TILTS: Kids crap value packs

Last week was my son's 7th birthday. We celebrated his birthday at one of his (and quite honestly my) favorite kid places, the Incredible Pizza Company.

I love just about everything at the Incredible Pizza Company... except what happens right when you are ready to leave. I'm talking about the time when your kid comes up to you with a ba-jillion paper tickets in his hand and wants to go "shopping" in the prize store.

While most kids are fairly adept at math it doesn't mean they know how to apply it to shopping. Usually, I spend 20 - 30 minutes watching my kids grab 3 or 4 random objects in the store and then asking me if they have enough tickets to get all of it.

C'mon parents, I know you feel my pain!

So the Technology I'd Like To See (TILTS) is a prize store kiosk. I'd like my child to take his bar-coded ticket that shows how many points he has and scan it at the kiosk. Then a computer would go to work cross-checking my child's points vs. what is in inventory. After a few seconds, my child could be presented with 4 or 5 value packs to choose from. Each value pack would maximize the number of points my child has earned.

If a kid wants more say in the matter, offer him or her a choice between "biggest prizes" or "largest quantity".

When my child finally picks one the value packs, an employee goes into the store, gathers up all of the prizes in the value pack and hands them to my child.

Simple. Efficient. Fast.

Disclaimer: Technologies presented in the Technology I'd Like To See (TILTS) series are based on my original (and sometimes delirious) thoughts. I present them here to the public only because I can not afford to implement any of them myself. If you steal borrow one of my ideas and end up filthy rich because of it, please remember where you got the idea and throw a little love my way. Something like a BMW or a big fat check would do just fine.