I work on lots of different things, but not all of them see the light of day. Some of them die at the idea stage. Others are killed during development. Some have the plug pulled when they’re already in production. Lots of times, I can’t even talk about these because I’ve signed NDAs that prevent me from mentioning them until they’re already public knowledge.
Sometimes, though, they come out in other parts of the world, and I don’t know about them until I stumble across them. Case in point: the Yu-Gi-Oh 5DS Figure Reader from Playmates Toys. I designed the gameplay and user interface for this electronic toy for use with a set of 2.5″ Yu-Gi-Oh 5DS figures sold separately. A general release for these were never made in the US, although you can find a selection of them on Amazon.co.uk.
According to the bits of sales information I’ve been able to find, the Figure Reader:
- Uses 2 AA batteries, not included.
- Reads 2.5” figurine names and ATK/DEF points and keeps track of your collection.
- Holds name and power information for 50 monsters from the trading card game.
- Features lights and sounds from the Yu-Gi-Oh TV show.
The Figure Reader comes with a number of simple game modes, including:
- Battle Game: Scan your figure and then fight with a randomly selected figure on figure reader.
- Power Test: Compare two figures and guess which has a higher level in a stat.
- Identify: See an image of a figure and identify it by name.
- Type Test: See an image of a figure and identify it by type.
- Odd Out: See the names of three figures and guess which does not fit with the others based on certain criteria.
I had a lot of fun working on the Figure Reader. Here’s hoping that the kids in the UK enjoy it too.
