For some media enthusiasts, buying merchandise is just one of the many fun ways that a person can demonstrate their steadfast love and support for a particular franchise. To accomplish this, one might be inclined to browse the Nintendo Store Online and purchase a cute Kirby plush for their coffee table, or perhaps mosey on over to Etsy and invest in a sassy Bowser Jr. t-shirt. Sure, these items may not be terribly flashy, but they’re perfect for those who just want to carve out humble little nooks for their collections and feel a warm spark of joy whenever they set eyes on them.
For those with some fire in their bellies, however, hunting for collectibles is more akin to a competitive sport. Players score points based on the total number of items in their possession and the number of rare treasures that can only be acquired through very specific means. This kind of hobby can be incredibly challenging, as it requires patience, attention to detail, and the ability to invest large sums of money. But the payoff can be quite substantial: not only do you get to claim bragging rights among your peers, but you also get to add some truly bizarre pieces to your collection, from Resident Evil cologne to a full-fledged Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Jeep Wrangler. If you live in Japan, one of the best ways to accumulate such delightfully strange, one-of-a-kind items is to regularly participate in the Ichiban Kuji Lottery.
Ichiban Kuji (“Number One Lottery” in English) is a regularly-held raffle event operated by Banpresto, a division of Bandai Spirits dedicated to the manufacture of high-quality products based on licensed brands. Instead of competing for cash prizes, people have the opportunity to win exclusive figurines and other pieces of merchandise centered around their favorite media franchises, including Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Pokémon, etc. Participating in one of them is relatively simple: anime shops, bookstores, and convenience stores that are selling Ichiban Kuji tickets put up posters advertising the current lotteries in their windows, and if passerby see a lottery they’re interested in, they can go inside and inquire about the tickets that are still available. Originally, tickets were only available to those residing in Japan, but websites like KUJIconnect have recently expanded the operation to other countries such as Korea, France, and even the USA.
Here’s what makes Ichiban Kuji truly fascinating, unlike normal lotteries, where a seemingly unlimited number of people can enter and only one or a few of them will actually win the jackpot, Ichiban Kuji lotteries only sell as many tickets as there are available prizes (usually somewhere between 60 and 80). This means that for every ticket you purchase, you are guaranteed to win a prize. What a sweet deal! And there is still an element of mystery to it, since you don’t know exactly which prize you’ll receive until the day your ticket is drawn. See, each ticket is printed with a letter from A to Z, which correspond to different prize tiers; higher tiers (A-F) are typically reserved for unique statues and figurines, while the lower tiers tend to feature more unusual commodities, such as towels, clocks, dinnerware sets, and even cooking pots. And remember, these items can only be won through the lottery (or bought later at secondhand auctions), so we’re talking about some pretty rare pieces of merchandise here!
What, exactly, does all of this have to do with Zelda? Well, in May 2017, to celebrate the release of Breath of the Wild, Ichiban Kuji finally launched its first Zelda-themed lottery known as the “Hyrule Lifestyle Collection”. For just ¥620 per ticket (the equivalent of about $5.58 at the time), fans from all across Japan could win some odd baubles and goofy gadgets the likes of which we will probably never see again!
Starting off with Tier G, we have a set of blind-box rubber key accessories modeled after character and item sprites from The Legend of Zelda. Four of them are standard trinkets that you would hang from a key chain, with a Triforce, a Rupee, a Heart Container, and a triumphant Link. The other three, meanwhile, are covers that can slip on to the key itself; these include a Bomb, the lion’s head from the Magical Key (very clever), and – perhaps the coolest one of all – Link swinging his sword, with the key acting as the blade.
On Japanese auction websites, I saw quite a few listings for these particular prizes. Individual accessories tend to be priced around ¥560 ($4.38), and I noticed that one seller was asking ¥4,020 ($31.44) for an eight-piece set with a couple of duplicates. And that sword one must be the most coveted of all, because there’s one listed at a whopping ¥3,500 ($27.37)!
For the Tier F prizes, we jump from one end of the Zelda spectrum to the other with a lovely set of Breath of the Wild glassware. Though they may seem small in the picture, YouTube videos have demonstrated that these glasses can actually hold quite a bit of liquid and they’d be perfect for sipping a piping-hot Spicy Elixir on a cold winter’s night. Entrants could receive one of five different designs: the Breath of the Wild sword logo, the Hylian Crest, the Sheikah symbol, Link firing an Ancient Arrow, and Link riding Epona. Listings for these classy pieces are few and far between, but I did find a collection of four priced at ¥10,000 ($78.20), so I think it’s fair to assume that they would be worth around ¥2,500 ($19.55) each.
Winners in Tier E received a nifty little item that they would be able to show off at restaurant bars and airport kiosks alike. At first glance, they may just seem like over-sized charms to hang on your backpack, but if you turn them over, you’ll find a laminated pouch where you can safely store an identification card. So if you’re planning to head down to the Milk Bar and can’t find Romani’s Mask amid the clutter in your closet, you can just clip one of these cool (if slightly clunky) card cases to the loop of your belt and use it to flash your ID at Mr. Barten.
Unlike the first two tiers, which are each themed around a single game in the series, these card cases feature official artwork from several different Zelda titles, including two of the stained glass windows from The Wind Waker, a pixelated Cucco from A Link to the Past, Navi from Ocarina of Time, and the Moon from Majora’s Mask. Since they strike me as rather flimsy, I’m not terribly surprised that they’re among the cheapest items available for purchase. Single card cases can be bought for as little as ¥100 ($0.78) and as much as ¥700 ($5.47), and complete sets can be found at prices ranging from ¥2,222 ($17.38) to ¥3,780 ($29.56).
And now I must issue a warning about a potential health hazard: this next item is so unfathomably epic that if you don’t properly prepare yourself, your head might just spiral off into the stratosphere. All strapped in? Okay, good. What we have here is a gadget commonly featured in Ichiban Kuji lotteries known as an “Effectone.” It’s an electronic device that you attach to any hinged barrier (like a door) or storage compartment (like a desk drawer), and each time you open it, the Effectone plays a specific sound effect. For our Tier D Zelda prizes, we have two different A Link to the Past Effectones: a light brown one that bellows the “Chest Fanfare” sound, and a dark green beauty that plays the oh-so-satisfying “Secret Sound”. Now every time you try to sneak a midnight snack from the fridge (as seen here), your sleeping roommates will think you’ve stumbled upon a valuable treasure!
This is obviously the most sublime piece of Zelda merchandise to ever grace us with its existence, so it makes sense that each one would demand a pretty penny from interested consumers. I only found a single listing (from a seller who clearly doesn’t appreciate the priceless work of art they have been gifted), and it requested ¥4,000 ($31.28) for just one Effectone.
Continuing with the dinnerware theme from Tier F, the Tier C prize is a glass plate that takes the phrase “eat your heart out” a bit too literally. There isn’t much to say about this one, except for one amusing incongruence worth noting: even though Link from The Legend of Zelda appears on the box, the plate itself is modeled after the Heart Container from The Adventure of Link. I don’t know if this was a mistake or if Bandai did it intentionally as a joke, but it gave me a slight chuckle. The highest price I saw it listed for was ¥1,500 ($11.73), so you wouldn’t have to pay very much if you wanted to add this lovely number to your collection.
For Tier B, we have a special tool that can only be wielded by a hero chosen by the gods. But instead of thrusting it skyward so that the heavens may bless it with sacred power, you lift it up in order to protect yourself from the deluge that the heavens have unleashed. The Master Sword’s iconic blue-violet hilt with the green grip is beautifully replicated here, and if you press the yellow gemstone at the center, a large, navy blue umbrella adorned with a single Hylian Crest bursts forth to shield you from the rain. Now if only it could just fire some light beams to rip the clouds apart and bring back the sunshine!
This is one of the more obscure items in the collection, and the price for owning one is quite steep at ¥12,000 ($93.84). But you know what? After enduring these back-to-back atmospheric rivers that have left California drenched and chilled to the bone, I honestly wouldn’t mind paying for an umbrella that could keep me dry and seal away the darkness.
And what better accessory to accompany an umbrella sword than a shoulder bag shield to carry it around with? Tier A offers us an adorable cloth knapsack modeled after the mighty Hylian Shield that was first introduced in Ocarina of Time, with both the normal shield and a black-and-silver version (which the Internet apparently likes to call the “Dark Link Hylian Shield”) available to win. Ironically, even though the real Hylian Shield is so heavy that Child Link can’t use it properly, this bag is actually a little too small for most adults to comfortably strap across their backs. So my suggestion would be to pass it along to a young one and let it inspire them to continue the heroic tradition!
I couldn’t find these backpacks for sale anywhere on Japanese auction websites, so I had to rely on some expired eBay listings to get a rough estimate of the value. You should expect to spend $70-$90 for one of them.
And at last, we come to the pièce de résistance of this collection: the “Last One” prize. This is a special treasure reserved only for the person who buys the last available ticket in a given Ichiban Kuji. So if, for example, you walk into a 7-Eleven and the clerk tells you that 10 tickets are left, you could buy all 10 and guarantee that you win the Last One prize (along with nine regular prizes). And the lucky winner of this lottery was handsomely rewarded with a sky blue Breath of the Wild alarm clock, which shows Princess Zelda standing tall with the vast kingdom of Hyrule spread out behind her. I haven’t seen anyone demonstrate how it works, but if I’m not mistaken, the person waking up to this alarm gets to hear Zelda’s soft but urgent plea for them to “open their eyes.” I hope the manufacturers didn’t bother to install a “Snooze” button, because I don’t think anyone would have the heart to press it after hearing that.
Since this alarm clock is the only one in existence, it’s safe to assume that most, if not all, of the online listings are for replicas. The one I saw most recently was asking for ¥9,800 ($76.64), so if it was indeed a fake, just imagine how much that price will skyrocket if and when the real one comes on the market!
You probably think we’re done here, right? Well, you had better banish that thought to the gap between dimensions, because Ichiban Kuji wasn’t content to host just one Zelda-themed lottery. In October 2018, they released a second Hyrule Lifestyle Collection with a brand-new roster of exclusive trinkets and collectibles. But this essay is already quite long, so it will have to wait until my next Tetra’s Treasures article. In the meantime, if you want to see some of the items I just talked about in action, I recommend checking out this cool unboxing video by YouTuber Stephen Iwashita.
