Working prototype · funding roadmap

Every squishy has a story.
Let’s give it a record.

Squishy Star is building the NeeDoh price guide that grades condition and shows every sale: careful identification, original and permissioned reference photography, completed-sale research, and values that show their work.

The prototype is live. Founding beta valuations are free, nothing is sold on the site, and every identification still requires human review.

Andrew Rider's original photograph of a blue NeeDoh Nice Cube being compressed beside its package
Original household photography · Research Set 001

Live evidence

What exists today

These figures come from the production research database. They are progress measures—not inflated coverage or accuracy claims.

19cataloged products
60verified exact variants
5photo-backed variants
13valuation-ready products
0saved benchmark cases
1

Photo intake

Owners submit multiple views, packaging clues, visible text, and barcode details through a private upload.

2

Candidate matching

Server-side visual analysis extracts observable clues and ranks records already present in the Squishy Star database.

3

Human confirmation

A reviewer confirms the product and variant—or leaves it unidentified. The scanner cannot approve its own answer.

4

Evidence valuation

Completed sales, condition, packaging, and match quality produce a traceable range only when evidence is sufficient.

Join the Founding 1,000

Early collectors get first access, a founding number, and a say in what we catalog next.

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What crowdfunding unlocks

From a working foundation to a full NeeDoh price guide

01 · Identity library

Broader verified coverage

Research exact products, colorways, sizes, packaging, SKUs, UPCs, releases, and retirement status. Unknown facts stay visibly unknown.

02 · Reference photography

A consented visual corpus

Expand original photography and opt-in, owner-reviewed private reference examples without turning personal uploads into public advertising.

03 · Market evidence

Defensible value ranges

Collect completed-sale comparables, normalize shipping and lots, document condition, and keep active asking prices out of sold-price calculations.

04 · Independent testing

Known and unknown benchmarks

Lock expected answers before each model run, measure Top-1 and Top-5 results, and publish failure rates—including confident wrong matches.

First public-release evidence gate

100 products · 50 exact variants · 50 photo-backed variants · 25 UPC-backed variants · 10 products with sufficient completed sales · 100 labeled benchmark cases including at least 20 unsupported items.

See the original photo library →

AI and data transparency

Human judgment stays in the loop.

Squishy Star uses OpenAI’s server-side Responses API to extract visible clues and help rank candidate records. It does not train a private model on a person’s photos, automatically authenticate collectibles, or calculate value from appearance alone.

The reference database combines direct manufacturer facts, manually reviewed market evidence, Andrew Rider’s original household photography, and optional owner-submitted examples retained only with explicit consent. Private uploads stay protected. A contributor may decline reference-library use or request removal.

What the system will not claim

  • A confident image match is not proof of authenticity.
  • An active listing is not a completed sale.
  • A product without sufficient evidence does not receive a fabricated value.
  • An unsupported item remains unidentified.
  • Campaign examples are not presented as independent customer traction.

Honest risks

What still has to be proven

Catalog coverage. The squishy market contains changing assortments and products with weak archival records.

Photo quality. Loose items, missing packaging, glare, and near-identical colorways can prevent exact identification.

Sale evidence. Some products trade too rarely for a defensible market range.

Human throughput. Trust requires review, source checking, and corrections; responsible growth cannot be instant.

Help build the collector record.

Try the prototype, keep the package, photograph every side, and let uncertainty be part of the evidence.

Submit a squishy for review