A new app has been launched that may add years to your life as well as fun. 

Created by games developer Hope Caton, the maker of the global hit video game Tomb Raider IV: The Last Revelation, Cigbreak is the UK's first smoking cessation app in the form a game. 

The app, which Ms Canton developed with business partner Robin Bell, replicates the Fruit Ninja game by getting players to break cigarettes in order to gain game rewards.

Cigbreak was co-created with a medical team and tested on smokers.

Hope said: “Research proves that when a game mechanic mirrors the desired behaviour change in the virtual world, this change is continued and maintained in the real world.

“A Canadian study proved that if smokers play a game that involves breaking or crushing cigarettes, they are 13 per cent more likely to quit.”

Surrey Comet:

Research indicates that 52 per cent of video game players smoke while 37 per cent of non-video game players smoke.

An estimated 69 per cent of people in the UK aged 8-74 play games on average 14 hours per week.

The app was developed with the support of Camden-based IT firm Maldaba Ltd, who said it was a “pleasure” to work with a company “whose ethos mirrors our own”.

Games form the largest market share of apps comprising 33 per cent of all downloads.

Ms Hope is a lecturer at Kingston University and Cigbreak is currently seeking smokers to participate in a small study by the university. 

To take part in the study contact: h.caton@kingston.ac.uk