Boing Boing: "Scannerz" toy mixes monsters and bar codes?

Tuesday, September 14, 2004

"Scannerz" toy mixes monsters and bar codes?

"If i'm not mistaken, this handheld electronic toy -- Scannerz Commander -- uses everyday bar codes as inputs to create a tribe of monsters for the user to play with/against. If that's right, very inventive toy..."

Link Update: BoingBoing reader Rob Greene says, "It seems very reminiscent of a toy I had about 10 years ago called Barcode Battler. Maybe they've improved on it, as I seem to remember I had an awfully hard time getting anything to scan properly. You can read about it here: Link."

Reader Geoffrey Litwack points to this alternate url for Barcode Battlers (Link), Thomas Williams finds another (Link), and John Harris points to yet another (Link), and adds -- "The Monster Rancher games for Playstation (if memory serves, I may have gotten the title wrong) use a similar technique by reading audio CDs and using those as raw data for similar game purposes." Dave says, "Skannerz were here in the US 5 or 6 years ago: I bought one at the local supermart/department store. You can still find the toys on eBay (link)."

posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:38:53 PM permalink | Other blogs' comments

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Support Bloggers' Rights! HOWTO: Get a link posted to Boing Boing Boing Boing Mobile powered by Winksite Fark rules! This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution. Boing Boing is a trademark of Happy Mutants LLC in the United States [and other countries]. Stats (About our stats) defeat censorware Policies Our first five years' worth of posts in one file	Tuesday, September 14, 2004 "Scannerz" toy mixes monsters and bar codes? Mark Hurst says, "If i'm not mistaken, this handheld electronic toy -- Scannerz Commander -- uses everyday bar codes as inputs to create a tribe of monsters for the user to play with/against. If that's right, very inventive toy..." Link Update: BoingBoing reader Rob Greene says, "It seems very reminiscent of a toy I had about 10 years ago called Barcode Battler. Maybe they've improved on it, as I seem to remember I had an awfully hard time getting anything to scan properly. You can read about it here: Link." Reader Geoffrey Litwack points to this alternate url for Barcode Battlers (Link), Thomas Williams finds another (Link), and John Harris points to yet another (Link), and adds -- "The Monster Rancher games for Playstation (if memory serves, I may have gotten the title wrong) use a similar technique by reading audio CDs and using those as raw data for similar game purposes." Dave says, "Skannerz were here in the US 5 or 6 years ago: I bought one at the local supermart/department store. You can still find the toys on eBay (link)." posted by Xeni Jardin at 07:38:53 PM permalink \| Other blogs' comments Email this entry to: Your email address: Message (optional):	Boing Boing Sponsored by: Your Text Ad Here Get BB by email: