UPDATE: A day into Chipotle's contest on Roblox, users had trouble accessing the Roblox platform, Chipotle tweeted Friday. Roblox said at 6:36 p.m. ET Friday that it was making progress on the outage. It's "not related to any specific experiences or partnerships on the platform," Roblox tweeted.
Chipotle Mexican Grill is changing its annual Halloween promotion for the second year in a row.
Last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, Chipotle moved Boorito to a digital-only offer after nearly two decades of rewarding costume-wearing fans with discounted meals.
While the in-store costume offer is canceled again this year, there’s a way to score a free burrito with a “virtual costume” between Thursday and Oct. 31, plus $5 Halloween meals.
The fast-casual chain said to celebrate the 21st year of Boorito it will become “the first restaurant brand to open a virtual location on Roblox, a global platform bringing millions of people together through shared experiences.”
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Chipotle plans to give away $1 million worth of free burritos through the "Chipotle Boorito Maze" at Roblox.com/chipotle where fans can also access virtual Halloween costumes.
Chipotle says the digital offer is a "fun way to visit the restaurant virtually and experience Boorito in the metaverse for the first time,” the company said in a statement.
“We know our fans really love free Chipotle, so we think the free entrée codes will go very quickly each day,” Chris Brandt, the chain’s chief marketing officer, said in a statement to USA TODAY.
According to Roblox, it's free to download and free to play on all modern smartphones, tablets, computers, and video game consoles.
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How to win free burritos on Roblox
Chipotle says for four days – from Thursday through Oct. 31, beginning at 6:30 p.m. ET each day – the first 30,000 Roblox users who “visit the cashier in the virtual Chipotle restaurant in costume” will receive a free burrito code.
The codes can be used on orders placed at Chipotle.com or the Chipotle app for participating restaurants nationwide through Nov. 14. There's a limit of one free code per person for users 13 years or older.
Users can dress up "their Roblox Avatar in Chipotle-inspired costumes and accessories, including a Chip Bag Ghost, Burrito Mummy, Spicy Devil, Guacenstein, and more," Chipotle said.
Once avatars are dressed up, Chipotle says users will then move to the Chipotle Boorito Maze but to get the free code they need to be one of the first to enter the virtual restaurant.
A new batch of 30,000 free entrée codes will go live at 6:30 p.m. ET every day.
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Boorito 2021: How to get a $5 meal on Halloween
If you don't win the contest, it's still possible to get the $5 Boorito deal. From 5 p.m. to close local time Halloween, get a $5 burrito, bowl, salad or taco entree with promo code BOORITO at checkout on the restaurant’s app and website.
The offer doesn't require signing up for Roblox and is limited to one transaction on Oct. 31 after 5 p.m. local time. The deal cannot be used in restaurants.
Chipotle started celebrating Boorito in 2000 with a burrito-themed costume contest. The company then started offering discounted meals on Halloween for consumers who showed up in costumes on Halloween.
Last year, Chipotle gave away half a million buy-one-get-one entree free codes via text and in 2019 Boorito meals for costume-wearing fans were $4 a person, up from $3 in 2017.
But this is not the first time Chipotle has had an online Boorito deal. In 2018, the chain offered an in-store special and online deal but the demand online was high and some had issues redeeming the promo code.
Chipotle's Brandt said the chain is ready.
“We have the teams and systems in place to handle an anticipated influx of digital orders for Boorito,” Brandt told USA TODAY.
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