The Innovation Diaries

“Eternal Poppety-Pop” is a keyring sized game that allows users to pop plastic bubbles, which are replenished immediately and endlessly. Since its release at the end of last year, two million of the toys have been sold in a country in which bubble wrap popping is regarded not merely as a diversion from boredom but as an antidote to stress (we’re with them on that). The toy takes its place alongside a range of products including scented bubble wrap, star and heart-shaped bubble wrap and high-pressure bubble wrap specially engineered to make an extremely loud pop when its bubbles are burst.

The game was developed by the Poppety-Pop Culture Laboratory, the world’s first, and apparently only, bubble wrap think-tank. The laboratory has released a CD of bubble wrap songs (lyric sample: “Miracle puchi, squeezy puchi, everlasting wonder puchi”) and has designated August 8 as Bubble Wrap Day on the ground that the Japanese for 8/8 sounds vaguely like puchi puchi.

photo via ToxicKaty’s flickr stream