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Previous: SAT practice question | Main | Next: Paris street sign
December 6, 2004 12:10 AM
Broken: Travel game package
Megan writes:
Attached is a picture of a "Pocket Travel Game" my fiancé and I found in an Osco one day while shopping. We stopped to look at this because we didn't know what the game was, then found that the manufacturers apparently don't, either.
Nowhere on the box--front or back--does it specify any name of the game, even odder when you take into consideration that the other games in this series are immediately identifiable (although also not labeled)--chess, for example, was right behind this strange game.
I'd say this is broken. :)
Nothing more than a cheap "buy me that." Notice the $2.50 price tag. The game is whatever you make of it. Not broken.
A peg board and a handful of pegs could be used to play a number of games. Maybe the generalisation is intended?
It does say that instructions are included. They must be inside the packaging. I'm not sure it's broken, it just could be better.
I think that game allows you to play anything what is possible to with that bunch of colorful buttons.
I'd say it is broken. Suppose you went into Best Buy and their entire movie section was a bunch of unlabeled boxes? What if the same was true at Blockbuster? You're saying that as long as they have the title of the movie on the INSIDE of the case, then everything is fine. I would disagree.
"It does say that instructions are included. They must be inside the packaging. I'm not sure it's broken, it just could be better."
Actually, yeah, that is what they're saying.
This is pretty curious, and even kind of bad, but I don't think it's broken.
First of all, there is certainly nothing false or misleading. The package does not claim to contain something specific. In fact, the clear plastic means you can SEE exactly what you are buying, which is actually GOOD design---even if the product is not very desirable.
Second, the Blockbuster analogy does not hold water. People selling videos are trying get you to buy a specific movie. The game manufacturer freely admits that their product is not particularly unique.
Thirdly, lots of products are based on not revealing their contents. A good example is sports trading cards. You never know exactly what will be inside, but it will defintely be pictures of some atheletes on cardstock.
And finally, instructions for use are usually not printed on the outside of packaging. Even if this was a well known game (like, say "chess"), it would probably have the instructions on the inside.
Weird, yes. Could be a little better? Yes. But broken? Personally, I don't think so.
OK, I'm the one that submitted this. Even if the game is intended for multiple games (a fact that didn't occur to me until reading the comments), it should still state that it is--otherwise, there's no impetus for the buyer to purchase it, not knowing what the game is or anything about it other than what they can infer from the visual.
Whenever someone says "impetus" it gives me a tingle. Hmm.
I'd say it was broken-- I drove myself insane trying to find a traditional game that uses multiples of four different color pieces on a square peg playing board and could not find anything.
Of course it's broken. Especially when displayed alongside other recognizable games in similar packaging, there is every reason for a potential purchaser to infer that he is supposed to know what it is. Instructions that are not accessible until after purchase are irrelevant at this point. Common sense tells me that if it leaves the potential purchaser confused, it's broken.
None of us so far apparently knows what it is. It will likely only be purchased by someone to whom a 'mystery game' appeals. And if that's what it's intended to be, then the packaging ought to say so in order to properly differentiate it from the others and alleviate confusion.
Submission broken:
That picture looks like it was taken at Toys "r" us, not osco drug. look at the giraffe towards the right
I guess I'm with Manni in that I "don't get it," whatever "it" was that wasn't clear. Care to share " "?
Jan, they have that giraffe on the Oscos here. It does look like the Toys R Us giraffe, but I don't know if that's intentional (ie they have a deal with them or something), or just a giraffe. Anyways, it was indeed at an Osco.
Not broken.
My take on it: It's not one of the standard games, it's a game they created. Thus it doesn't have a meaningful name to display. You can see what sort of thing it is, there's obviously a paper inside telling you how to play it.
Ah, Loren, but why would anyone buy a game not knowing what it is? If you walk into a toy store's game section, even original games are plastered all over with information--you can tell if they're kid's games, strategy games, classics, mind games... any of that.
This box doesn't have any identifying information. All the other games in this series seem to be classics (chess, checkers, etc), so the immediate assumption would be that this is a game we're supposed to know about.
If anything else, this is broken for the manufacturer--few people are going to buy a game they know absolutely nothing about.
It's simple- the board holds the pegs, it's for storage. The pegs themselves are for the children to throw at each other, providing hours of fun for kids and hours of aggravation for the adults. Apparently, none of you have young boys in your families.
See here for more information http://www.oflameron.com/game.htm
The marketing is broken, but the product isn't. You can see paper underneath the game board and it says it includes instructions. If you know what it is, it's a working product. If not, you're only missing the chance to be sold something you don't really need.
I'm the afforementioned fiancé of Megan's. Her friend got us this very game after this was posted. The first thing we did was look at the instructions that contains the fabled "way to play this game". This was a while ago, I'll admit, but I remember well, no new information was presented except for a few company things and how to play chess and checkers (this is neither of those, trust me). These instructions every body keeps pointing to to save this from being broken, are also broken.
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Previous: SAT practice question | Main | Next: Paris street sign
It looks like a cost-savings measure -- they use the same placard for the rest of their game series: http://www.boleycorp.com/products/big/80233.jpg
Posted by: morcheeba at December 6, 2004 01:21 AM