The Yale play2PREVENT Lab, which uses video games to address risky behavior among young people, has acquired Tunnel Tail™, an interactive video game that focuses on substance abuse prevention in teens.
Dr. Lynn Fiellin, associate professor of internal medicine at Yale School of Medicine and founder and director of the play2PREVENT Lab, said, “We are pleased that Tunnel Tail has found a home in our lab. This gift is a show of support for Yale’s growing play2PREVENT video games program.”
Tunnel Tail was developed with funding from the BEST Foundation. The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation created the game in conjunction with Drug Strategies and Schell Games. The foundation gifted Tunnel Tail to Fiellin’s lab including all of its trademarks, IP, website, and a gift of $100,000 to help play2PREVENT to continue developing and evaluating video game interventions for health promotion and risk reduction in young people.
In Tunnel Tail, mouse tribes struggle with evil forces called Lumini, which are corrupting other mice with their darkness. Players can help Cezar, the leader of the mouse tribes, to escape from the Lumini’s influence and save the world. The game promotes anti-drug messages by using incidental or unplanned learning methods. To win at Tunnel Tail, players must not give in to temptation and pressure.
In 2009, the Yale School of Medicine formed the play2PREVENT Lab in order to coordinate the activities of the NICHD-funded grant titled “An Interactive Video Game for HIV Prevention in At-Risk Adolescents” and additional smaller video game pilot studies.
For more information on TunnelTail and the play2PREVENT Lab at Yale, visit: