I don’t know how many Hot Wheels cars I had as a kid, but it was a lot. Countless hours were spent sliding them around the house and driving them up walls, and my parents were still finding mini monster trucks in the yard when I was graduating college.
While the cars themselves haven’t benefited much from the advancement of technology over the last 20 years, their advertising certainly has. Released this month on YouTube is the “Hot Wheels Custom Motor Cup”, and interactive video series. Remember those choose-your-own adventure books? This is the same idea, but with stop-motion animated Hot Wheels. For 26 days the Mattel team shot 9,181 frames, each of which took over a minute to film. Using multiple angles, and truck-loads of sugar and sand, Mattel put together this interactive video series pitting it’s crazy cars against one another over 3 different courses.
How it works: Click the video and watch it all the way through. At the end you get to pick your vehicle; a sports car or a truck. At each race you get to choose one upgrade (rockets, bigger engine, skis, etc) and then sit back and watch the action. It may seem a little juvenile, but the first time you make an “educated” choice of mods, and lose the race, I guarantee you will try again. With all my automotive and driving experience, losing a race to a lifted Ferrari was no acceptable. And if you have kids, nephews, or want to be able to play Xbox while you babysit, show this game to them. They’ll be occupied for a while.
