(12 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
Loading ...Newbie Oobi
A social experiment!
I think the note explains it all! If you don’t want to strain your eyes, you can see more here, copied below:
Oobi was a toy, invented by Larry Reiner and test-marketed by Parker Brothers in 1971[1], that was intended to pass a message to a recipient relying on “the kindness of strangers”[2] as transport.
Physically, an Oobi is a bright orange oblong spheroid with a slit, an addressing area, and big painted-on eyes. They were sold in packs of three. The original purchaser was to write an address on the address area, place a folded message inside, and leave the toy somewhere public to be found. Instructions to the finder were written on the Oobi’s top: “I’m oobi. I contain a message to another human being. Please further my journey an inch, a foot, or a mile. Add a note, if you wish. Then help me to the next nice person like yourself! I’m on my way to … Please don’t confine me to a mailbox.”[3]
In spite of television advertisements and its slogan “oobi means love” it never caught on during trials on the West Coast and the Northeast, and has been described as the toy company’s “wildest failure”.[4]
What’s interesting (and what the Wikipedia page doesn’t mention) is that the Oobie was made to cash in on the 70’s hitchhiking craze, and that part of the reason that the Oobi was Parker Brothers “wildest failure” is that parents were (and are- indeed- now more than ever) unreasonably afraid of pedophiles. They didn’t want Lil’ Suzie leaving a toy with the perfect “in” and full address of her little friend Bobbie lying around in a public place for pedo Pete to find! Internet chat room fears before the Internet! Fear of our neighbors has also basically shut down hitchhiking as well, which I think is a shame. It’s good for poor folks who like to travel, good for company while travelling, and good for the environment!
ANYWAY, Instead of a note, I’m sending some SWEET stuff to my friend Jason. Some of this stuff I’ve had since I was a young’un. It was all way too AWESOME to ever throw away. I acquired the Gold Bar much more recently; it was given to me a few years ago in Korea. It’s actually a refillable lighter! It was a prized possession.
So I’m truly trusting strangers with GOLD here.
But, that said, I think it’s completely okay if some of the treasure gets kept, especially if people add replacement treasures of their own! We’ll have to wait and see what makes it to New York- if anything makes it at all!
I really like this idea. It’s like a message in a bottle, but it rides the constantly moving waves of people instead of boring ol’ literal waves, and making it a box of totally sweet stuff instead of just a boring ol’ message makes it more like a geocache, but a geocache that travels.
I hope people leave notes about who they are, where they found it, and where they brought it! That is what the pencil is for.
It was left in Trinity Bellwoods Park. That was the starting point of this Newbie Oobie.
Lets hope it goes far!
April 14th, 2009 at 11:41 pm
=D
Thats frikken awesome!
best mail service ever.
April 15th, 2009 at 8:27 am
I’v never heard of an oobi before. I like the concept of it. People passing it on until it gets to its destination, like a free mail service. It seems very colonial to me! I hope it eventually makes its way to jason, that would be way cool and possibly put friendliness back into people we all consider strangers (but they aren’t strangers to everyone..)
And yeah, it’s too bad about how today’s people aren’t into the hitchhiker thing, I tried hitchhiking from a town 65km away [after being abandoned there] to get home and only got one ride for about 10km. I walked the rest of the way home in the sleet and rain! I really lost my faith in the kindness of strangers. I hope oobi can make it on it’s own though!
April 15th, 2009 at 10:20 am
OMG!
I HAVE OOBI!
I found Jason Eppink on Facebook and we’ve been messaging back and forth!
I actually thought it was him who sent it.
I have plans to bring it to Oshawa, on my university campus; hopefully from there somewhere will send it a little further south.
I think this is a fantastic idea. Props to you! That’s exactly where I picked up the box! My boyfriend and I were eating dinner in the park (we went to Chippy’s across the street) and it was there! Haha we were a little uneasy about opening it but all’s well.
Again, awesome idea dude! Props to you!
April 15th, 2009 at 11:12 am
Hey, wow!
A campus is a great place to leave Oobie. So many students coming from all over- all over the world, really!
Make a note, please, of it’s route so far! Haha, Oshawa isn’t exactly south from Toronto, but I think that’s fine! Great, really! Motion is better than sitting still, and It would amazing if Oobie took a really circuitous route to NYC!
From TO to NY Via Thunder Bay!
From TO to NY Via Winnipeg!
From TO to NY Via Seoul?!?!
(And I’m glad you guys like it, thanks for the kind words!)
April 15th, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Ever heard of the game Ubi? It’s like Trivial Pursuit except about the world. Latin for “Where” I believe.
April 28th, 2009 at 6:00 pm
I have an original Oobie from the 70’s. I just came across it today, and thought I’d google to see if anyone had ever heard of the thing. My Oobie is more red then orange, but the eyes look exactly like what you have painted on your box.
July 27th, 2009 at 2:39 pm
did it ever get there?
October 30th, 2009 at 8:35 am
I am totally going to do this! Did it ever make it there and with what were the contents by then?
December 1st, 2009 at 3:25 pm
dude. leaving GOLD in there? not the best plan.
December 14th, 2009 at 4:42 pm
It hasn’t got there yet… no word on the Newbie Oobi front!
May 20th, 2010 at 1:22 am
I was a good friend of the man who invented the oobi (it was not the person cited in Wikipedia)
Herb Fisher of Block Island Rhode Island. You may be interested in the essay that I wrote about him and the oobi.
It is great to discover that at least the idea of oobi is still traveling around.
here is a link to the essay:
http://danielwetmore.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/friends-of-franz/
May 20th, 2010 at 1:25 am
You got the essence of it. Herb himself referred to it as ” a message in a bottle adrift in a sea of people”