Tumble Panda Asks, “Why Walk When You Can Roll?”

Who doesn’t love pandas? They’re adorable blobs of black and white fluff who spend their days eating bamboo and lolling in the sun. And of course, fans of IGM probably also love video games as well. So what do you get when you mix video games and panda bears? The answer is Tumble Panda.

The new app, which launches today, is the first larger title from German indie studio Andlabs. Its protagonist is a little panda who is constantly hungry, and thus constantly in search of yummy bamboo on which to snack. Walking and running don’t really appeal to the bear, though, who prefers to roll around like a ball.

Through forty handcrafted levels, the panda must evade obstacles, traverse unstable ground, dodge – or utilize – the painful eruptions of geysers, and bounce on trampolines to reach higher points. In his ball form, the panda is able to accelerate speed, which even allows him to fly over chasms. He also has access to powers that regular pandas don’t, such as causing earthquakes to remove obstructions or triggering explosions while in midair.

One challenge is not faced by the panda in this game, however, which is a problem for pandas in the real world. There are less than 2,000 giant pandas left on earth, meaning that the species is in grave danger of extinction. To try to fight that possibility, Andlabs has decided that 5% of their revenue from in-app purchases will be donated to two charities, InDeed and Pandas International. These two organizations are working to preserve both the panda species and also the natural habitat they need to survive.

Conserving the environment and having fun at the same time? Sounds like a winner! Tumble Panda is available exclusively for Android gamers from the Google Play Store. The app is free, with those optional in-app purchases that will help to support the panda preservation plans. Get all the latest about Tumble Panda and its charitable contributions by checking it out on Facebook and Twitter.