I love — love — the Pop-Tarts Bowl. I don’t watch college football. I don’t watch bowl games. But I will gobble up any and all news about this one specific bowl game that happens to be sponsored by Pop-Tarts.
The upcoming Pop-Tarts Bowl will be played on Dec. 27. The bowl game itself is between Georgia Tech and BYU. More importantly, though, we’re going to see two teams of Pop-Tarts mascots pitted against each other ... with the winners getting eaten.
“The countdown is on for the 2025 Pop-Tarts Bowl, dubbed The People’s National Championship! Culminating in the biggest sacrifice ever, two teams of Edible Mascots — Team Sprinkles and Team Swirls — will compete to achieve the ultimate pastry dream of being eaten by this year’s Pop-Tarts Bowl Champions,” Pop-Tarts notes in the announcement of this year’s mascot competition. “To celebrate, Pop-Tartsis hosting a fan vote on game day to help decide which team will be sacrificed and debuting a limited-edition flavor box featuring each of the Edible Mascot flavors.”
Yes, if you’re one of the Edible Mascots, it is your dream to be “eaten by this year’s Pop-Tarts Bowl Champions.” It’s a tradition, after all.
This year’s Pop-Tarts Bowl will feature six Edible Mascots, with Protein Slammin’ Strawberry, Frosted Cherry and Frosted Cookies & Crème on Team Sprinkles and Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Frosted Wild Berry and Frosted Hot Fudge Sundaeon Team Swirls.
This is a banger lineup of Pop-Tart flavors, with classics like Wild Berry and Hot Fudge Sundae being joined by Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (which just returned to stores) and the brand new (and buff) Protein Slammin’ Strawberry. All six flavors were bundled in the Pop-Tarts Limited-Edition Team Sprinkles vs Team Swirls Tailgate Pack, giving fans the chance to sample each team going into the Pop-Tarts Bowl.
The key part of this year’s Pop-Tarts Bowl is that the lives of these Edible Mascots are in our hands. We get to choose who lives and who gets eaten.
Fans in the stadium and at home can cast their vote by texting “SPRINKLES” to vote for Team Sprinkles, or “SWIRLS” to vote for Team Swirls to 21523. Voting begins at 3:30 p.m. ET on December 27 and will culminate in the biggest sacrifice ever at the end of the game.
“Pop-Tarts fans are passionate about their favorite flavors, so this year, we’re giving them the power to decide which Edible Mascot team — Team Sprinkles or Team Swirls — will be sacrificed and eaten by the winning team,” Leslie Serro, vice president of marketing for Pop-Tarts, said. “Whether fans are voting for their favorite team or recreating the epic sacrifice with the Pop-Tarts Limited-Edition Team Sprinkles vs. Team Swirls Tailgate Pack, they’ll find that this year's game is all about delivering more unforgettable moments than ever.”
Before we can vote for the winner of the Pop-Tarts Bowl fan vote, we need to check out the scouting report for each team ...
Love reading Snackology? Become a subscriber to receive every edition in your inbox.
The Pop-Tarts Limited-Edition Team Sprinkles vs Team Swirls Tailgate Pack was available via a giveaway that ended on Dec. 21. All of these Pop-Tart flavors are available in stores, though, and should run you somewhere between $3 and $4 for the standard 8-pack of Pop-Tarts.
Team Sprinkles
With Protein Slammin’ Strawberry as its Captain, Team Sprinkles is made up of “three all-new Edible Mascots.” This was definitely my first time trying the new Protein Slammin’ Strawberry, and I think it was also my first time trying out their two teammates.
Pop-Tarts bio: “Leading Team Sprinkles, this ripped powerhouse mascot with muscles to match its mighty protein-boosted flavor is ready to flex its way to victory.”
Protein Slammin’ Strawberry is one part of Pop-Tarts’ foray into amping up the protein levels of the toaster pastries. (Boostin’ Brown Sugar Cinnamon and Bumpin’ Blueberry didn’t make the cut for the Pop-Tarts Bowl this year.) Taste-wise, this one is pretty close to the classic Frosted Strawberry, but it’s missing a bit of the spark that makes that flavor so popular. Congrats on your six-pack, though, Protein Slammin’ Strawberry.
Snack score
🍪🍪🍪 (3 out of 5 cookies)
Frosted Cherry
Pop-Tarts bio: “Iconic for its pink frosting and bold red sprinkles, this long-time classic flavor is ready to make its game day debut.”
Oh boy, I don’t think I’ve ever had a Frosted Cherry Pop-Tart, and I’m so happy I’ve finally rectified that glaring omission. This flavor is fantastic. It’s bright and it pops but there’s a richness to the fruity filling.
Snack score
🍪🍪🍪🍪 (4 out of 5 cookies)
Frosted Cookies & Crème
Pop-Tarts bio: “This Pop-Tarts Bowl newcomer is ready to make a flavorful impression with its striking contrast of speckled frosting.”
I don’t think you can go wrong turning an Oreo — sorry — a generic cookies-and-creme cookie into a Pop-Tart. The pastry on the Frosted Cookies & Crème Pop-Tart is extremely chocolatey, even more chocolatey than the Hot Fudge Sundae flavor that we’ll get to shortly. This flavor expertly pulls off the creme filling, pulling up a great mimic of the beloved cookie that isn’t legally released to this Pop-Tart.
Snack score
🍪🍪🍪🍪 (4 out of 5 cookies)
Team Swirls
Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough is back after “a three-year hiatus and making its mascot debut,” and Pop-Tarts must have a ton of confidence in the flavor since they went and made them captain of Team Swirls.
Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Pop-Tarts bio: “Returning to shelves after a three-year hiatus and making its mascot debut as the head of Team Swirls, this fan-favorite Pop-Tarts Bowl rookie is ready to lead its teammates all the way to Mouth Heaven.”
I reviewed the Frosted Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Pop-Tart earlier this month and agreed that the folks demanding that Pop-Tarts bring this flavor back knew what they were talking about. While this flavor doesn’t attempt to be part of a nutritious breakfast, its dessertiness pales in comparison to the Frosted Cookies & Crème and Hot Fudge Sundae Pop-Tarts.
Snack score
🍪🍪🍪🍪 (4 out of 5 cookies)
Frosted Wild Berry
Pop-Tarts bio: “Bringing its instantly recognizable vibrant purple frosting and teal swirl to the field, the returning mascot is vying for a second shot at being devoured.”
The Frosted Wild Berry Pop-Tart holds a special place in my heart. Growing up, if we had Pop-Tarts, they were usually the unfrosted strawberry flavor. (The very specific smell of an unfrosted Pop-Tart being toasted still floats in my brain.) After that, we would occasionally get Frosted Strawberry or maybe Brown Sugar Cinnamon. Then came Frosted Wild Berry. If there was one Pop-Tart flavor that screamed the 90s, this was it. The frosting was purple and teal. “Wild” was in the name. And it had an amazing commercial.
The quality control slipped a bit when it came to the frosting on my Wild Berry Pop-Tarts, but that mixed-fruit filling still hits exactly the same as it did thirty years ago.
Snack score
🍪🍪🍪🍪 (4 out of 5 cookies)
Frosted Hot Fudge Sundae
Pop-Tarts bio: “Adding a touch of flair to Team Swirls, the mascot veteran is adorned in its signature fudge icing swirl.”
Hot Fudge Sundae Pop-Tarts feel like the moment when Pop-Tarts completely gave up on even pretending these fellas were supposed to be a breakfast staple. Where S’mores Pop-Tarts showed some restraint, Hot Fudge Sundae said, well, fudge it. (I ate so many of this flavor in college.) Despite being a member of Team Sprinkles, Hot Fudge Sundae Pop-Tarts also boasts a ton of sprinkles. (Like, maybe even more sprinkles than swirls?) The free agent bidding for this flavor must have been out of control, since Hot Fudge Sundae Pop-Tarts are definitely a hall-of-fame caliber Pop-Tart.
Snack score
🍪🍪🍪🍪🍪 (5 out of 5 cookies)
My winner
With Team Swirls averaging a 4.33 snack score versus Team Sprinkles’ 3.67 average snack score, Team Swirls is my pick for the fan vote.
No matter which team wins, a new Pop-Tarts flavor will be sacrificed this year. Iowa State quarterback Rocco Becht sent Frosted Cinnamon Roll to the giant toaster in the sky last year, choosing them over Wild Berry and Hot Fudge Sundae.
This is so dumb and I love it.
The Pop-Tarts Limited-Edition Team Sprinkles vs Team Swirls Tailgate Pack was provided to Snackology for this independent review.
Sign up
Join the hundreds of Snackology subscribers who already get this free newsletter covering new snacks — candy, soda, fast food and more!
Snackology is written and produced by Bill Kuchman. Copyediting by Tim Kuchman.
The Omnicosm founder. Popculturology, Deep SNL Thoughts and Snackology writer. A Rochester, N.Y., native now living in the Washington, D.C., area. Won’t pass up a Genny Cream Ale.
