Motivating students to actively engage in their studying efforts is an ongoing challenge, because motivation is a key factor in study success. In the work presented here, we investigate whether the use of a mobile app with a teacher-like avatar (StudyGotchi), based on the successful digital pet Tamagotchi, can be deployed to motivate and engage computer science university students in their blended learning programming course. A randomized controlled study was performed which showed mixed results. Lessons learned include (i) better understanding of how to effectively implement the game-mechanics, and (ii) ways to circumvent technical limitations in usage.