Welcome to The Newbie Oobi Project

What is the Newbie Oobi Project

Oobi was a toy, invented in the 60's, with hollow interior for a note and as space on the exterior for an address. The idea was that Oobi would be loaded with a note and left in a public place where a stranger would find it and, assuming they were kind and headed in the right direction, carry Oobi toawrds the address written on the exterior. Unfortunately Oobi was not popular during trials and never reached full production. You can read much more about the original Oobi here.

More recently, Toronto street artist Posterchild created his own oobi-like experiment. New Mexico artist Matt Bohnhoff decided to create the Newbie Oobi Project to test, for himself, the viability of oobi messaging systems. The project creates oobi in new shapes and sizes and track their success rates as they travel toward a variety of destinations.

There are a number of primary characteristics to be considered during oobi design. Like the original oobi, newbie oobi benefit from bright coloring to attract the eye of potential rides. Oobi also need to be small enough to not be a burden while large enough to both hold a note and not get lost. Newbie oobi should be weather resistant and made from recycle materials if possible.

If you have found one of our newbie oobi in the wild, please click here.

Newbie Oobi News

• 3/16/12
  Oobi A034 has been released.
• 3/15/12
  Oobi A031 has been released.
• 3/14/12
  Oobi A035 has been released.
• 11/4/11
  Oobi A030 was the fourth newbie oobi to reach it's final destination.
• 10/31/11
  Oobi A030 has been released.
• 10/22/11
  Oobi A029 has been released.
• 10/16/11
  Oobi A007 has set a new record for distance, totalling 1783 miles so far.
• 8/18/11
  Oobi A028 has been released.
• 1/15/11
  Oobi A027 has been released.
• 11/17/10
  Oobi A025 has been released.
• 6/14/10
  Oobi A023 has been released.
• 3/27/10
  Oobi A024 and A026 have been released.
• 3/20/10
  Oobi A022 has been released.
• 3/15/10
  Oobi A021 has been released.
• 2/26/10
  The third clutch of newbie oobi are ready to be released.
• 10/10/09
  Oobi A019 was the third oobi to reach it's final destination.
• 9/25/09
  Oobi A018 and A019 have been released.
• 9/24/09
  Oobi A016 was the second newbie oobi to reach it's final destination. Also, A012 has travel farther than any newbie oobi, totalling 1601 miles so far.
• 8/9/09
  Oobi A020 has been released.
• 7/26/09
  Oobi A015, A016, and A017 have been released.
• 7/18/09
  Oobi A007, A008, A011, A012, A013, and A014 have been released.
• 7/8/09
  The second clutch of newbie oobi are ready to go.
• 6/15/09
  Oobi A006 became the first newbie oobi to reach it's final destination.
• 6/7/09
  Oobi A009, and A010 were all released. A002 became the first Newbie Oobi to reach another city.
• 5/4/09
  Oobi A002, A003, A004, and A005 were released.
• 5/2/09
  Oobi A006 was released.
• 5/1/09
  Website fully functional and Oobi A001 has been released. God speed, A001.
• 4/24/09
  Website established. The first clutch of newbie oobi are almost ready for release. Testing should begin shortly.

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