Pringles teamed up with World of Warcraft for a weekend promotion that offered a limited Thunder-Ridged Elekk mount. The idea was cute: real world scavenger hunt, scan a QR code, answer a quiz, and ride off into Azeroth on a flashy new mount. Spoiler: it did not stay cute for long.

How the promotion was supposed to work

The promo only had 3,000 mounts available and required players to complete a Real Life Quest in one of six German cities: Frankfurt, Hamburg, Bremen, Berlin, Leipzig, and Munich. Players were meant to find Pringles-branded pillars in those cities, scan a QR code, take a short World of Warcraft quiz, and receive the mount as a reward.

How things actually went

Instead of limiting the giveaway to people who showed up in person, players discovered they could simply share the website URL from the QR code. That link bypassed the in-person requirement and let people claim mounts from anywhere. The site had no effective guardrails to stop repeated claims, and the remaining codes disappeared within an hour.

Immediate consequences

  • The quiz landing page was reportedly inaccessible in several regions after the surge.
  • Because of the easy bypass, scalpers were able to claim mounts and put them up for sale online.
  • Some of the most egregious listings have since been removed, but not before screenshots and prices circulated.

Scalpers listed mounts for high prices

After the campaign was undermined, listings appeared with eye-popping price tags. Reported examples included a listing at about $250, one at $799.99, and another shown at around £431. Some of those listings have been deleted, but not before the situation drew public attention.

Blizzard response

Blizzard acknowledged the issue and told players who missed out that this mount will be made available later through the Trading Post. Community manager Randy 'Kaivax' Jordan noted that their plan is to bring limited promotional mounts to the Trading Post at a later date, and that they will inform players if that plan changes.

So if you did not stand in front of a Pringles pillar in Germany for the thrill of a QR code, you should not be left out forever. It may just take some patience, or a fat wallet if you prefer the scalper route.