What if I wrote a FOSS app that's like a cross between #Skannerz and Pokémon Go, but it uses #openstreetmap and #openfoodfacts? You get some sort of point or item for walking, and based on how far you walk, it changes what cute fictional animal you get if you scan a food with a known grocery code on certain categories at certain times of day? Would anyone want to play that?

I don't like the idea of battling, though, so maybe we do something friendship related? Or maybe do like a #tamagotchi situation where you're raising a pet? Maybe if you are fighting something, it's like some guy called mr. rich, and if you feed your character enough veggies, you can eat him? Instead of gyms, you just join unions? I don't know, I'm spitballin.

I wanted to play with #godot, and it seems like a random thing I could do with that...?

These are pictures of the Skanners toy and the Tamagotchi Pix.

I've figured out the entire Zendra tribe's barcodes for #Skannerz !

Next is Pataak and Ujalu, though since I don't have those Skanner devices, confirming all of the barcodes would be... tedious at best. I'll confirm the last few ones on each page and a few in each category to make sure I didn't place something in the wrong space.

I guess these should go on a wiki somewhere.

#handheldgaming #handheld #retrogaming #90sgaming #nostagia

Progress has been made figuring out the barcodes for #Skannerz !

UPC-A barcodes, the kind that #Skannerz like, reserve the first 7 digits for the company that releases the product, all of these codes start with 7459380, the code for Radica games.

Then the next 4 are the product numbers, which determine the ID of the monster (or item) you get.

So, starting with 0000, you get monster #001 "Falco." Add 72 (0072) and you get monster #002 "Gargoyle"

But something happens after #014...

Anyone else play with the SKANNERZ toys growing up?

It seems like the only barcode repository is in a book a fan is selling, so I've been trying to figure out how the barcode numbers are organized so i can make a spreadsheet of all the monsters/items and their codes.

I'm kind of surprised this info isn't out there on a wiki already! #retrogaming #handheldgaming #nostalgia #Skannerz

So #Skannerz toys are a bit goofy. The Skannerz Commander has 126 unique monsters (plus 12 exiles) but can only hold 53 monsters at a time!

This means to have a living collection of every monster, you not only need to buy 3 Skannerz Commander toys, but one each of the original Blue, Green, and Red consoles to "catch em' all" as it were.

Which of course I now want to eventually do because I want to be the ultimate Skannerz master, but still! #RetroGaming

Anyone else ever miss certain old pieces of techie #toys? Like, we have amazing tech now. If you showed AR games like "Pokémon Go" to 10 year old me, I would have lost my mind.

But for some reason, today, I really miss the days of #Digimon Digivices, #Tamagotchis, #Skannerz Commander, #Miuchiz, #Megaman PETs, #Pokémon Pikachu, Giga Pets, etc.

With the ubiquity of phones, I'd think there would be a million apps like those old #digitalpets toys, but it seems like there aren't really many out there. Why don't kids want to play with digital pets anymore? I hope they at least have #Furbies and #Tekno The Robot Puppy, still.