Serial Numbered 5th Dawn

[rick21n]

Hi Guys,

Just a quick note to see if anybody else noticed this at the Pre-Release.  I didn't go but one of the guys who did came back with 18 packs of prizes.  All of them had a Serial Number on them.  In a white box on the back of the pack was a 6-8 character code.  I don't remember much about it as I didn't get much chance to look at it.  On the back of the pack was the Bar-Code and on the other side of the seam was a small (1 inch square) white area with the code in it.

Just thought i would put the information out in case anybody else had anything to add to it.  Hopefully he still has at least one so I can get a scan.  Who knows if all Fifth Dawn product will have them or not.  Any ideas?

- Rick

[gzeiger]

All Fifth Dawn product will have this tracking system. Wizards has announced a new technology for tracking product distribution to see who's breaking street date or other distribution agreements.

[Archivist]

If you look, the boxes also have a new sticker barcode on them. It is used to track product for both early distribution and for selling outside of approved regions. Packs can be traced to the box, case, pallet, distributor, etc.

Very much related to the topic of this other thread and announcements like this one from StarCity, but the change also has some other, annoying, consequences.

[Vilan]

I noticed this at the prerelease too. I scooped up empty wrappers, hoping they were secret codes for some Wizards promotion ;D but I asked on the Wizards web boards and the consensus is they're just codes to track the packs so Wizards can see if foreign retailers are buying their product through the proper channels. Plus it helps them track down customer complaints... if you say your box was missing the rares, they can check the codes and see where and when those packs were made.

[house_atreides]

Hi

I'd bin those wrappers if I were you - else you might get your Tournament Organiser into trouble.

I can see there will be a lot more "wrapper promotions" in the future - and WOTC will now know if some boosters have been accidentally falling off the back of a TOs wagon.

Cheers,
Karen

[flatmatt]

I noticed the new numbers on the boosters as well.  My friend who likes to take home an empty box from the prerelease asked if he could get one, but the judge said that Wizards required them to now keep all the empty boxes.

[Vilan]

Hmm, when I won half a box they used one of their empty boxes to hold the cards and they let me keep it. It's in the trash now though.

[GavinO]

Why is it that no one can sell a product these days and keep their hands out of it after that?  Does it really matter to WotC if a box is resold around the world after it leaves their hands? They R&Ded it, built it, sold it, they're done as far as I'm concerned.  Further business dealing with the box involves the guy who has it and the guy who wants it.  Are we going to get like DVDs and audio CDs, where they say you're not buying the disc, but a license to the content?  These are cards - treating it like the distribution media for WotC IP can only lead to badness (oops! my power rare got shredded. Ship me a minty fresh one for S&H only please?)