Later, people asked Boss Huang why he named it "Blind Box Hua Huang Prize".
The term "blind box" is easy to explain, coming from Jiangnan Group's own blind box business. But what did "Hua Huang" mean?
Boss Huang explained in a public dialogue that "Hua Huang" referred to the emperor within the Chinese cultural sphere, meaning the most noble person in the entire Chinese cultural sphere.
However, the nobility here did not refer to people, but to luck. Therefore, the actual meaning of Hua Huang was the person with the best luck in the Chinese cultural sphere. Since the Chinese cultural sphere later became the world's most powerful circle, replacing the Western cultural sphere, Hua Huang also meant the person with the best luck in the world.
So, the meaning of Blind Box Hua Huang Prize was actually a reward for the luckiest person in the world!
Well, this explanation was convoluted enough to make the interviewing media dizzy. As a result, not many people in later generations cared about this answer. They only knew that this Blind Box Hua Huang Prize would scam people out of a lifetime of money in later generations.
However, no one knew Boss Huang's true thoughts and the origin of this name.
In fact, anyone who had a familiarity with Ichiban Kuji would know that the gameplay Boss Huang was introducing was a combination of blind boxes and Ichiban Kuji. Therefore, Boss Huang originally intended to name it "Blind Box Ichiban Kuji."
Boss Huang was very familiar with the gameplay of Ichiban Kuji because he himself was a player who was heavily scammed by Ichiban Kuji in his later life, often filling half of his salary into the huge pit of Ichiban Kuji.
Alas, such tragic events will not be described further.
Boss Huang originally thought Ichiban Kuji had already been born, so his main purpose for coming to Akihabara the other day was to witness the gameplay that had tormented him to the brink of death, and to see what kind of items it sold in 2004.
It was said that Ichiban Kuji was very conscientious before 2010. Many of the products were very cleverly designed, much better than the figurines and models sold on the market. They were far superior to the uniform figurines or plush toys of Ichiban Kuji in 2021.
As a result, Boss Huang wandered around the Akihabara building but found no trace of Ichiban Kuji. He even asked a salesperson if they had Ichiban Kuji, and the other party asked him strangely what Ichiban Kuji was.
At this moment, Boss Huang confirmed that Ichiban Kuji had not yet been born in this world. Then, Boss Huang's "little brain" that loved to plagiarize immediately started spinning, and a temporary plan was hatched for today.
However, when it came to confirming the name, Boss Huang felt a bit displeased. Since Ichiban Kuji did not exist in this world, there was no need for him to use this Japanese cultural name, which led to all similar lottery draws being called Ichiban Kuji in later generations.
Since he aspired to spread Chinese culture, he should naturally give this game a Chinese name!
Boss Huang initially decided to rename Ichiban Kuji to "Ke Jin Prize" (氪金赏). Then he pondered, "Ke Jin" didn't seem like a derivative term originating from China either. Later, he searched online and found that the term "Ke Jin" had already emerged in this era, and it still originated from Japan.
At this time, Japan already had online games with recharge functions. The act of recharging such games was called "Ka Jin" (課金) in the Japanese language.
However, the input method used by Japanese people to type on computers at that time was called "Smart ABC." How about that, doesn't this input method feel very familiar?
That's right, this was the input method developed by Microsoft, and it was a "one fish, multiple dishes" situation where input methods for various languages were all called Smart ABC.
And when Japanese people typed the two Chinese characters "Ka Jin," the word group that the Smart ABC input method associated was not "Ka Jin," but "Ke Jin" (氪金).
Well, "Ke" (氪) is the source of Superman's power and also a weapon that can restrain Superman. Superman himself is from a planet called Krypton.
So, many Japanese people, for convenience, did not adjust the word group and directly input "Ke Jin" to represent "Ka Jin." Others found it interesting, and over time, "Ke Jin" replaced "Ka Jin" and became the meaning of recharging into games.
Therefore, the term "Ke Jin" was actually also created by Japanese people.
After Boss Huang figured this out, he became displeased. He couldn't refuse Ichiban Kuji because of Japanese culture and then end up with something that was still Japanese culture!
So, Boss Huang thought that the actual meaning of Ichiban Kuji referred to the first place, and in practical application, it should mean the luckiest. Then, why not call it "Ou Huang Prize" (欧皇赏)?
"Ou Huang" is a term created by the Chinese themselves, isn't it!
It is true that "Ou Huang" is a term created by Chinese culture, but why should the luckiest person in China be called "Ou Huang"?
Of course, if you carefully analyze the origin of these two terms, it can be traced back to a mobile game called "Kancolle Girls." At that time, players who could not get the desired items felt unlucky and called themselves "Africans."
Correspondingly, those who were lucky and got the items quickly became "Europeans."
Further still, the luckiest person who got the item in one go became "Ou Huang."
Although this linguistic origin cannot be considered self-deprecating or praising Europe, Boss Huang's essence as a top-tier nationalist was revealed. He couldn't stand the term "Ou Huang."
Since it refers to the luckiest person, it should be a Chinese person! Therefore, Boss Huang, with a stroke of his pen, changed "Ou Huang" to "Hua Huang." Finally, this name, which later generations would consider bizarre, even ridiculous, and could take up thousands of words to explain, the "Blind Box Hua Huang Prize," was born.
However, from a historical perspective, although the Blind Box Hua Huang Prize was a product of nationalism, because the term "Ou Huang" did not exist in this world, the replacement of "Ou Huang" by "Hua Huang" seemed natural and seamless. Coupled with subsequent operations, the term "Hua Huang" actually traveled around the world with it, completely replacing the role and status of "Ou Huang" globally. Everyone in the world called the luckiest person "Hua Huang." Boss Huang's actions were thus a great success.
Cough, cough, back to the main topic.
After introducing the Blind Box Hua Huang Prize, the game naturally had to officially begin. Boss Huang smiled and invited everyone on and off the stage to draw prizes.
However, because this was a brand new gameplay, and it cost 2000 yen per draw, which was equivalent to 100 yuan per draw, the price was quite hesitant. Therefore, many people at the scene began to hesitate. After more than ten seconds, no one had come on stage.
"Prepare to have our shills come up!" Boss Huang was about to signal Hu Jing behind him to have the shills he had arranged beforehand come on stage to draw prizes.
Well, shills are not necessarily bad things. This is just a normal job and operational process. Boss Huang felt that perhaps a different name could better describe this position, such as "atmosphere group?"
However, before Boss Huang could move his finger, the beautiful shrine maiden beside him said, "Since you're admitting defeat, I'll go first!"
Then she took out a 2000 yen bill.
Well, this beautiful shrine maiden would never admit that she was uncontrollably attracted by the cards on the display rack and couldn't help but speak up.
In any case, 2000 yen was just pocket change for her.
"Please!" Boss Huang nodded, then handed the box full of prize tickets to the beautiful shrine maiden, indicating that she could draw after paying.
The beautiful shrine maiden's two slender fingers reached into the box, stirred them gently, and then took out a prize ticket.
This prize ticket was pure black, with the "Yu-Gi-Oh! Blind Box Hua Huang Prize" logo printed on it. While it couldn't be called exquisite, it was normal. Moreover, this prize ticket was printed in an interlocking format, with the letters hidden inside the ticket. On one side of the ticket, there was a pull tab, and with a gentle pull, the entire ticket could be pulled open.
At the same time, the entire prize ticket was completely destroyed, with no possibility of being reassembled. Therefore, this prize ticket basically eliminated the possibility of vendors trying to cheat people by preparing valuable prize tickets in advance... unless the issuer and the vendor conspired to cheat people.
With a "tear!" sound that was not particularly crisp but pleasant enough to hear, the prize ticket was torn open. The beautiful shrine maiden also saw the letters printed inside the ticket, and her expression immediately became serious.
"Congratulations to this lady, you have won G prize!" Boss Huang said with a smile. It turned out to be the least valuable prize, no wonder the beautiful shrine maiden's expression was a little awkward.
"This lady, you can choose any reward you want from the G row hanging behind me!" Boss Huang said. The beautiful shrine maiden nodded, looked at the row of rewards hanging on the shelf for a while, and then picked a reward.
Although the card displayed there was only worth 100 yen, it was a card she didn't have. She had spent hundreds of thousands of yen in draws before and never gotten this card.
Yet, this was not a particularly rare card, but something many people had pulled casually. And she didn't have it.
Thinking of this, the beautiful shrine maiden's sense of frustration disappeared, replaced by a hint of joy.
She quickly opened the plastic box, carefully put the card she didn't have into her bag, and then quickly checked the 15 cards covered behind.
Well, there were no surprises. They were all worthless junk cards.
However, when she saw that within the G prize tier, there were two boxes of cards that she didn't have, she decided to spend another 4000 yen when she went back. After all, it wouldn't be a loss to draw two G prizes.
As a result, when the beautiful shrine maiden turned around to draw again, she found that someone else had already come up to purchase. The beautiful shrine maiden hesitated for a moment, then lined up behind the other person.
"This shill is too unprofessional. They should at least switch!" Mutou Yugi, who was filming nearby, muttered to himself. He had already concluded that this beautiful shrine maiden must be a shill for Boss Huang.
Otherwise, why would she have coincidentally worn a shrine maiden cosplay outfit the day before, come to spend money first today, and then queue up to spend again? This was clearly an act of being a shill.
It's just that the shill's acting skills were not up to par, too superficial. If he were to act, he would be so much better.