Animal Kaiser (S'pore): Sep 27, 2010

Monday, September 27, 2010

First encounter with Animal Kaiser gaming

The game that answers the age old question: which would win in a fight? I saw this brilliant arcade concept on a commercial one day during breakfast. Or dinner, I forget. It caught my attention when I noticed a battle ensuing between a lion and a shark… on land.

Friends and I had been meaning to hunt this game down and give it a shot, but like so many things we put it off. Since my friend from the previous post was soon to return home we decided to find a console in Osaka. Luckily the website (www.animalkaiser.com) has a list of all the stores and arcades where you can find their revolutionary game.

It’s played with cards, unfortunately you have to play the game before you receive a prize card. Until then you play with the default lion. After the two animals are scanned from players’ cards, special attacks and powers are uploaded, the players roll a roulette to see whose animal kicks the shit out of the other using which attack.

So far I’ve got a manta ray and a panther!

Source: Re-posting of original article from http://teaintokyo.wordpress.com ,dated February 25, 2008

Some thinking points about Animal Kaiser...

* We progressively "lose" our kids as they grow up (not necessarily a bad thing). Animal Kaiser is quite a definitive losing point. The one where we throw up our hands and say: We don’t get it. We just don’t get the blinking card collection / arcade game which apparently infects kids from 4 and some uncles too. We think he picked it up from school.

* As I was saying. The best or most disastrous (depending on how you see it) birthday party pack anyone ever gave Day was a stack of imitation Animal Kaiser cards which apparently cost all of $1. Suddenly the entire K2 cohort is individually equipped with a stack of trading cards which they bandy about / trade / scrutinise every morning.

* There is a very clever accompanying twist: The pack costs a dollar but you have to play an arcade game ($2 a shot) choosing a character from your existing pack (the barcode is scanned in) and after the fight you get ONE more card. Just one. For $2. If you are lucky, it may be THE card featuring the animal with the highest strength / health. That’s the thrill, see, so it’s no use getting several packs of cheap imitation cards.

* Day (elder son) lobbied hard and long for a Timezone (games arcade) card. It’s been months. I caved in. I bought him a card for $10 and brought him to the arcade once, which is what really prompted this post because the sight of the line of machines and the crowd on a Monday afternoon at 4pm made me realize this is bigger than I realize and that is where I started to do a little reading up. I said if he wanted to play anymore he would have to pay for it himself, with what I don’t care.

* Skills? Strategy? No! You don’t even need skill to fight! It’s just luck of the draw! Someone somewhere called Animal Kaiser gambling for kids.

* Day (elder son) has memorized the entire stack of cards, animals, scientific names (Monodon monoceros anyone?), vital statistics, what these animals eat. PING! Educational value!

* Armed with all the independent knowledge search skills I so proudly bestow on him, he relentlessly googles Animal Kaiser whenever I let him loose on the desktop and views fight videos on Youtube. He very mysteriously knows a heck of a lot about cards he does not have and how to play them.

* The machines are found at 7-11 outlets. Unbelievable.

* Adults fight for turns at the machine with the kids. Unbelievable.

* This is probably a classic instance of boring conservative parent not understanding the future generation. Twenty years down the line, all these kids may well talk fondly of Animal Kaiser the way we 30-somethings talk of childhood "buy-and-trade" hobbies like... I don’t know... keeping sticker books??
~ Sher

Source :
Re-posting of original article from http://offsprings.blogspot.com ,dated 15/9/2010

Comments

gosh! i can soooo relate to this post!

my P1 son is also obsessed with this! i told him it was uneducational, offered to buy him more legos, told him the fad would pass (just like his Ben10 fad) and he would be wasting mummy's money blah blah blah ... but he persisted. i gave in.

now he only wants to go timezone all the time. oh, and buy more files to keep those cards.
~ crabcrabby

i find the whole arcade thingie terribly scary. even as a 2 year old, Val is enthralled. The three times we have gone into an arcade, the boy was glued and totally sucked into it all.

I was perturbed to say the least. the noise, the lights, the throbbing music, and of course, the absolute waste of good $ going into the slots. horrible. Once on a cruise ship, we witnessed a kid who had a game card loaded with his parents credit card details so basically, his folks let him loose there with limitless credit
~ tumbleweed in space

Sticker albums? You know, in an effort not to waste, I went on a mission to buy a sticker album for Kate. A proper one like the ones I had when I was younger. Guess what, they don't exist anymore! And, I was like "HAR? What do kids do these days??". So, you've answered my question.
~ katiemom

So THAT was why there was a friggin' huge crowd right outside this particular machine at the arcade on a quiet (we were there for the husband's birthday celebration, uh, its complicated).

Yay, i finally get to go "tsk, tsk, kids nowadays.."
~ daphne

OMG this is a biggie huh? My son saw the picture as I was reading your blog and shouted "ANIMAL KAISER!!!" very excitedly. Apparently his kindy friends have it so he knows all about it too. But he's not asked for it yet, phew! ~ june

oh well. if u cant beat em, join em! i think they get sick of it after a while and move on to new trends.
~ Sher

Tokyo Trip ~

"Went on a 5N4D trip to Tokyo. Was drizzling on the 2 days that were meant for Disney. What a pity.

We went to hunt for a place for Animal Kaiser on the first day. Walked around Akiba and went to all those bigger arcades, but could not find it. Eventually asked around and was directed to go back towards the Akiba station at Yodobashi Camera building. Found one machine at L6.

Finally found an Animal Kaiser machine in Akiba!

I would have thought it was all the rage in Japan, but there are many more such card based games. Such as an Ultraman, 3X3 eyes, Gundam looking ones, etc.

100 yen only (~SGD1.50. it is SGD2 per game in Singapore)

AK was Y100 ($1.50) per play. Cheaper than $2 in Singapore. Lucas played quite a few games. We eventually came back here on Saturday night as well.

Next 2 days are for Disneyland and Disneysea."

Source :
This is re-posting of original article from Vincent Wong's Blog dated 26/4/2010
http://vincentwong.posterous.com