SUBSCRIPTION BOX FAD

Hey admit it you love getting something special in the mail, maybe it is that recent purchase you made online, a gift from a friend, or a well wishing birthday card. While a mail box full of bills and junk mail is unpleasant, there is something special about getting something cool sent to you that really can brighten up your day. 

That feeling of excitement and enthusiasm has sprouted a whole industry revolving around businesses sending themed gift boxes to consumers in the mail. For those who haven't participated in the subscription box fad yet ... you can sign up for a one time delivery or subscriptions that can last for weeks, months or even years. Many of these subscription boxes surprise their subscribers with specially selected goodies that could be filled with a wide array of products ranging from survival gear with items such as LED tactical flashlights to personal care assortments filled with things like comfy socks. Subscription boxes provide the thrill of opening up a new package full of surprises catered towards your interests each time it arrives. 

While I originally thought a few years ago this could be a short term fad it appears subscription boxes actually are a hot trend that isn't going away anytime soon. In fact "unboxing" videos where someone opens the newest package received in the mail have become some of the most popular topics on social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter. The isolation created by the pandemic just have given these services the staying power they need to stick around for quite sometime.

Have you ever purchased a subscription mailer service like the geek lifestyle brand Loot Crate or Bark Box for pet owners? If so which ones and what has your experience been? Let us know in the comments to help everyone have a heads up from your experiences which subscription box services will have us geeking out and what ones are a waste of money.

WIZKIDS GAMES LOOT CRATE

Thanks to Loot Crate for sending us a box full of WiZK!DS games that make-up their newest mystery mailer subscription service. These are some Loot Crates aimed for anyone who gets geeked about family game nights. Each box will surprise recipients with three or four WiZK!DS games. We're going to be having lots of fun playing these games Loot Crate sent our way this weekend!

Who doesn't get excited when a package is delivered to their house? Especially when its contents are a mystery and you are surprised with something really great inside. You can sign up to get just one Loot Crate or go all in for a year long subscription which delivers a box to your doorstep every other month. Each Loot Crate will have a random assortment of games with a value of $60+ meant to be appealing to a variety of ages within a family. A WiZK!DS Games Loot Crate is priced at $19.99 (+ shipping & handling) and if you get the bi-monthly annual subscription you get a free gift as a bonus.

WiZK!DS has produced numerous award-winning games over the last 20 years. They've created miniature figure role playing, card, dice, strategy and a variety of other table top games making them a leader within the gaming industry.  Creating the Patented Combat Dial System™ featured in HeroClix™ (one of the most successful collectible miniatures game on the market), building the Dice Building Game™ engine, used in Quarriors!™ and Dice Masters™, and adapting the FlightPath™ maneuver system for compatibility with Attack Wing™, WiZK!DS has crafted innovations to continually make their games interesting and exciting to play.

So what WiZK!DS games arrived in our Loot Crate? Coraline: Beware the Other Mother, PALM TREES, SPY TRICKS: Trick Taking Game, and Yummy World: PARTY at Picnic Palace Card Game. I appreciated that three of the games were well suited for my eleven year old twins to play along with my wife and I for some family game night fun. SPY TRICKS which is a blend of euchre and parcheesi with some espionage intrigue added into the mix is more suited for older teens and adults but is a game that this dad blogger was geeked to get. It looks to be a fun game to play with some buddies while enjoying a few beers while the other games provide a nice all ages assortment for some fun family time.

Coraline: Beware the Other Mother lets players imagine they have stepped into the alternate dimension portrayed in the stop-motion animated film Coraline. It is a cooperative card game where players work together to free Coraline from the Other World and from the evil clutches of the Beldam. During the course of the game, Coraline and her friends will need to confront Mr. Bobinsky and his jumping mouse circus, fend off the Other Father on his mantis tractor, wrestle the pearl ring from Miss Spink and Miss Forcible, and steal the Skeleton Key and Snow Globe to ultimately free Caroline from the other world.

Beware! The Beldan will thwart your plans at every turn. And don't doddle as each turn leads the button shadow closer to eclipsing the moon. If the moon is eclipsed before you've collected all of the necessary objects then The Beldan wins the game and Caroline is trapped in the Other World forever. Caroline: Beware the Other Mother is an amusing tabletop game to play whether or not you are a fan of the movie. My kids liked this game so much we've played it a few times since it arrived in our WiZK!DS Loot Crate.

Our whole family has been having a blast competing against one another to transform ourselves into PALM TREES with this fantastic card game from WiZK!DS. Each player slides a sleeve on to make their arm look like the trunk of a palm tree.  Pull cards from a deck of cards to grow a tree in your hand!

Each card has instructions describing a crazy way it has to be held in your hand. Drop a card and an opponent can steal it and try to add it to their tree. The first person to be holding 6 cards in their hand completes a palm tree and is the winner. This game can get very competitive, silly and addictive to play! A great all ages game for families to enjoy playing together.

Flip over cards to reveal all the different and delicious characters of Yummy World. This is a great WiZK!DS game for kids. Cartoonish food inspired characters are sure to put smiles on young players faces It has easy rules to learn but yet can still be very competitive to play.

Players try to collect the most complete sets of each character to earn points. You only have four chances to pull cards (plus a few extra bonus swipes can be earned) as they become uncovered during game play though. Grab too soon and you might miss out as new cards are revealed. Wait too long and someone else may nab the cards you want to collect first! Collect sets of the same character to score big points. Be alert as some cards are rarer than others or provide special perks which will give you an edge in the game.

SPY TRICKS has players pretending to be spies vying to uncover information hidden away in top secret documents. From trick to trick, players must deduce the contents of the secret documents by studying what cards have been played and which ones haven't. Only one player can be the trickiest spy!

Recommended for ages 14+ this game was too complicated for me to play with my kids. Guess I'm going to have to wait until the pandemic subsides to get some people to play this one with. SPY TRICKS is for 3 to 4 players and games should last about 30 minutes.

Looking for a way to break up the monotony of staying at home during coronavirus social distancing? This Loot Crate is a great way to discover some new games to play. The games in each crate are a surprise providing some excitement in playing them for the first time. Add some fun to your quarantine by signing up for this mystery grab bag of WiZK!DS games.

Based upon the good time we've had, WiZK!DS Games Loot Crate gets a Geek Daddy nod of approval. My kids were so excited to spend some time unboxing this mystery package which arrived and discovering the ways to play each game. It really took their minds off these troubling times and provided us with some quality family time playing these games together.

Another thing I liked about all four of these games were that they are packaged to be easy to store and be portable to bring along while traveling. You don't have to just play these WiZK!DS games at the kitchen table. They are easy to bring outside to play on the backyard patio or pack up to play on a camping trip or while traveling on vacation. Get rained out while away on a trip, these are a great way to spend a washed out vacation day. These games can be a wonderful fit for a number of occasions.

CLICK HERE to get your very own WiZKIDS Loot Crate of games.

Marvel & Funko Join the Subscription Mystery Box Mailers Craze

Subscription mystery boxes where people sign-up to receive periodic shipments through the mail that are filled with goodies that fit into some sort of theme has become a hot new fad.  Services like Loot Crate, Nerd Block, and Hero Box surprise their subscribers with specially selected  t-shirts, toys, comic books, and other collectible, often times exclusive, items that provide a thrill to recipients when opening a new package each time one arrives because they don't specifically know what they are getting in advance.  Will the contents be awesome, will they be a disappointment, are they useful, or will they just be more clutter around the house?  You won't know til you rip open the box!

Now Marvel and Funko, who up to now had been supplying items for other mystery box services, are joining this trend themselves with the creation of the Marvel Collector Corps.  Starting in April 2015, people can subscribe to get a box delivered to them every other month that will have a theme based upon a Marvel Entertainment property.  Each mystery box will contain a t-shirt randomly selected from 4 choices in your designated size, a Funko stylized vinyl figurine, and 2 premium accessories that tie into the package's theme.  Marvel promises that for the $25 per box charge that subscribers will receive exclusive items that are exclusive to the Marvel Collector Corps.

To help promote this new service, Marvel Collector Corps is letting people know at least one item that will be in the first mystery box - an Iron Man Hulkbuster Funko vinyl figure!  Plus they have released the themes for the first two mystery boxes which tie into upcoming Marvel superhero movies: AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON for April and ANT-MAN in June.

Subscriptions for Marvel Collector Corps can be purchased for specific individual months or annually (6 boxes).  For more information, visit www.collectorcorps.com

Who doesn't love getting something in the mail?

Subscription Boxes are a New Trend

Hey admit it you love getting something special in the mail, maybe it is that recent purchase you made online, a present from a friend, or a Christmas Card.  Yeah a mail box full of bills and junk mail sucks, but when you get something special it really can brighten up your day.  That feel of excitement and enthusiasm is being marketed to people as numerous businesses are sprouting up that provide themed gift boxes that people can subscribe to have sent to them in the mail.  Many of these subscription boxes surprise their subscribers with specially selected goodies adding to the thrill of opening up a new package each time it arrives.  I've notice this is really becoming a hot trend lately as people talk about their most recent "unboxing" (opening their newest package they received in the mail) on twitter, facebook & youtube.

Subscription boxes for men range include artisan crafted cured meats "the Carnivore Club", a tie of the month "Root Bizzle" ,  and survival gear "The Bug Out Box".  Frequency of delivery range from a one time purchase to quarterly deliveries to monthly deliveries.  Also price varies from $10 to more than $100 per box.  Shipping and handling is included with some packages and for others it costs extra.  So it is important to do some research before providing your credit card information to purchase one of these subscription boxes.  Subscriptionbox.com is a nice website that profiles and reviews on the various services and products out there that I'd recommend checking out before you buy anything.

Here are a few of the more popular services I've come across when it comes to signing up to get a special treat in the mail:

NERD BLOCK - Starting at $19.99 per month, subscribers receive mystery boxes that include nerdy apparel, toys, and collectables.

LOOT CRATE - Starting at $13.37 per month plus shipping & handling, subscribers receive a geeky themed package filled with mystery items that include t-shirts, toys, and collectables.

BIRCHBOX- For $20 a month users receive a box filled with grooming and lifestyle samples.

MANPACKS - Sends quarterly package filled with things like underwear, razors, socks and deodorant.  You select the products you want to receive and pay whatever they add up to be.

GIZMO CRATE -  Starting at $29 per month you get a surprise box of snacks and gadgets.

JACKED PACK -  Sends you monthly samples of sports/nutritional supplements to try out.

GROVER & FRIENDS - Starting at $50 sends you a monthly surprise pack of premium clothing.

MAN CRATES - These aren't a monthly subscription service but rather stand alone gift sets that you can order one at a time starting at a $24.99 price tag for a Bacon Jerkygram and going up to $180 for a Zombie Annihilation Crate.  

 

I myself haven't actually pulled the trigger on purchasing any of these mail order packages or services. While they seem fun and cool not sure if it is worth spending $20+ dollars per month for the thrill factor of getting something in the mail, that adds up quickly when you get involved in a 6 month or annual subscription.  So what do you think of these subscription services?  If you use them now or decide to try any of these services out leave a comment below or send an email to thegeekdaddy [at] yahoo [dot] com to share your experience with us.