Tanga.com – Woot’s Newest Competition

So I’ve been going to Tanga.com every night for the past month in order to solve the nightly puzzles.  The puzzles are really neat, but nobody knew just exactly what the site was all about… until tonight.

Well, Tanga just officially launched and it turns out they are modeled on Woot.com… from offering a single product per day, all the way down to the attempt at witty copywriting.  Except it doesn’t feel right.  Maybe that’s because the site is only hours-old, but still.  Woot.com has some kind of genius writers because their stuff is actually funny, subtle and witty beyond belief.  The copy on Tanga.com just seems forced… like if your Mom was trying to use “teenage lingo”.

However, with that said, Tanga is doing three distinct things that has left Woot in the dust.

1. Tanga offers a daily bit of content.  So far, it has been very well crafted puzzles.  (Though some may argue that Woot *does* offer content via their (usually hilarious) MP3 having to do with the product of the day.)
2. Tanga has a point system whereby Users can earn points for various things.  Points to be redeemed at a future date.  ( Who wants to bet that Woot will start offering WootPoints in the near future?)
3. Tanga offers it’s newest product at 10pm Eastern time.  SMART!  (I always hated the fact that Woot offers their at 1am.  They are just trying to be cool, but it comes off as annoying.)

So far, Tanga is off to a good start.  They’ve sold out of XBoxes and their second offering, the excellent designer boardgame Alhambra.  I *almost* bought a copy, but occasionally I’ve just got to say “no” to myself.