Pop-Tarts Creates First-Ever Mystery Flavor

Life's full of plenty of mysteries that scholars of all stripes have pondered. Is there intelligent life elsewhere in the universe? Does free will exist? And why is this mustachioed Pop-Tart asking me to solve some kind of mystery?

Well, at least we have some answers for that last burning question: Pop-Tarts has put out a mystery flavor, and they want to give someone the chance to win a significant prize if they can deduce what exactly it is.

As the narrative goes (according to a press release), a masked figure — which I guess could be pretty much anyone these days — broke into the Pop-Tarts factory and just decided to make a mysterious new flavor. Most deviously of all, the perpetrator did not tell anyone what flavor they made.

But the good news is that Mister E, an anthropomorphized Pop-Tart who also looks like the caricature of a circa 2009 hipster, is on the case. Pop-Tarts fans can get in on the action by scanning a QR code square within the frame of Mister E's glasses, and join him in an augmented reality game where you and the mystery-solving Pop Tart work together to find clues and figure out what that flavor is.

Most importantly though, prizes: Fans can enter for a chance to win by submitting a flavor guess online. Correct guesses can win you an Xbox Series S gaming console, which is an especially valuable prize given that the widespread microchip shortage has made Microsoft's newest console nearly impossible to find. If you aren't lucky enough to grab that, other prizes include Pop-Tart hoodies and hats. Not a bad consolation prize at the end of the day.

For some, uh, mysterious reason, mystery flavors seem to be having a moment. There's a new type of Twizzlers that's puzzling us. Sour Patch Kids aren't what they seem. Truly, the world of snack foods has become less certain than ever.

Your chance to nibble on these mysterious Pop-Tarts and try your luck begins on May 27, when the contest kicks off. It'll technically run through August 31, but don't wait until the last minute, because the mystery flavor will be revealed once all of the clues are found in the augmented reality game.

So what will this particular Pop-Tart offer us? Who knows. It's certainly not the most important mystery to solve in this crazy life, but it counts for something.