The New Jersey Devils have introduced a new souvenir concession item that turns a popcorn bucket into a miniature hockey game. The Devils-branded bucket, developed by Levy Restaurants, includes a small pinball-style hockey game built into its top, letting fans use a piece of popcorn as a puck while they eat.
The item joins a growing trend of novelty food containers at sports venues nationwide, which have included beer served in items shaped like sticks, skates, sabres and horns, as well as a small plastic Zamboni-shaped container used to hold chicken tenders. The New York Islanders are also planning a new food item this season, described as a culinary “disasterpiece.”
The design has drawn some good-natured skepticism from sports commentators, who questioned why a concession item needs to entertain fans at a hockey game when the game itself is meant to be the entertainment. One commentary piece joked that a fan who bought the bucket for their kids might find them more interested in flicking popcorn back and forth than watching the players on the ice.
Despite the ribbing, the product has become part of the ongoing competition among sports franchises to create memorable, shareable concession novelties, particularly ones that double as take-home souvenirs for fans attending games at Prudential Center in Newark.
