Bop It, stylized as bop it! since 2008, is a line of audio game toys. By following a series of commands issued through voice recordings produced by a speaker by the toy, which has multiple inputs including pressable buttons, pull handles, twisting cranks, spinnable wheels, flickable switches, the player progresses and the pace of the game increases.
Based on concepts originally patented by Dan Klitsner,[3][4] Bop It was licensed to Hasbro[5][6] and further developed there by a number of designers including Bob Welch.[3] With newer versions, additional inputs have been added or altered such that units like the 2010 Bop-It! Bounce shares no inputs in common with the original 1996 Bop It.
Bop It has been identified as some of the more popular children's games on the market,[7] and toy and game development researchers have pointed to the natural interactions between player and toy,[8] and the ability of players to use the toy to revert computer gaming processes back into those that resemble non-mediated object play.[9] Other studies have shown that it is the Bop It ability to mimic engagement in social behavior that has led to its commercial successes.[7] Bop It has been released in many foreign languages since its re-release in 2008. With all models by KID Group, the team have managed to find voice actors to record the voice for the most popular languages in the world such as French, German, Italian, Latin American Spanish, European Spanish, Danish, Portuguese, and Japanese.
Since 2008, the voice of Bop It has been Buddy Rubino. Rubino has voiced all the modern Bop It games which include: Bop It!, Bop It! XT, Bop It! Smash, Bop It! Tetris, Bop It! Micro (original recordings from Bop It!), Bop It! New Moves and Bop It! Maker. Rubino was unaware of Bop It when recording the voice, and was advised to do it "really excited".[10] Bop It has sold over 30 million units worldwide.[11]
Original series (1996–2006)
Bop It
In 1996, the instructions to a handheld voice game called Bop It were copyrighted.[12] This game was the first of what was later to become a series of Bop It games relying on the same set of basic patents. The original game, called simply Bop It, features three inputs — "Bop it!" (a depressible button), "Twist it!" (a twistable knob) and "Pull it!" (a pullable handle)[13] — and three game modes: Solo Bop, Vox Bop and Beat Bop. Gameplay is predicated upon a player's efforts to match the commands issued by the unit in a timely manner by performing the task that is commanded, so if the unit is to call out "Bop it!", the player must quickly depress the "Bop It!" button. If it is to call out "Twist it!", the player must quickly turn the "Twist it!" knob. If it is to call out "Pull it!", the player must quickly pull the "Pull It!" handle.[3][5] Players' scores are announced at the end of gameplay with a
Current versions (2008-)
Bop It!
In 2008, Hasbro secured the copyrights to the instructions for Bop It!.[25] At the 2009 New York Toy Fair and at the London Toy Fair, Hasbro allowed attendees to try out Bop It!.[26] Bop It! has a new optional input "Shout It", which requires a player to shout into the microphone.[27] The Bop It! has three difficulty levels: "Novice", using only voice commands, "Expert", using a random mix of voice and sound commands, and "Master", calling out voice, sound, and color commands. If the player scores 100 points in either of the less difficult modes, the next most difficult mode is unlocked. Players that achieve a score of 100 points in "Master" mode are considered to have beaten the game.[25] Hasbro also added a multi-player game called "Party" where all the Bop It commands are replaced with body parts like "foot", "hip", and "arm". Bop It! requires three AAA batteries to operate and when the game turns off it will say "I'm going to sleep".
Game modes
Vox Bop (with voice commands)
"Vox Bop" is a multi-player game that serves as the primary game mode for the Bop It toy. A voice recording in the game machine calls out the commands randomly with a musical beat that increases in speed as the game progresses. The player must match the series of commands exactly and then the voice will call out "Pass It!" and the Bop It is passed to the next player. As the player passes the game to the next player, the game will play a short melody and then the intro beat will play again before the next command. A player is "out" of the game if the player performs the wrong action or if the player hesitates.[5][16][17][21][45] This mode is also known as "Vox Bop Pass It" in Bop It Extreme 2,
Software versions
In 2009, EA Games released Hasbro Family Game Night 2, a sequel to the earlier-released collection of Hasbro boardgames and toys, Hasbro Family Game Night. Hasbro Family Game Night 2 was released for the Nintendo Wii and the Nintendo DS and both versions featured Bop It as a playable simulation.[50]
In 2011, EA Games released an app for the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad.[51] This app features several game modes, commands from the handheld games, X-Move bonuses and newer commands like "Brush It!", "Crank It!", "Squeeze It!", and "Poke It!".[52]
EA Games has also made Hasbro Family Game Night 4: The Game Show which features Bop It as a playable simulation.[53]
Sister products
The popularity of the Bop It line encouraged Hasbro to release a number of sister products.
Zing It
Zing It is a yo-yo-style audio game that, like Bop It, issues commands with which the player must comply. Like the original Bop It, three commands may be issued: "Bop it!", requiring the player to press the depress-able purple button, "Zing it!", requiring the player to throw the yo-yo downward and jerk it back up to the hand again, and "Loop it!", requiring the player to perform the "round the world" yo-yo trick. Zing It features three modes: "Vox Bop" (as with Bop It products), "Beat Bop" (as with Bop It products), and "Vox Bop Challenge", where the game will test mental pelmanism by issuing rapid strings of commands which must be subsequently performed in the correct order. As with Bop It and Bop It Extreme, Zing It announces the score by musical cypher. Like the two Bop It Extreme games, Zing It has a maximum score of 250 and is announced by a horn, followed by a crowd clapping.[15]
Top It
With its instructions copyrighted in 1999, the Top It is a kendama-style audio game developed by Parker Bros. (under Hasbro
External links
References
- BATR Electronic Game of the Year Award 2003 2010-11-30^
- BATR Electronic Game of the Year 2005 Award 2005 2010-11-30^
- Hand-held voice game^