfairly punished. Yet the game clearly captured a broader audience than any single review could reflect. Within its first week of availability, approximately 75,000 people logged on to play, suggesting the holiday-season timing and the novelty of a free, browser-accessible game drove significant traffic. The response from the artificial tree industry, however, was markedly less amused. The campaign was designed to be lighthearted, but several producers in the synthetic tree sector took issue with what they perceived as an aggressive, negative framing of their product. The CEO of Balsam Hill Company, a major U.S. artificial tree manufacturer, publicly expressed surprise at the tone of the tree growers' advertising push, remarking that the overall message was hardly "warm and fuzzy." This friction highlighted how a small marketing game could become a flashpoint in an ongoing industry rivalry.

Industry Rivalry & Cultural Context

Attack of the Mutant Artificial Trees sits at the intersection of holiday tradition, trade politics, and early-2000s digital marketing. The National Christmas Tree Association, as the organized voice of the Christmas tree farming industry, used the game as a vehicle to reinforce a longstanding argument: that a real, cut tree is the authentic way to observe Christmas. The game's visual language reinforces this position through its labeling of the mutant trees' containers with phrases like "100% Fake" and "Made in China," blending product criticism with a subtle nationalist undertone. The interstitial content between rounds, which the game frames as educational facts but which observers have described as pointed warnings against artificial trees, further cements the didactic intent. The backlash from companies like Balsam Hill demonstrated that the synthetic tree industry viewed this not as harmless fun but as a coordinated negative campaign. In the broader context of 2004, the game also represented an early experiment in using interactive web content as a trade-advocacy tool, predating the more sophisticated digital marketing strategies that would later become standard across consumer industries.