Google Pay’s 2023 Huat Pals return with new rewards and minigames

Google Pay’s 2023 Huat Pals return with new rewards and minigames

Note: This article was first published on 19th Jan 2023.

Google Pay’s Huat Pals are back! Like the years before it, using Google Pay around the Lunar New Year period nets you in-game goodies and different Google Pay rewards to stretch your spending further. Huat ah.

Huat Pals has become a highly anticipated moment around Lunar New Year since we introduced it three years ago, and we’re thrilled to bring the excitement back as the festive season returns in full swing. As people resume house visits, we have also expanded the social factor of our festive game with new Huat Pals, new in-app games such as Huat Scanner, and more bountiful rewards made possible by our network of merchant partners. We look forward to celebrating this special season with Singaporeans as users continue to pay, scan, and connect via Google Pay,” said Su Mei Teh, Head of APAC Product Operations & Strategy, Google Pay.

Here’s how 2023’s Huat Pals work, and the different activities you can partake in to maximise your returns. Note that Huat Pals starts today (19 January 2023) and ends on 5 February 2023.

Collect goodies, get rewarded

Simply collect all five of the following goodies (Carrot, Tart, Drink, Decor, and Ingot) and stand a chance to win one of the following prizes:

• A scratch card with random amounts (max value at S$88.88), or
• A Pixel 7 Pro worth S$1,299 (our review here)
• A pair of Pixel Buds Pro worth S$299 (our review here)

To collect one goodie-type Huat Pal, users can complete any of the following actions up to a maximum of five actions a day:

• Tap to pay (S$5 or above transaction required)
• Pay via FavePay QR code (S$5 or above)
• Pay via PayNow QR or UEN (S$5 or above)
• Use the Google Pay app to purchase movie tickets
• Split an expense inside Google Pay app with at least two other people, and receiving a minimum of S$3 from each person
• Gifting extra goodie-type Huat Pals to friends to receive a bonus, random goodie per unique friend gifted

Google wants you to figure out which is the rare or chaser Huat Pal, which will emerge when the games begin.

Tuffy and 28 Huat Pals

Each transaction also brings you along with Tuffy to meet 28 Huat Pals, which includes past Huat Pals (including rare Pals like Lenny and a new BB-bunny face). They are located within an album inside the app’s homescreen. Users can send in-app messages to share different Huat Pals that were collected.

From our understanding, this year’s new Huat Pals also include the aforementioned Tuffy (the rabbit wearing a mandarin orange peel as a cap), along with a topless Tuffles, the lop-eared Loppity, a pink Bunnii, and Tulsa, who rides a carrot and dual-wield coins.

Collecting all 28 Huat Pals will see more bunnies visiting the user, which can be shared with friends and family. Collected Huat Pals are not retroactive, so you'll have to start collecting from scratch when it begins!

Huat Scanner

A new minigame to Google Pay’s Huat Pals is Huat Scanner. Use the Google Pay app to scan real-world items during your Lunar New Year visitations or when you’re out and about. Items relevant to the festivities are the clue – for example, red packets (angpows/angbaos), pineapples, coffee cups, paper lanterns, and more. 

Each successful scan can result in either a goodie, or a voucher from a Google Pay merchant partner (such as Flash Coffee and Guardian). The scanner appears at random on Google Pay's in-app homepage, so keep your eyes out for the Huat Scanner!

Huat Riddles

Huat Riddles require users to answer simple riddles inside the Google Pay app. Getting the day’s Huat Riddles correct nets the user other rewards, from brands like Fairprice, Klook, Sephora and more. Five questions are asked per day, and users need to get a minimum of three correct answers to earn the reward for that day.

Just like Huat Scanner, the Huat Riddles are appear at random each day. 

Download Google Pay

The Google Pay app is available to both iOS and Android mobile devices. The payment instrument works with PayNow and linked credit/debit cards, via various payment methods (NFC, QR codes, peer-to-peer transfers).