Amusement Plakids
In the period 2004 to 2006, TOMY collaborated with the arcade games and jukebox company TAITO to produce Plakids as small prizes for distribution in amusement arcades. They came in individual plastic bags like this:
On the front of the bag we can see:
プラレール top right, and at the bottom アミューズメント プラキッズ (Amusement Plakids)
On the line above Amusement Plakids it tells you which edition it belongs to; on this example:
まちの人編 (Town People Edition)
There are known to be eleven separate editions, Town People is the second edition.
On the reverse, below the small print, we can see:
©TOMY 2004, MADE IN CHINA, and 景品用 (or from the 5th edition, in English PRIZE ONLY, which is what it means).
There may also, but not always, be this:
全10種 (which means ’10 types in total)
It has been assumed that each of the eleven editions comprised ten different items, but this may not always have been the case, or if it was then not all have been identified. Some were items other than actual Plakids, such as street furniture. Although the copyright notice appears on the packaging, the Plakids themselves do not have the usual ©TOMY moulded on their backs, they just have MADE IN CHINA. The individual items are not named, so the descriptions I have given here are somewhat arbitrary and may not always be the same as those used elsewhere.
TAITO are probably best known among a certain generation (i.e. mine) in the western hemisphere for being the producers of the video games Space Invaders (1978) and Bubble Bobble (1986).
The first wave of Amusement Plakids, the Working People Edition, appeared in October 2004, but subsequent editions are less definite. The 2nd to 6th editions are assumed to have been released between 2004 and 2005, and the 7th to 11th editions between 2005 and 2006.
Amusement Plakids 1st Edition - Working People
アミューズメントプラキッズ 第1弾はたらく人編 ©TOMY 2004
1: Firefighter, regular
2: Firefighter with covered mouth
3: Ambulance staff
4: Paramedic, male
5: Paramedic, female
6: High Speed Mobile Policeman
7: Traffic Policeman wearing hi-viz vest
8: Policeman
9: Policewoman
10: Policeman wearing glasses
all images from @collectors_22 on X
