Free Stub it Out Game Now Available On Iphone

Free Stub it Out Game Now Available On Iphone

A free iPhone game is available for those who are trying to quit smoking, hot on the heels of a successful iPad release.

Stub It Out was developed to help people distract themselves when they get a craving to smoke, by researchers at the University of Auckland. The aim of the game is to stub out tobacco products as they appear. Players capture stop-smoking products as they move through six levels, depicting familiar scenes such as the beach, a marae and a beergarden, and points are expressed in minutes of life regained. 

“I wanted to create a resource that was attractive to smokers” Said Dr Marewa Glover, Co-Director of the Tobacco Control Research Tūranga.

Stub It Out was developed to support smokers competing in WERO, a group stop smoking contest, also developed by Dr Glover and her team at the University of Auckland.  Smokers can use the game as a stress buster and to learn about stop smoking treatments.

‘We looked for free mobile stop smoking apps that we could recommend but few aligned with clinical cessation guidelines.” Dr Glover said. “Then we read a study in which participants who got to ‘crush’ cigarettes in a virtual reality environment were more likely to quit than those who ‘crushed’ balls. So, we thought it could be a useful extra for WERO to have an app game along the same lines.” Dr Glover said.

The updated Stub It Out game has been made easier for the iPhone version, and a new level representing the outside-the-office smoking huddle has been added and it now has a leaderboard that tracks the cumulative score of the days, hours and minutes of life regained and the highest score per player. There is also some new original music from talented young composer Timi Hawea.

Stub It Out has been downloaded more than 1,000 times in more than 40 countries, with players in the USA and the UK outnumbering those in New Zealand.

Dr Glover and her team have released one other app on the app store to support the WERO group stop smokng competition, and are intent on developing more apps to tackle major public health challenges.

WERO and Stub It Out have been developed by the Centre for Tobacco Control Research with help from the National Institute for Health Innovation as part of the Tobacco Control Research Tūranga, funded by the Health Research Council of New Zealand and the Ministry of Health.

ENDS

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