The Playmobil FIGURES App, the official Figures app of Geobra Brandstaetter Stiftung & Co. KG, was launched in Juli 2022 as a free game for smartphones and has occasionally been commented upon in this forum – typically nonplussed.
A recent update, perhaps in May 2023, has made the game a lot more interesting: it is now possible, by completing a series of 24 figures, to obtain a not-for-sale golden collectible figure free of charge! Series can be completed by winning figures in the game, or by purchase: an individual code is printed on each Figures (Fi?ures) leaflet, which can be entered into the app to add the pertinent figure to your in-app collection. There are three series that can be completed in the game, 22 – 23 – 24. Each player can hence win a maximum of three collectible figures.
I gave it a try and completed series 24, sheerly by the power of my purse: I bought all
24 figures, just to get the voucher codes for the collectable figure. After contacting Geobra with my winning code, the figure was sent to me as a DHL parcel, and it did not disappoint.
The item comes bagged, with bags within the bag.
Not a blind bag, this time. It carries a ETN number (30797244) and was apparently made in Malta in July 2023.
The figure inside is a twin of the
Blue Knight / Space Knight of Series 1 (#5203), but instead of blue now in plain gold.
So, we get lots of parts in plain gold that were hitherto not available: the legs with regular boots, the arm greaves (armor) with pointed shoulder, and the pointed visor of the helmet ("Hounskull").All very desirable parts.
So desirable that I need more, and there is the challenge: it is virtually impossible to complete a series of 24 figures just by playing the game. As shown in the first image, I make it into the high twenties by playing, but probably need to get the codes for the last few from Figures (Fi?ures) bags to complete a series. Another challenge, as series 22 has meanwhile disappeared from the stores here. Also, the codes in the bags do not always match with the same figure in the game, as I have been able to observe for series 24 – for example, the code with the Alien conjures up the Trapper in the game. There is a chance, therefore, that buying the missing figures of 22 and 23 will still not result in a complete in-app series.
Time will tell.
I think the game makes collecting Figures (Fi?ures) a bit more interesting, and certainly addictive. I suppose it is also commercially smart, as I would never have bought a series in full, just to get the voucher codes (when doing that for series 24, I didn't yet realise that most figures can simply be won in the game
). But I wonder how long the collectible figure will be offered, because it must be quite costly for Geobra to send out free price figures throughout the world. So I need to get my final two
pronto before the offer runs out.
Anybody else here who has also been playing the game?
Best wishes
StJohn
