It began with auto parts, then came tattoos, cookies … and then the drones.
QR codes were born on Japanese factory floors in 1994, when DENSO engineers designed them to make production more efficient than bar codes allowed. Today, we scan QR (Quick Response) codes without thinking about them. Opening up a menu, a ticket, payment screens, websites, or logins with one quick tap of the phone, we may not even know much about the code doing the work. After all, no one created QR codes for any of those things. After leaving Japanese factories, QR codes began a strange and fascinating migration into everyday lives…and some other, wonderfully weird places!
Today’s Trivia Question
What was the first general commercial product to use a QR code?
Bonus points if you know where else QR codes turned up as they exited factories.
| A Few More for Fun… |
In 2002, the first phones capable of scanning QR codes appeared in Japan. Soon, people began finding uses that were never part of the original plans for the codes. Take the example of a soccer fan in Argentina…
A River Plate soccer (football) fan had a working QR code tattooed on his leg. What did that QR code link to?
After that, the QR code just kept right on migrating from one strange spot to another. It has even made its way into cemeteries. Codes appear on headstones and burial markers, and scanning them often takes visitors to online memorials, biographies, family histories, and more.
And after that, what other new frontier did the QR code cross? Well, how about dessert?
Researchers in Japan successfully hid a functional QR code inside what food?
By 2026, the QR code had even gone airborne.
So, from factories to contact lenses, tattoos to tombstones, and cookies to the night sky, the QR code has had a long, strange journey.
| A Few More Trivia Questions Before You Go… |
DENSO patented the QR code, but what surprising choice did the company make to help the code spread around the world?
In a TV spot for Ready Player One a hidden QR code unlocked what for any sharp-eyed fans who spied it?
QR codes were rapidly adopted into Japan’s “kanban” factory system. What does the word kanban literally mean?
Answers
Today’s question Answer: B. Contact lens packaging. The small packages were a good fit for a code that could hold lots of information without taking up a lot of space. Bonus points if you knew that a stationery manufacturer’s catalog was the first to use QR codes to streamline ordering. | |
| 01 | Answer: C. A video celebrating the team’s victory over Boca Juniors. The tattoo really worked. The artist explained that unusual precision was needed, along with the ideal spot on the man’s leg, in order to prevent distortion and a malfunctioning code. |
| 02 | Answer: D. A cookie. Researchers built a working QR code into the cookie itself. When lit from behind, light shone up through the cookie, and a phone could then read a QR code. Not exactly a Mission: Impossible-style “this message will self-destruct”, but close enough. After all, who could resist eating that message? |
| 03 | Answer: D. 9,370. On August 13, 2026, the Guinness World Records reported that a giant formation of 9,370 drones was used to create the world’s “largest multirotor/drone QR code formation”. |
| 04 | Answer: C. About 30%. QR codes contain error-correcting information that can help reconstruct data if part of the code can no longer be clearly read! |
| 05 | Answer: B. It permitted anyone to use the tech without enforcing its patent rights. DENSO kept the patent but chose not to exercise the rights, allowing other companies to adopt QR codes freely! |
| 06 | Answer: D. China. Xilinshui Village in Hebei Province arranged 130k Chinese juniper trees into a giant QR code that prompted local tourism. |
| 07 | Answer: C. A secret video narrated by Steven Spielberg and author Ernest Cline. The code appeared in 2018 and directed viewers to behind-the-scenes material tied to the popular film. |
| 08 | Answer: B. Signboard. In Toyota’s production system, a kanban is a visual signal that indicates what parts are needed and when. Today, that word (just like QR codes) has migrated beyond factories and is used for project-management boards all around the world. |
How did you do? Score 1 point for each correct answer and 1 point for each bonus you knew. Perfect score: 10.
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