Skannerz
Encyclopedia
Skannerz is a series of electronic
toy
s made by Radica Games
that use barcode
technology to create an interactive battle game. Radica brand barcodes have the additional feature of being able to act as a healing code in the first 2 iterations of the game.
barcodes. Another feature is the two player battle system where two units could be linked together and battle. There are 126 monsters to collect and control between the 3 controllers. Released in 2000.
There are 120 Cars in Total, which consists of 40 cars per class. The Game also has 64 optional parts you can install onto any of your vehicles to upgrade them. You start the game with a basic vehicle known as the "Gizmo" and you must win a certain amount of race's to progress ranks from: Rookie, to Amateur to Pro. Cars and Parts can be obtained by scanning barcodes and either receiving a car from the dealership or beating your opponent in a Pink Slip style race. Parts are also obtained the same as dealership cars, but are received from the Garage. Only one of each car and car part can be obtained. Hindrances can pop up anytime you scan a barcode in the form of losing your car to the police "Impounded" or a modified car "Crashing" into a tree and losing a Part. Races involve beating the other opponent and also involve 5 Speed Gear changes. Each track has its own obstacles: OFF-ROAD has Bumps you have to avoid, DRAG involves your car swaying from side to side along the track & STREET involves your car slowing and sliding around turns.
Monsters can be obtained through scanning a product barcode, and made to fight other monsters through a battle with another controller, or a battle with a NPC
when a barcode belonging to another console is scanned.
Each monster has up to three attacks that can be learned when it gains enough HP. Generally, each attack is more powerful than the last, and the player may choose which one to use.
Electronics
Electronics is the branch of science, engineering and technology that deals with electrical circuits involving active electrical components such as vacuum tubes, transistors, diodes and integrated circuits, and associated passive interconnection technologies...
toy
Toy
A toy is any object that can be used for play. Toys are associated commonly with children and pets. Playing with toys is often thought to be an enjoyable means of training the young for life in human society. Different materials are used to make toys enjoyable and cuddly to both young and old...
s made by Radica Games
Radica Games
Radica Games Limited is a company that produces electronic games. On October 3, 2006, Mattel, Inc. announced the completion of their acquisition of Radica. Radica was originally founded in 1983. It began by producing electronic souvenir games for casinos. In the late 1990s, it became famous for...
that use barcode
Barcode
A barcode is an optical machine-readable representation of data, which shows data about the object to which it attaches. Originally barcodes represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, and may be referred to as linear or 1 dimensional . Later they evolved into rectangles,...
technology to create an interactive battle game. Radica brand barcodes have the additional feature of being able to act as a healing code in the first 2 iterations of the game.
Skannerz
The original Skannerz came in three versions which represented the three tribes. Zendra (blue), Pataak (green) and Ujalu (red). If a player scanned a barcode containing a rival tribe's monster, a battle would be initiated. Also items could be gathered from Universal Product CodeUniversal Product Code
The Universal Product Code is a barcode symbology , that is widely used in North America, and in countries including the UK, Australia, and New Zealand for tracking trade items in stores. Its most common form, the UPC-A, consists of 12 numerical digits, which are uniquely assigned to each trade item...
barcodes. Another feature is the two player battle system where two units could be linked together and battle. There are 126 monsters to collect and control between the 3 controllers. Released in 2000.
Skannerz Commander
The Skannerz Commander is second in the series. There are no "tribes" in this version nor are there different models. With this model the user that scans can get the opponent monster by winning, but will also lose a monster with a loss. The Skannerz Commander game is incompatible with the original Skannerz models. Released in 2001.Skannerz Racerz
The Skannerz Racerz is part of the skannerz Series and you can scan barcodes, and race cars from OFF-ROAD, DRAG, AND STREET classes on the corresponding Tracks.There are 120 Cars in Total, which consists of 40 cars per class. The Game also has 64 optional parts you can install onto any of your vehicles to upgrade them. You start the game with a basic vehicle known as the "Gizmo" and you must win a certain amount of race's to progress ranks from: Rookie, to Amateur to Pro. Cars and Parts can be obtained by scanning barcodes and either receiving a car from the dealership or beating your opponent in a Pink Slip style race. Parts are also obtained the same as dealership cars, but are received from the Garage. Only one of each car and car part can be obtained. Hindrances can pop up anytime you scan a barcode in the form of losing your car to the police "Impounded" or a modified car "Crashing" into a tree and losing a Part. Races involve beating the other opponent and also involve 5 Speed Gear changes. Each track has its own obstacles: OFF-ROAD has Bumps you have to avoid, DRAG involves your car swaying from side to side along the track & STREET involves your car slowing and sliding around turns.
Skannerz Orbz
The third Skannerz series did not involve barcode scanning. The Skannerz Orbz are balls that act as arenas for other monsters. Not all previous monsters are included but the selected were put into disks (dizks) which plug into the orb. The orb has two halves, the bottom half is the storage compartment for the dizks where the top half is where the dizks are inserted and battled. The orbz have a larger focus on strategy, the player must choose the monsters and strategy before the battle starts, once the battle does commence the player has no control over the battle except to cheer the team on. The top half of the orb can be connected to another top half of a separate player. This battle is set up the same but at the end of a player battle the winner is given special items.Monsters
There are 126 monsters to collect divided evenly between the first three consoles and 12 secret monsters (commonly known as the "Exiles") that any console can get. The Skannerz Commander console has another 126 monsters and 12 secret monsters that are unobtainable on the other models.Monsters can be obtained through scanning a product barcode, and made to fight other monsters through a battle with another controller, or a battle with a NPC
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
when a barcode belonging to another console is scanned.
Each monster has up to three attacks that can be learned when it gains enough HP. Generally, each attack is more powerful than the last, and the player may choose which one to use.
Extending Tribes
The tribes of the skannerz have also been adopted beyond the simple handheld machines (Ujalu, pataak and zendra) while the values remain the same(battling monsters etc) there is a whole community built up around these tribes, most easily findable in gaming clans, more local branches are harder to find, but act as sporting clubs,hosting tournaments and other programs.External links
- Shopping site (Has information of how to buy Skannerz Commander)
- Official site
- Unofficial site (contains links to buying the product and has published books about the product)
- Fan site (information about the gameplay)
- http://skannerz.coolfreepage.com/ (all of the monsters)