Take me out to the phone game – Cracker Jack prizes go digital

Say it ain’t so, Jack.

For 125 years, Cracker Jack tempted our taste buds and curiosity with, as the old jingle goes, “candy-coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize.” Now, it’s taking away the prize.

To be fair, it’s taking the prize online, in the form of an app. A sticker inside Cracker Jack boxes can be scanned to activate one of four available baseball-themed experiences: Dot Dash, Dance Cam, Get Carded and Baseball Star.

And to further be fair, it’s not like Cracker Jack hadn’t already greatly lowered the bar in terms of prizes. It’s been a long time now that actual trinkets like charms and whistles were replaced with stickers, temporary tattoos, jokes and other paper products. For kids raised on smartphones, the scannable stickers may indeed be more engaging.

“The Cracker Jack Prize Inside has been as much a part of the nostalgia and love for the brand as the unforgettable combination of caramel-coated popcorn and peanuts,” said Haston Lewis, Frito-Lay senior director of marketing, in a news release April 21. “The new Prize Inside allows families to enjoy their favorite baseball moments through a new one-of-a-kind mobile experience, leveraging digital technology to bring the iconic Prize Inside to life.”

Still, some fans are taking it hard. Comments on the Facebook page “Put the PRIZE back in Cracker Jack” include:

▪ “I’ll sign a petition to get them back. Because I remember getting that tiny purple bicycle and how happy I was.”

▪ “So disappointing. Even with a $4 ballpark bag, there is still just a crummy sticker. Mets no less.”

▪ “I still have cracker Jack toys from when I was a child. Maybe I should send them a handful to remind them of what a real prize looks like.”

Others are rolling with the changes. In a Cracker Jack Collectors Association website forum, at least one collector, Luke Spence said the prizes for years have been stickers. “So nothing has changed, except they’ve added phone games to the stickers.”

Over the years, Cracker Jack trinkets have included everything from wagons to beer mugs to dice to trading cards and whistles, according to a story on Today.com. “(Larry White, who wrote two collectors’ guides to the books, has many toys for viewing and sale on his website, with his most valuable Cracker Jack prize being a metal horse and wagon worth $295.)”

This story was originally published April 26, 2016 at 3:22 PM with the headline "Take me out to the phone game – Cracker Jack prizes go digital."