- Who
- U.B. Funkeys (Mattel, 2007)
- What
- first first
- Where
- Not Applicable ()
- When
- 2007
In toys-to-life videogames players purchase a game, a device usually called a "hub", or "portal", and a number of real-life toys or figures. Each toy contains a USB chip or RFID tag holding character data related to the toy. When the toy is placed into or onto the portal, in reality a chip or RFID tag reader, data from the toy is inserted into the associated game. While Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure (Toys for Bob, 2011) popularized the toys-to-life genre of videogames, the first game to employ a portal to insert additional toy-based characters into a videogame was the PC title U.B. Funkeys (Mattel, 2007). Although the game was technically innovative, it was not a great commercial success and was discontinued at around the time Skylanders hit the shops.
Toy giant Mattel designed the toys for U.B. Funkeys and turned to its videogame subsidiary Radica Games, which it acquired in 2006, to build the game into which they would be inserted.