Bubble Popping Games
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Bubble popping games are a type of game that simulate (and make repeatable) the experience of popping the bubbles in air bubble packaging. Such games became popular with the introduction in 2014 by a Canadian company, FoxMind Canada Enterprises Ltd. of LAST MOUSE LOST the first non-electronic bubble popping game made of silicon.[1]
Bubble popping games typically have simple rules. In one variation, two players take turns popping as many bubbles in a single row as they choose. The last player to pop loses. The games can also be used as "fidget toys" involving idle manipulation that some believe may be useful in the treatment of anxiety, autism, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.[2]
Origin of the idea[edit]
Air bubble packaging was invented in 1957, and is most commonly known by the trademark "bubble wrap."[3] The packaging consists of sheets of plastic with entrapped bubbles of air or other gases. Besides its value to protect goods in shipment, the packaging also is entertaining. As one seller of air bubble packaging observes:
If you press one of the bubbles in the bubble pack using your fingers, you don’t have [to] apply much pressure before the bubble bursts – producing a popping sound that many people find oddly satisfying."[4]
The discovery that bubble wrap could be entertaining led to many attempts over the past 40 years to develop a toy which can reproduce the experience of popping bubbles in air bubble packaging, but as an infinitely repeatable experience. Such bubble popping toys typically:
- Consist of a hand held piece containing "bubbles" that, when pressed, create a popping sound similar to that created by hand-popping a bubble in a sheet of bubble wrap.
- Contain bubbles that can be popped repeatedly (for example, by turning the toy over and popping them again, then turning it again, and so on).
First successful bubble popping toy[edit]
The first successful bubble popping toy was probably Mugen Puchipuchi, sold by the Japanese company Bandai in 2008 as "a battery-powered key chain with a panel of eight push buttons designed to simulate bubble-packaging destruction. Since the key chain’s buttons rebound, users can vent their frustration endlessly."[5]
Origin of Foxmind bubble popping games[edit]
Foxmind's bubble popping games originated with a design by Theo M.S. Coster, a Holocaust survivor, who in 1977 obtained United States utility patent No. 4,045,01 for a triangular shaped bubble popping game.[6]
According to the BBC inspiration for its design came from a dream Theo's wife Ora had when her sister, an artist, passed away from breast cancer.[7] As Ora’s son, Boaz Coster, remembers "She said Theo, imagine a large field of breasts, that you can push the nipple' [...] She went to him and said do a carpet of nipples that you can press from one side to the other. And he did just that.” [8]
Theora Design (a game company founded by Theo and Ora) [9] attempted to market the game, but it was not commercially successful until the idea was purchased by Foxmind in 2009 . [10] and further developed. The initial plan -- to construct the game from rubber proved to be too expensive. After many iterations of game prototypes the product material ultimately was changed to silicone. Foxmind introduced the game as a logic game and fidget toy in 2014 during the Nuremberg Toy Fair followed by the New York Toy Fair. It gained popularity initially with toys and games specialty stores and special education specialists. In 2019, FoxMind partnered with Buffalo Games, LLC to introduce the toy/game under the FoxMind’s POP IT! trademark in all Target stores in the US. [11] Distribution has since expanded into Sam’s Club and many online retailers including Amazon.
Current market of bubble popping games[edit]
Beginning with the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020, the popularity of non-electronic silicon-based bubble popping games increased dramatically. The popularity was fueled by numerous fan uploaded videos on the social media site Tiktok under the hashtag #POPIT.[12]
Bubble popping games now exist in hundreds of variations of different shapes and colors including games by Foxmind including GO POP![13] and by others such as DIMPL sold by Fat Brain Toys as a toy for infants. [14] Foxmind's games have spawned innumerable knock-offs, and related legal proceedings to enforce Foxmind's bubble game- related trademarks.[15]
References[edit]
- ↑ "Last Mouse Lost". United States trademark registration. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ↑ HAYES, STEPHANIE. "Pop It! fidget toys are in everyone's hands. But why?". Tampa Bay Times. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ↑ "Bubble Wrap". United States trademark registration. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ↑ "Bubble pack". Diffpack. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ↑ "Bubble Wrap That Never Ends". New York Times. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ↑ "Pop It Fidget Toys Trademark Patent Infringement Analysis". Suke Auto. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ↑ KING, BEN. "How a monkey launched the pop-it toy craze". BBC News. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ↑ "How a monkey launched the pop-it toy craze". BBC News. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ↑ "Theo Coaster". Glose. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ↑ "Who Founded the "Pop It Toys" & How They Became Popular?". POP IT.
- ↑ "Pop It Fidget Toys". Target.
- ↑ "#POPIT". TikTok. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ↑ "GO POP!". United States trademark registration. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
- ↑ "DIMPL". Amazon.
- ↑ "FoxMind Can. Enters. v. Aliceliu8888". casetext. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
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