Quick, name something you shouldn’t throw off a building. (Poorly behaved children!) What about something that must be magic? (The ShamWow!)

Created by North Bay-based Quinn & Sherry Inc. and distributed by Hasbro, The Game of Things poses questions like the ones above. Its revamped website – launched in mid-December by Toronto digital creative agency Playground, with the objective of capitalizing on consumers’ holiday leisure time to drive sales – puts visitors into the game, showing them a card and asking them to type an answer.

These responses can be immediately shared via Twitter or Facebook, and are later posted to the website – or, at least, the polite ones are. While answer-sharing was a key strategy behind the site, the team knew it might be tricky. Although Things was resonating well with teachers and parents, its most enthusiastic fans were potty-mouthed post-secondary students.

“The clients had played the game with university kids and had heard it all,” explains Playground’s social media strategist Ryan Thomas.

By letting users share their quips via social media before they were vetted for dirty words, Playground was able to offer a family-friendly site while encouraging WOM among twentysomethings.

It appears to have worked: in its first four weeks, the site nabbed 12,600 unique visitors, with 3,500 approved responses and nearly 1,000 referral links from social media. Visitors stayed for an average of 5.37 minutes and Quinn & Sherry Inc. saw its highest seasonal sales to date.