I have already written about the Mini Brands Vinyl Record Player, and after a month long delay, I received a set of the mystery balls records that go with it. I doubt I get more of these, maybe if I find some on sale, but one set is plenty for my “toy props” needs. Especially at $20 a set, which actually is not terrible, but also I just, don’t need vinyl shaped Hit Clips in bulk quantities. Also, I have a severe allergy to blind pack gatcha items.
But, I figured I would write up on them, and mostly just, the opening experience. They come 2 balls in a large tube. I don’t know if there are plans to do single balls or anything or if its all just gimmicky tennis ball packaging. Each ball contains 4 mystery mini records and one mystery accessory. Checking the website it looks like there are 44 possible records, and 45 total to collect if you count the Bruno Mars album included with the player itself.
A couple of notes, for anyone wondering. These do not play the whole song, just a 30 second or so clip, usually the chorus or hook, the part you will immediately recognize. Its also worth noting, there are two albums that have two possible songs. There are two different Shawn Mendes Handwritten albums A Little Too Much and Imagination) and two different Sting My Songs albums (Message In a Bottle and Every Breath You Take). They look identical, so its worth checking because one of the Sting albums is a Rare. Don’t assume they are duplicates. Side note, Sting also has Englishman in New York but its a different album cover.
The tube can be opened carefully by cuitting the tape around the lid with a knife but its a bit flimsy so not really worth keeping. Each ball is wrapped in two layers of plastic, with easy tear points on both layers. Each album is in a little paper envelope with a tear open spot and the accessories get plastic baggies. The individual albums all have plastic wrappers (reusable) and the same slip sleeve over the records that the Bruno Mars album had. The records are very nice for use as accessories or even display in a dollhouse because they are front and back album covers identical to the full sized albums.
There are also 8 possible accessories. Personally, 4 are a little meh for my care. There are three awards which are not suoer useful for a standard display unless you are going for like, a music studio look or something. The fourth “meh” one, and probably the weakest overall, is a little single record stand. Its one of the two I got, the records fits a little too tightly in it for my liking. Plus its small, they actually include an additional 2 copies of the “now playing” stand from the player, except in black instead of brown.
The other 4 possibilities are a bit nicer. One is a little set of headphones, one is a speaker, which ideally you woukd want two of, and the last two are record storage options. One crate, the other, and the one I got, is an angled rack. The albums look nice in it, I kind of had wanted the crate, but this works just as well and frankly, looks nicer.
Getting more accessories would be a temptation for getting more of these, but I can probably just buy some miniature speakers and a milk crate for less.
Overall though, if you have the player, its probably worth investing in at least one set of mystery balls. It just fleshes out the usefulness. Also if you want to keep them “nice” but want to hear the music, you can just stick the sealed album on
