Over the past couple of years, we’ve seen a huge increase in app developers pairing their games with collectible physical toys or accessories, something I’m sure you parents out there just love. Well, a brand new company called Swappz is now at it, and they’ve paired up with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Smurfs, and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers franchises to sell collectible figurines and coins that can activate features in their games. So parents, tell your kids. Or not, depending on how your wallet is looking right now.
Toys from those three franchises are out now, with more sets planned for the near future and for spring 2014. The games themselves vary, but more or less hold true to what you would expect from those three franchises. With TMNT, kids will be fighting to clean up the streets and take down the Shredder, and the Power Rangers will be fighting the swaths of enemies they’ve made over the years. Things will be more peaceful with the Smurfs, which is more of a virtual pet kind of game. It looks like The Smurfs collection will also include characters from the recently released Smurfs 2.
The common thread in all three games is the need for those physical collectibles. Scanning a figurine or a coin with a character on it will activate that character in the game. But, kids will want to keep their toys around after scanning them for the first time – there are daily power-ups and rewards to be had for scanning their toys daily.
Currently, Swappz toys come in packs of one figurine with one coin, two figurines with three coins, four figurines with four coins, or a coin pack. Currently, they’re exclusive to Toys’R’Us.
UPDATE: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Rumble game is not available in the United States, while Power Rangers MegaForce: Swappz MegaBrawl is exclusive to North America. The Trash Pack (think along the lines of the Garbage Pail Kids) and a WWE tie-in are expected in the next few months. A set including one figurine and one coin will retail for $10.
