The Invention King

Logo circa 2000

The Invention King (Japanese: 発明王), also known as TOSE Invention King (Japanese: トーセ発明王) was a regular series run by TOSE, where TOSE would ask people for their opinions about inventions through their official website. Originally, TOSE would openly ask people for their opinions about new software ideas with prizes for selected people. Later on surveys were done instead, and people could still win prizes, but at least as of June 10th 2002, they weren't as expensive.

The prizes were originally plain cash in up to 100000 yen. Some time later QUO Cards worth 1000 yen (and of an unspecified value during the 12th The Invention King) were offered as prizes.

The name "The Invention King" may be a reference to an alias for the famous inventor Thomas Edison in Japan, where he has been called a "発明王" (Hatsumei-Ou), literally an "Invention King". A "light bulb moment" (a light bulb is seen in the logo) is also an expression for an innovative idea, and Thomas Edison is (under popular belief, though this was challenged in law; Göbel's claim of earlier light bulb design was denied due to lack of clear evidence of having made a practical incandescent lamp in 1854) considered its inventor. Thomas Edison patented the light bulb and received his patent on January 27, 1880.

Relevance to The Legendary Starfy series

When Densetsu no Starfy was released, from The Invention King #11 up to #18 but excluding #12, merchandise relating to the series would be offered as a top prize, and a QUO Card as the second possible prize.

• No. 11: A copy of Densetsu no Starfy could be won.
• No. 13: Ten people could win a Densetsu no Starfy soft pencil case.
• No. 14-18: Ten people could win "Densetsu no Starfy goods".

The characters Mekani-jiisan and Mekani Genius may have also been influenced by The Invention King.

List of surveys

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	You can add to it by clicking the edit button at the top of the article. Reason given: There is various missing data. It probably can't be helped much unless someone has access to the early webpages that can't be found with archive.org.

Number Date Topic Prize(s) Link Notes 2 No later than September 30th, 1998 Software ideas for the Playstation and Dreamcast "PDA" 1 person: "Grand Prix": ¥100,000 2 people: "Excellence Award": ¥30,000 5 people: "Selected": ¥10,000 [1] No form 3 No later than February 28th, 1999 Software ideas for the Playstation's PocketStation and the Dreamcast's VMU 1 person: "Grand Prix": ¥100,000 2 people: "Excellence Award": ¥30,000 5 people: "Selected": ¥10,000 [2] No form 6 2000 ? ? [3] (reference only, unknown if error) Further details unarchived 7f 2000 Software ideas for using the DVD function of the Playstation 2. ? [4] Further details unarchived 8 No later than June 2001 Java support for next-generation mobile phone content. 1 person: "Grand Prix": ¥100,000 2 people: "Excellence Award": ¥30,000 5 people: "Selected": ¥10,000 [5] No form 9 2002 ? ? [6] Survey 10 From June 10th to August 31st 2002 Game social research 20 people: QUO Card (1000 yen) [7] Survey 11 2002 Mobile phone survey Densetsu no Starfy [8] (reference only) Survey 12 From October 1st 2002 to November 30th 2002 Mobile phone survey 10 people: QUO Card [9] Survey 13 From December 10th 2002 to February 28th 2003 Robot survey 10 people: Densetsu no Starfy soft pencil case [10] Survey 15 From July 15th 2003 to September 30th 2003 Net auction survey 20 people: TOSE original QUO Card (1000 yen) 10 people: "Densetsu no Starfy goods" [11][12] Survey 16 From October 8th 2003 to December 31st 2003 Pachinko survey 20 people: TOSE original QUO Card (1000 yen) 10 people: "Densetsu no Starfy goods" [13][14] Survey 17 From January 19th 2004 to March 31st 2004 Net shipping survey 20 people: TOSE original QUO Card (1000 yen) 10 people: "Densetsu no Starfy goods" [15][16] Survey 18 From April 15th 2004 to June 30th 2004 Mobile phone survey 20 people: TOSE original QUO Card (1000 yen) 10 people: "Densetsu no Starfy goods" [17][18] Survey 19 From July 12th 2004 to September 30th 2004 "About the new portable game machines DS & PSP" 20 people: TOSE original QUO Card (1000 yen) [19][20] Survey 20 From October 15th 2004 to December 31st 2004 Nintendo DS survey 20 people: TOSE original QUO Card (1000 yen) [21][22] Survey 21 From January 15th 2005 to March 31st 2005 PSP survey 20 people: TOSE original QUO Card (1000 yen) [23][24] Survey 22 April 1st 2005 New home page survey ? [25] (reference only) Survey. Unarchived 23 July 10th 2005 Next generation game consoles survey ? [26] (reference only) Survey. Unarchived 24 October 1st 2005 Game Boy Micro survey ? [27] (reference only) Survey. Unarchived 25 December 10th 2005 Xbox 360 survey ? [28][29] Survey. Prizes unknown, if any 27 June 1st 2006 (possibly an error as the archived page is apparently from May 1st 2006) ? ? [30] (reference only) Survey. Prizes unknown, if any