The Decline of Tiki Tack Man's Tombola

You know it's true! How many times have you gone to the Tombola hoping to win some codestones, and all you found was a lonely Tiki Tack Man asking for funds? "Ugggh... out of cash" says the poor guy, supposedly with a sad face behind the wooden mask, for the tenth time in the week. Of course, that's fine, he's got to get those codestones somewhere... but ask yourself: do you donate when he's asking for funds?

You might even have donated a great amount once or twice, but don't you usually just move on to other tasks?

I first noticed this crisis after a long month of no worthy wins on Tombola. Even when I got a winning ticket, I didn't receive anything better than a hundred Neopoints and maybe some gross food. But I do remember getting codestones and bottled faeries at least twice a week in the distant past. So I asked myself, why is this happening now?

I asked around for some Neopians' input. Some did report the Tombola was way past its golden days, and rarely ever gave away worthy items anymore.

Alright, you might say that doesn't apply to you, but I'm going to work with statistics.

In the past, we could say for sure that at least 9 out of 10 active Neopians played Tombola every day. That's not to say all of them loved the Tombola; There are articles badmouthing the Tombola guy from as early as Year 3! But really, even if the prizes were mostly junk, it was free, and sometimes you could get nifty items like paint brushes. Why not give in to temptation?

Now this has changed. A quick survey conducted on the Neoboards showed us that only 5 out of 10 active Neopians visit the Tombola every day. As one Neopian puts it, the Tombola "doesn't seem like it's worth it" anymore.

That is very understandable. After all, we have more daily freebies than ever; Sure, some aren't that free, sometimes they might cost your life - and I'm looking at a certain tomb right now - but they're still free of Neopoints charge, and you can win very valuable items, from codestones to morphing potions, rather easily.

What those Neopians ask themselves is: Why spend valuable time sailing to the Mystery Island, just to visit a guy that will almost certainly give away junk, if I can spend the same time sailing to forgotten shores and find generous amounts of Neopoints and pirate goodies?

Because now they have other options, some Neopians don't even bother with the poor Tiki Tack Man anymore. Thanks to that, he rarely ever gets any donations from the general population, and has to rely on fellow Mystery Island natives' small donations and hand-crafted goodies, such as sandals and bottled sand. (I can tell from experience that at least those guys are still pretty generous.)

Also, as user sparkle_grundy puts on the article "The Other Side of Tombola", from Neopian Times issue 330, all those island goodies can be found in Neopian stores for 1 NP, but aren't sold in Mystery Island for less than two or three hundred neopoints. That way, no matter how much effort those islanders put on to keep the Tombola working, most prizes are still dismissed as "junk" and "not worth it".

Secondly, there is Neopian inflation. Nobody is resistant to it, not even the Tiki Tack Man, as much as he pretends to be, because he charges the same amount of neopoints to re-open as he did ten years ago.

Theoretically, that's a double-edged sword; That should mean Neopians have more neopoints to donate to him, but because less Neopians care about his work now, he keeps having to rely on the natives' funds. And well, the Mystery Island is still an isolated island with few resources, so there is only so much they can donate.

So if you haven't won any paint brushes from the Tombola in the past years, don't worry - I'm sure he hasn't been able to buy many with that amount anyway.

Another evidence of the fact that the Tombola has been neglected in the past years is how the last article published on the Neopian Times about it was back in the 15th of the month of Awakening, on Year 10. That's over four years ago. Before that, such articles were written with some frequency; But now they're practically nonexistent.

For a quick comparison, over ten articles about the Forgotten Shore were written since then, 16 about Usukis - not counting stories! - and 23 about the Petpetpet Habitarium. Absolutely none about the Tombola. And to be fair, most of those 8 published about the Tombola since the advent of the new Neopian Times aren't even looking at it in a good light.

Adding up all those factors, the reasons behind the Tombola's downfall are clear.

More freebies in Neopia makes for less attention to Tombola, and so, less donations from the general Neopian population. Less donations means less funds, more native "junk" and less rare items. It also means having the Tombola closed for longer periods of time. All of that makes even more Neopians give up on it.

That also opens up new possibilities. If those people ever gave up and the Tiki Tack Man retired from his work on the Tombola and the shop, prices of objects like bottled colored sand would raise, since they would become exotic artifacts. Ironically, the Tiki Tack Man and the whole Mystery Island's economy would benefit a lot from this.

Think about it - If they keep working hard for the sake of all Neopians, that's because they believe their work is somehow useful to the general population. After all, for those short on Neopoints, even bottled sand can serve as pretty Neohome decoration, and gross food is still food. Even for those who do have Neopoints to spare, a pet is never so strong that they shouldn't be trained, and why not do that for free?

You can do that, and all you have to do is stretch your paw and pull a ticket.

So, have you paid a visit to the Tombola today?