“Classics Age” – The Flexibility of Planned Obsolescence in Terms of the Classic Finnish Board Game Kimble

Planned obsolescence most commonly refers to the deliberate limitation and weakening of the use, usability and durability of a product or service. Its purpose is to stimulate consumption. Planned obsolescence is harmful for both users and the environment, and has been studied from both economical and technological aspects. It also has several sub-concepts, methods and techniques. This article focuses on conceptual flexibility of planned obsolescence in terms of the classic Finnish board game Kimble. It asks, how does a classic product change the purpose, outcome, and definition of planned obsolescence? This article presents the author’s lifespan theory of classic products: the cultural neo-production process in which the same product is re-introduced to the users several times, and is partly influenced by planned obsolescence. This article suggests new forms of obsolescence, adaptive and forced obsolescence, that stress the fact that obsolescence is a flexible and ubiquitous phenomenon. It is not always planned, nor is its outcome always perpetual. Classic products need obsolescence to exist.