The Invention King (Japanese: 発明王), also known as TOSE Invention King (Japanese: トーセ発明王) was a regular series run by TOSE, where TOSE would ask people for their opinions about inventions through their official website. Originally, TOSE would openly ask people for their opinions about new software ideas with prizes for selected people. Later on surveys were done instead, and people could still win prizes, but at least as of June 10th 2002, they weren't as expensive.
The prizes were originally plain cash in up to 100000 yen. Some time later QUO Cards worth 1000 yen (and of an unspecified value during the 12th The Invention King) were offered as prizes.
The name "The Invention King" may be a reference to an alias for the famous inventor Thomas Edison in Japan, where he has been called a "発明王" (Hatsumei-Ou), literally an "Invention King". A "light bulb moment" (a light bulb is seen in the logo) is also an expression for an innovative idea, and Thomas Edison is (under popular belief, though was disputed in law and denied due to lack of clear evidence)[1] considered its inventor. Thomas Edison patented the light bulb and received his patent on January 27, 1880.[2]
When Densetsu no Starfy was released, from The Invention King #11 up to #18 but excluding #12, merchandise relating to the series would be offered as a top prize, and a QUO Card as the second possible prize.
No. 11: A copy of Densetsu no Starfy could be won.
You can add to it by clicking the edit button at the top of the article. Reason given: There is various missing data. It probably can't be helped much unless someone has access to the early webpages that can't be found with archive.org.
