Dell Canada and Intel have launched an online gumball machine for a shot at viral buzz.

The interactive sweepstakes, hosted at WinWithDell.com, lets users guess the number of gumballs in a 3D environment, using it – of course – to pass on the message about those bubble-gum-coloured new Dell Inspiron notebooks. As the mouse rolls over the gum machine, the site’s background colour changes to match the eight new Dell hues.

Three players who come closest to guessing the correct number of gumballs without going over will win one of the notebooks, while the viral twist entails winning one for a friend. If a winner was referred to the contest by a friend, the referral sender wins a notebook as well.

Users can earn up to 66 guesses by visiting the site daily and signing up for newsletters from Dell and Intel – and they can earn unlimited guesses by setting up personal links and banners to refer friends to the contest site.

Ottawa-based Launchfire Interactive developed the promotion.