Original purpose of Spine Cards has me baffled ...

[Amadeusama]

I always was curious about the purpose of spine cards. I read the Wikipedia article on them, and I still don't see the point (not with video games, anyway).
Having closely examined some of the spine cards I have for my PCE games, I must say that most of them seem pretty redundant. As in: they don't give any useful information that isn't on the inlay anyway.

Did people in Japan ever do something with these?
Like, if a buddy of theirs had a CD they wanted too, did they borrow the card, go to the store shoving it under the clerk's nose, and say: "order me this"?

Or what ...?

Because I wonder, if they could have any actual use to me I might be currently oblivious of, and if I should bother going for games with them rather than without them. (I see how they fetch higher prices, and I don't intend to argue that.)

[DragonmasterDan]

They're mostly useful for indexing what's on the disc(s) and being a convenient place to put UPC information without pasting it over the art on the packaging.

Their actual use is that they came with the game/book/movie and that it's incomplete without it.

[Ji-L87]

They mostly take up space and tend to get in the way :S 
But I hold on to those I can for the sake of completion. But really, wanting the case, I can understand. Wanting the manual, I can understand. But those that only want games complete with spinecard, I just don't get.

[Tatsujin]

1st use: thickness -> if the game/cd/etc. is put in the shelf with its spine watching toward the potential customer.
2nd use: barcode
3rd use: valuable collectors item

[Necromancer]

Their actual use is that they came with the game/book/movie and that it's incomplete without it.

They also came with shrinkwrap, so is an item incomplete without that too?

[termis]

It's basically a Japanese version of packaging that includes extra info that's really intended to be thrown out. 

Remember when CDs used to be packaged in long cardboard boxes - and on the boxes, it would have random crap advertising splashed across with sayings like "includes new hit songs blah blah... ", which isn't meant to be a permanent part of the information that's on the jewel case.  In Turbografx context, it'd be like the carboard box that the most of the Hucards and earlier CDs came in.  I mean, 99% of people threw them out (cause they were meant to be thrown out), and only saved the jewel case.

I'm not at all surprised that spine cards is a Japanese thing.  They totally dislike unnecessary bulk, but they do LOVE extra details on packaging their crap, hence the spine card - the tiny part of "packaging" that doesn't "unnecessarily" (...subjective, I know...) take up clutter space.

[Arkhan]

I was told by my friend (who is from Japan, and is there half of the year):

"Spine cards are stupid pieces of paper that people hold onto so they can feel like their copy is better than the exact same copy without a spinecard.  They're worthless.  Throw them out.  Unless you like having dumb slips of paper crammed around every game you own."

I only keep spine cards if they came with the used games I've bought.   I sure as shit don't seek out the crap.    I think I have like 6 spine cards

[Tatsujin]

I think I have like 600 spine cards

[RegalSin]

I think Spine cards, have more or less to do with the Record industry, then the CD industry. However, it also contains alot of useful information, and should be considered a part of the packaging of a product. As somebody mentioned, many Spinecards have information that would clutter the art. As with most Western products, we obviously know this by heart, ( and I am sure get annoyed with seeing "includes free demo, blah blah, with a big bright sticker ) In fact that is what a Spine card does. Instead of sticking crap all over the box, let they did before, you have one thing.

Spine card + booklet + cd + bonus ( stickers, fill out card, advertisment ) = more value.

Without a spinecard the game is not complete, however that should not stop you from making a purchase. I see three kinds of buyers.

1. The person who wants to play, but have a higher valued product.
2. The collector who wants gleem at their aquired unused goods ( person from Kirby 3 ).

Otherwise, the PCE would be a useless hardware, and we could just emulate, and run everything off flashcards. It is like going backwards in time for me, emulating on the computer

I hate more the buying something without a spine card? Something that is sealed. Because I know it has a value far more greater, but then I am stuck gleeming at it all day long. Then what is worst, is when the god damn case is cracked inside the sealed game, or you can hear something inside that is broken, or moving around. :-#

[KingDrool]

I see three kinds of buyers.

1. The person who wants to play, but have a higher valued product.
2. The collector who wants gleem at their aquired unused goods ( person from Kirby 3 ).

Yours is a joke account, right? I mean...seriously...every post contains pure gold.

[SignOfZeta]

Obi first saw use with vinyl records in Japan. They contain all the needed info about the release in a standardized way so they can be easily found when sitting on a shelf like books. If all music sold in Japan was Japanese this wouldn't make much sense, but most Japanese music is crap so the vast majority of what is purchased is foreign, regardless of it being rock and roll, classical, hiphop, whatever.

The obi is useful in this situation because in order to prepare something like...Never Mind the Bollocks, for JP use all you really need is the obi. The obi can have the title in kana, the catalog number, maybe a short description, without totally redesigning and f*cking up the original art. As racist and self aggrandizing as the Japanese are, they do have respect for foreign stuff. Here in the US we just f*ck up the packaging, even if it was already in English.

A convenient use for the obi: Some bands get really creative with packaging. A good example would be the majority of music put out by the band New Order when they were still on Factory Records. Usually the sleeve wouldn't give you the name of the band or sometimes even the release. You'd just get a catalog number. If you live in Manchester in 1985 and saw a really cool record sleeve with a FAC number on it you'd know it was going to be New Order, or at least something else cool from Factory, but Japan is far away from that scene. How are they supposed to know? The obi fixes all of this.

Example:

Original 12" single for New Order's Temptation:

Front:


Back:


Japanese edition:





So that's pretty much the origin. People get creative with designing obi, so sometimes there is special stuff on there, but basically it is only for shops and shoppers so they can actually find/sort the stuff they are buying/selling. It carried over to CD, and to CD shaped games, but for some reason not games in DVD sized cases. It also was used for Laserdisc, but for some reason no Blueray.

A similar thing goes on with back inserts for CDs and games on systems like Saturn, and PS which used CD-type cases. You will usually see the Japanese name for the game on side that originally had the obi, and the romanized version on the opposite spine, even if the game never had an international release. Sometimes the romanized names can be hilarious.

As for what use an obi is to anyone who doesn't own a store...the answer is nothing. They have no purpose whatsoever. There is no reason to keep them at all. Just chuck the things.

[RegalSin]

Do not throw away your Obi ..........strips. They will be important for Ben conobi, In terms catolog number, and details, on a manifacturing scale they are important.
going to play Linda.

[Samurai Ghost]

They can also be used for advertising space for special promotions, new products, etc, especially on books and manga. I always toss the ones for books and manga because they are ugly, slide around a lot, and block the cover art.

For games they also serve one more secret service: protecting the spine from sunfading!

Check out this extremely faded spine card for this sealed copy of Pomping World. No one wants a game that looks like that.



Open it up and, violà! Perfect game hiding beneath, protected from the evil sun all of these years.

[Colossus1574]

I agree with Zeta, explained very logically sir!
In a country where retail space is a luxury, they can't afford to have all the games/album covers facing forward.
It would be smart to cram all the necessary info onto the spine.

and Ghost,
great example for another use of what the obi/spines could be good for!

[Chuplayer]

I don't bellyache over spine cards, but if I do get one, I pop the CD tray out of the case and put the spine card under the CD tray. It helps me keep them organized.