- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Topps Town: "Where your cards come alive", or so claims the insert cards within packs of 2008 Topps MLB trading cards. After buying a few boxes of Topps cards, I decided to check out the site advertised by the 11 cards I managed to amass. Each card features the website, some brief advertising jargon, and a (unique?) special code which can be redeemed for a pack of virtual cards. Of course, the only way to find out what the site had to offer was to sign up...
Upon entering my date of birth, I had to determine the name of my avatar. Instead of picking your own name, you essentially shuffle a random selection of names around until you get a goofy three word name. I suppose that’s Topps “clever” way of making sure no one has obscene user names since the site is designed for kids. I’ve got no issues with that, nor does Sir Bacon Meat, my new avatar.
Once signed up, you get a code for a freebie pack of cards. My virtual pack contained J.J. Putz, Jorge Posada, and Jake Peavy amongst the 8 cards (no Reds). My guess is that everyone gets the same first 8 cards, so I didn’t get too excited. The virtual cards were nice though, because you can enlarge them and “flip” them over for real-time statistics. At this point, I wondered if I could create a card collection of my Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball team and avoid paying the real-time statistics update fee that Yahoo charges (as it turned out, that’d be impossible given the limited player pool of the virtual cards).
As I entered the codes from my cards, I couldn’t help but get sick of the sound effects immediately. Topps, should you read this, make the option to disable the annoying lightening and clanging sound effects immediately! My second pack (not counting the freebie) yielded Adam Dunn, Derek Lee, and 6 players that I don’t even know why they bothered making fake virtual cards of. As I continued opening the packs, I managed to snag Josh Hamilton (pack 5), Russell Martin (packs 6 and 7-trade fodder!), Randy Johnson (pack 8), Jason Giambi (pack 9), Albert Pujols (pack 10), and finally Chase Utley in the last pack (pack 11).
A quick look at my virtual card binder shows that my 11 packs (plus the freebie) netted me 81 of the 203 cards. Topps claims that the idea is to use the cards to complete virtual trades. That’s great, except it appears to be impossible to sort out your “doubles”. If someone is serious about completing the set, they have to go through each page individually to figure out which cards they have duplicates of before heading off to the trading zone. Needless to say, I didn’t do that and instead quickly gave up on the prospect of completing a fake set.
Overall, if I were younger Topps Town would be kind of cool. There are some games you can play using the cards to improve your odds (use a power hitter card like Pujols for a hitting game, etc). I do question the inclusion of a “slot machine” for points. Since the site is designed for kids, is it wise on Topps part to have a “gambling” game? I suppose that buying packs of cards are another form of gambling, but it certainly seems less Vegas-y than a slot machine…
Finally, the virtual cards feature different pictures than the actual Topps cards (but the set is much smaller than the base set, and as such, the numbers do not line up between the “real” set and the “virtual” set, which is unfortunate). The site appears to be 100% safe, there’s no place to type anything that can be read by others, everything from the goofy avatars (essentially your username) to your trades are controlled by drop down menus and/or random selection. I give Topps credit for creating a free site that (from their perspective) will hopefully help to boost sport card trading, and ultimately, sport card sales. The site is clean, and despite the annoying sounds, probably quite appealing to the younger set they appear to be aiming at.
The Bottom Line:
Overall, I give Topps Town a 70/100 for anyone under 13 years of age and a 5/100 for anyone over 13. There is enough to keep younger kids occupied and the site is completely safe and clean, which is great. The bad news for younger kids is that the site is designed to trade cards, but the trading mechanism is clunky and inefficient at best. There’s a reason why people keep their doubles in a stack, they are easier to find that way. Topps Town doesn’t give you that option, which hurts its main goal. For anyone over the age of 13, Topps Town is a cute diversion for a few minutes but ultimately will not hold your attention, nor warrant a return visit. I suggest you give your codes to a younger kid living near you and introduce him or her to the hobby of collecting cards.
Upon entering my date of birth, I had to determine the name of my avatar. Instead of picking your own name, you essentially shuffle a random selection of names around until you get a goofy three word name. I suppose that’s Topps “clever” way of making sure no one has obscene user names since the site is designed for kids. I’ve got no issues with that, nor does Sir Bacon Meat, my new avatar.Once signed up, you get a code for a freebie pack of cards. My virtual pack contained J.J. Putz, Jorge Posada, and Jake Peavy amongst the 8 cards (no Reds). My guess is that everyone gets the same first 8 cards, so I didn’t get too excited. The virtual cards were nice though, because you can enlarge them and “flip” them over for real-time statistics. At this point, I wondered if I could create a card collection of my Yahoo! Fantasy Baseball team and avoid paying the real-time statistics update fee that Yahoo charges (as it turned out, that’d be impossible given the limited player pool of the virtual cards).
As I entered the codes from my cards, I couldn’t help but get sick of the sound effects immediately. Topps, should you read this, make the option to disable the annoying lightening and clanging sound effects immediately! My second pack (not counting the freebie) yielded Adam Dunn, Derek Lee, and 6 players that I don’t even know why they bothered making fake virtual cards of. As I continued opening the packs, I managed to snag Josh Hamilton (pack 5), Russell Martin (packs 6 and 7-trade fodder!), Randy Johnson (pack 8), Jason Giambi (pack 9), Albert Pujols (pack 10), and finally Chase Utley in the last pack (pack 11).
A quick look at my virtual card binder shows that my 11 packs (plus the freebie) netted me 81 of the 203 cards. Topps claims that the idea is to use the cards to complete virtual trades. That’s great, except it appears to be impossible to sort out your “doubles”. If someone is serious about completing the set, they have to go through each page individually to figure out which cards they have duplicates of before heading off to the trading zone. Needless to say, I didn’t do that and instead quickly gave up on the prospect of completing a fake set.
Overall, if I were younger Topps Town would be kind of cool. There are some games you can play using the cards to improve your odds (use a power hitter card like Pujols for a hitting game, etc). I do question the inclusion of a “slot machine” for points. Since the site is designed for kids, is it wise on Topps part to have a “gambling” game? I suppose that buying packs of cards are another form of gambling, but it certainly seems less Vegas-y than a slot machine…
Finally, the virtual cards feature different pictures than the actual Topps cards (but the set is much smaller than the base set, and as such, the numbers do not line up between the “real” set and the “virtual” set, which is unfortunate). The site appears to be 100% safe, there’s no place to type anything that can be read by others, everything from the goofy avatars (essentially your username) to your trades are controlled by drop down menus and/or random selection. I give Topps credit for creating a free site that (from their perspective) will hopefully help to boost sport card trading, and ultimately, sport card sales. The site is clean, and despite the annoying sounds, probably quite appealing to the younger set they appear to be aiming at.
The Bottom Line:
Overall, I give Topps Town a 70/100 for anyone under 13 years of age and a 5/100 for anyone over 13. There is enough to keep younger kids occupied and the site is completely safe and clean, which is great. The bad news for younger kids is that the site is designed to trade cards, but the trading mechanism is clunky and inefficient at best. There’s a reason why people keep their doubles in a stack, they are easier to find that way. Topps Town doesn’t give you that option, which hurts its main goal. For anyone over the age of 13, Topps Town is a cute diversion for a few minutes but ultimately will not hold your attention, nor warrant a return visit. I suggest you give your codes to a younger kid living near you and introduce him or her to the hobby of collecting cards.
Haven't heard of that. My son just turned 4 and he got his first pack of baseball cards from one of my friends. He got Roger Clemens and Soriano.
ReplyDeleteOh man, I haven't looked at my baseball cards in a while! Now I want to....
ReplyDeleteInteresting program. Points to Topps for being different, but I could see why it would fail with the older gang. Nice review!
I have not purchased a pack of Topps in years and from your review, I won't rush out to the store to buy a pack now... though the whole concept does seem worthwhile for that group under 13 you mention.
ReplyDeletelester: That's neat. I still remember my first "treasured" cards...one of which was an 87 Topps card with the fake wood border.
ReplyDeletewassup471: Thanks a lot! Glad to have sparked your interest again.
feathersforever: That cards themselves are nice, but the Topps Town thing isn't worth much to the older crowd... I'll probably post my review of the 2008 Topps MLB set later this summer.
Thanks for the visits everyone!
lester: That's neat. I still remember my first "treasured" cards...one of which was an 87 Topps card with the fake wood border.
ReplyDeletewassup471: Thanks a lot! Glad to have sparked your interest again.
feathersforever: That cards themselves are nice, but the Topps Town thing isn't worth much to the older crowd... I'll probably post my review of the 2008 Topps MLB set later this summer.
Thanks for the visits everyone!