About

$10 For a Box of Mystery? I’ll Bite

www.itcouldbeaboat.com offers packages of mystery in $10 increments

In a world of definitive choices and rigorous planning, sometimes a little mystery can be a good thing!

At least that’s the theory behind www.itcouldbeaboat.com, a new website that sells solely mystery packages. As the site professes, “who can say no to a little mystery in their lives? Treat yourself or someone else today”.

The theme of the website, or the URL at least, is a reference to an early episode of Fox’s long running show, Family Guy. In the episode, the buffoonish Peter is presented with an option to select a prize, of either a boat, or a mystery box. He proclaims “A boat’s a boat, but a mystery box could be anything. It could even be a boat! You know how much we’ve always wanted one of those! We’ll take the box”.

The URL www.itcouldbeaboat.com references this choice, and insinuates that the mystery package ordered could, potentially, be a boat. For those of you who are suspicious that you would actually receive a boat for a $10 mystery box purchase, the site does quickly put the odds into perspective, and clarifies “to be clear, it will probably not be a boat, but there’s no way to know what you’ll get until it arrives”.

Due to a combination of the risk-free guarantee, and my unashamed admittance of being an avid Family Guy fan, I gave in to the concept, and purchased my own mystery box package.

While I knew (fairly certainly) that I wouldn’t be receiving a boat, it felt like I was holding a recently purchased lottery ticket, waiting for the numbers to be drawn. By the next day I received confirmation that my mystery package was shipped and on its way, and within just a few days, the numbers were indeed drawn! While I did not win the lottery, and I was not the proud owner of a new boat, the mystery box was certainly a worthwhile purchase. I received some fun toys for my kids to play with, as well as nifty cell phone accessories which I’m keeping for myself. Obviously I immediately used my QR scanner on the bar codes for each product, and was surprised to find the value well above the $10 price I paid for the mystery box.

While I would almost certainly not go out and buy all of the items that were sent to me, it was a fun experience, and it was exciting to be involved in this little mystery. I would absolutely recommend purchasing a mystery box package, not just for the value of the products, but at the very least just to add some mystery to your life. I will make sure to buy another one at some point, probably the next time I’m feeling that my life is just a little too planned out.

And hey, you never know. It could be a boat.