Marvel Snap developers confirmed this morning that Series 5 cards are now only obtainable by players who can collect 1,000 signatures outside of Trader Joe’s, said sources pretending to be talking on the phone as they walk by.
“It may seem strange to force players into a physical setting to obtain stuff in a digital-only card game,” said Marvel Snap creator and hipster lumberjack variant Ben Brode. “We thought about printing physical cards but realized players could use a copier to make their own inked variants. I wasn’t too worried about that until one of my colleagues mentioned players could use crayons and get any border color they want. Further, if you have a gold crayon, you’ve effectively won the game. We had to draw the line there. Still, I wanted some way to incorporate the real world into our digital space. Ultimately, the idea hit me while I was shopping for produce that would go bad by the time I got it home.”
Second Dinner explained the thought process behind the change.
“Capturing the essence, the spirit of collecting Marvel Snap’s Series 5 cards in a physical setting was a challenge,” continued Brode above his flannel-pattern laptop. “We had to find a menial, repetitive task that’s just as time consuming as it is frustrating. Forcing players to collect signatures outside of a Trader Joe’s was the clear answer. It solved two major problems. It meant we could continue our philosophy of slow-dripping content to our players and wouldn’t deny our developers the satisfaction of watching our players suffer. Spending five minutes convincing a stranger to sign a piece of paper only to realize you’ve collected a signature from ‘Phil McKraken’ sums up the card collecting experience of Marvel Snap succinctly.”
Though many businesses were considered, developers chose Trader Joe’s as the best location for it’s players to collect signatures.
“Trader Joe’s is the perfect spot. Shoppers are so happy to have survived the parking lot with their car intact that a quick John Hancock for just about any cause is a given. In fact, Trader Joe’s parking lots were sort of an inspiration for Marvel Snap’s locations since there’s no way to fit more than four cars in one at time. As a reward for their diligence, players will automatically receive an unnervingly-friendly Hawaiian shirt variant of every Series 5 card they obtain.”
Second Dinner confirmed Series 3 acquisition will not change, but have begun floating the idea of players calling to random people and and annoying them into renewing their vehicle’s extended warrantee in exchange for Series 4 cards.