Chris “Crash” Reed is not just the man with the cool nickname. He also has the likeness of the cutest little puppy tattooed on his arm.

For Reed, his wife, Jane, and the tightly knit team at Zuul Labs, an indie gaming company in Huntington Beach, life revolves around dogs and pups.

The company is headed by Long Beach resident Marty Cox, who along with his wife, Louise Montgomery, has rescued and nursed back to health hundreds of sick, abandoned and abused dogs for more than a decade.

Cox, founder of the It’s a Grind Coffee House franchise, and his team are now trying to raise $150,000 through a Kickstarter campaign that launched Monday for Tall Tails, a puzzle-based game where players try to rescue dogs trapped inside classic fairy tales such as “Jack and the Beanstalk” and “Hansel and Gretel.”

A portion of the proceeds from the game’s sales will go to animal rescue organizations, Cox said.

“This project is a perfect fit for our team because we’re a bunch of dog lovers here,” he said. “Our goal is to be able to raise $1 million for rescue dogs.”

The game can be downloaded for free, but Zuul Labs is planning to donate money it makes from in-game purchases to dog rescue organizations.

The fledgling company with a dozen associates opened its doors in December, and Tall Tails was the project that brought them together. Most of Zuul’s creative team are graduates of the Art Institute of California – Orange County in Santa Ana. They named the company after the institute’s server, Zuul, which is also the name of one of the evil dogs in “Ghostbusters.”

However, the puppy on Zuul Labs’ logo is not quite as menacing, Reed says with a laugh.

Tall Tails will have a retro feel to it, similar to games such as Super Mario Bros. or The Legend of Zelda, he said. The target audience consists of women between the ages of 18 and 34, as well as children.

“We’re hoping this will take off like Candy Crush,” Cox said. “I’ll be ecstatic if its success is a fraction of Candy Crush’s.”

This game, however, is multidimensional, he said. The four-legged stars of Tall Tails that get stuck in a fantasy world and must be rescued by players are based on real rescue dogs. One of the dogs in the game is Skip, who spent some time getting nursed back to health in Cox’s home. He had two bad back knees, but was eventually placed with a loving family in Cox’s Long Beach neighborhood.

Another dog, a Chihuahua without her two front legs named Slinky, was placed in a home in New Mexico.

Cox says the game will also send out subtle messages about responsible dog ownership.

“For example, in the game, when you name your dog, you are actually getting a ‘dog license,’” he explained. “So we’re not throwing the lessons in your face, but working it into the game, so it doesn’t get in the way of fun.”

Reed tattooed Zuul’s logo on his forearm as his way of making a commitment to Tall Tails, he said. The company is also sponsoring the dog stunt show for Evel Knievel Days, which is named after the daredevil stuntman and takes place in July in Butte, Mont.

“So far, I have never come across games that have tried to give back,” Reed said. “That’s what we’re trying to do as a team here. It’s also in keeping with out company’s mission: Have fun, do good, play mobile.”

Contact the writer: 724-796-7909 or dbharath@ocregister.com