This is where KeiKei and her sister Carmen talk about everything new in Webkinz World! From games to pets to themes, contests, and prizes, this is what we think! Now, what do you think? Let's talk Webkinz!
The Fall Clothing and Halloween Costumes are here!
The second half of the clothing line should arrive in the next update on October 10.
The regular clothing items are not quite as inexpensive as last year's surprisingly low-cost Fall clothing prices...
Berry Pickin' Galoshes---140 KC Big Blue Bow Belt----60 KC Boy's Navy Cardigan and Scarf---190 KC Fallen Leaves Headband---50 KC Hunter Green Hiker Shoes---215 KC Orange Sporty Warm-Up Zippy---175 Pink Punk Riot Dress---200 KC Rainbow Spirals Tee--100 KC Rusty Red Tam---90 KC
All of the current Halloween costume choices are from last year: Egyptian Mummy Costume---445 total
275 for costume; 75 for shoes; 95 for mask Ladybug Costume---550 total
320 for costume; 150 for shoes; 80 for headband Martian Costume--580 total
350 for costume; 80 for headband; 150 for boots X-Ray Costume---350 KC
The costumes that did not return from 2011 are the classic Candy Corn Witch Costume and the Zombie Costume.
The Halloween Theme is here!
Or the first half of it, anyway. Almost all of these items have returned from last year, with about three new ones. This theme is not for the faint of heart--or of wallet; buying one of every item will cost you a whopping 11,527 KinzCash.
From last year, we have...
Bone Chilling Fridge---750 KC
Cold Flames Cauldron---1,300 KC
Creepy Cursed Chair---250 KC
Freaky Full Moon Window---350 KC
Frightening Fireplace---1,133 KC [animated!]
Ghastly Grave--1,013 KC [animated!]
Haunted House Table---1,150 KC [animated; cannot be rotated]
Horrifying Halloween Flooring/Wallpaper---350 KC each
Jack O'Lantern Candelabra---285 KC [animated!]
Jack O'Lantern Wall Sticker---113 KC
Mad Scientist Workstation---1,313 KC [animated!]
Scary Specter Wall Sticker---113 KC
Spider Webbed Bookshelf---666 KC [animated!] and we wonder how they got that one past Terrifying Torch---390 KC [animated!] Witch's Banquet Place Setting---125 KC Super Scary Stove---1,031 [works like a regular stove]
New to the theme... Green Ooze Puddle---95 KC [goes on the floor like a rug] Slimy Sink---750 [works like a regular sink despite the slime]
Eager Beavers Announce Future Change to Kinzville!
According to Nuts and Bolts, the hosts of the game Eager Beaver, a great change that will "change the face of Kinzville" is going to occur on October 17, 2012.
We have no idea what this change is but cross your fingers that it isn't a total conversion to 3-D graphics because there will be a lot of boycotting if that happens. Most of it will be from me.
And now for something completely different: a Pokemon promotion!
I was surprised, too! To promote the US release of Pokemon Black and White 2, players who have not blocked 3rd party ads on their accounts will see a floating Pokeball from September 26 to October 21st. And the what is the prize for clicking on it? A Pokeball to put in your pet's room? An Oran Berry to feed to them (automatically increasing their health by 10)? A plush Pikachu? A Pokedex? A copy of Pokemon Special? Misty's overalls? The hat from the protagonist of Emerald, which would look adorable on your pet?
The Rock Star Outfit is the source of those "priceless" Rock Star Sunglasses, most commonly known as "shuts". If you find yourself being driven batty in search of those glasses which are apparently worth very very much then today (September 16) only, go onto WKN and wait for the floating Midnight Monster to appear. (you'll have to search around.) Click on it, enter your account information, and you shall find a Rock Star Outfit, complete with boots, shirt, torn jeans, and shuts, in your Dock.
Some people aren't too thrilled about this--some worked very hard to get the glasses, some are proud of getting them in a Webkinz shirt code (the original way to get the outfit) and have kept them since then, and the general worry is of their worth dropping.
My thoughts on this?
...how does it actually serve as Sunglasses and keep the sun out of your eyes, when there's not lenses, but lines? (additional note: how does one see through them?)
And why isn't it the shirt that's in high demand? That thing's awesome.
For those of you who were noting that Webkinz Friends was too easy, well, now the difficulty has been increased! Which, needless to say, has left many a Webkinz fan very unhappy.
-Energy, formerly taking 3 minutes to regenerate, now takes 5 minutes.
-Certain resources now take longer to grow. (for example, Spaghetti Plant now takes 6 hours instead of 1)
-You can now see certain resources and items that you need to complete a quest to unlock
-For some bizarre reason, it now takes 81 hours to collect from the Curio Shop (the heck happened there?)
-A few of the quests are finally realizing that I've asked friends for things, which is most certainly a bonus.
-One thing that they admittedly messed up pretty badly: the food-to-time ratio. Carrots still take 5 minutes for 5 units of food, but the rest turned out a little wrong.
Food-Units-Time to grow
Strawberry-9-10 minutes
Sushi-25-2 hours
Tomato-14-45 minutes
Ice Cream Tree-35-3 hours
Zucchini Plant-22-1 hour
Spaghetti Plant-42-6 hours
Cupcake Tree-60-7 hours
-Certain decorations now cost Facebook credits.
Pool=20 Credits
Lovebird Lake=35 Credits (but it gives 900+ town quality)
Hand Sculpted Statue=35 Credits
There's probably a lot more than what I've mentioned, so leave a comment to tell me if I've missed anything.
I really don't see what everybody's so mad about! Is it so bad that a little handful of items aren't free anymore? And is it really so terrible to have to wait a few more minutes or hours? The nice thing about Webkinz Friends is that, since things run in real time, you don't have to have the page open or even have your computer running for things to grow and regenerate. So you could be spending that extra time doing something else! Ride your bike around the yard, go watch cartoons from the 90's, read that book you really should be reading, practice that song you really need to be practicing, draw something for Drawing Day which happens to be today...
DiceKinz is a game that's been around for many years. Players could play against either a friend or the computer, and would race to see who'd reach the finish line first with dice, strategy, and sometimes luck. Players started with a basic set of dice, but could expand their collections with Pet Packs, which were unlocked after adopting a certain pet (Cocker Spaniel, Panda, Cheeky Cat, etc.). However, Pet Packs were retired on March 30, 2011--except for the Koala pack, probably because it was set to remove all instances of "Pet Pack" from the W-Shop, and the Koala's was called "Koala PetPack".
On June 6, Ganz has announced, the DiceKinz game will be retired from Webkinz World. If you bought a Pet Pack before they were retired, and haven't opened it yet, you can sell it back to the W-Shop for a full refund.
There is a little upside to the retirement of this classic game: on June 6, players with DiceKinz dice in their accounts who log in on that day will receive this lovely trophy, as a memento of their DiceKinz playing days.
Ganz has also announced the retirement of the rare Egyptian theme.
The Egyptian Theme, shown in its entirety* above, is one of the oldest Rare themes in Webkinz World. Pieces of Rare themes are found in the Curio Shop at certain hours, can be found in Trading Card codes, and can be given randomly in the dice you roll when adopting any pet after your 10th.
On June 20, the theme will bid farewell to Webkinz World.
As of this announcement, you've got 29 days to work on completing the theme!
The Webkinz Insider Forum has a widget on the top of the page that shows the Curio Shop's stock for the day, in Asia, Europe, and North America, along with the times they're for sale. If you're looking for the theme, you can find its known times for sale there.
Plumpy the Hippo will also be/has been in the Trading Hall every day this week, with Egyptian theme items for trade! She'll take anything for them. She posts on WKN the times she'll be in the Trading Hall...but so far, nobody's been able to find her!
*except for the Desert Window, which is an adoption exclusive that's been retired anyway.
"What happened to the blog this week?"
Camping. Camping happened. And now I'm back, so let's get this show on the road!
Webkinz Insider has conducted and published a 10-question interview with the Creative Director of Webkinz World about Webkinz Friends.
Apparently, Webkinz World's Creative Director is also the Creative Director of Webkinz Friends. Cool. You can find the interview here.
Ganz has also announced that Webkinz Friends will soon be playable on the iPad! The iPad Webkinz Friends will be identical to the Facebook app in every way, except for updating slightly later than the Facebook app.
Also there are more places added to the Webkinz Road Trip Map I just now checked that
why don't they announce these things
It appears that Missouri, West Virginia, and Tennessee have been added to the map! There will be 1 stop in West Virginia, 3 stops in Missouri, and 1 stop in Tennessee.
West Virginia
June 18, 11 AM-1 PM Huntington Cabell Huntington Hospital
Missouri
June 29, 2-4 PM St. Louis Schaefer's Hobby Shop June 30 Washington Altemueller Jewelery
As you may know, for Let's Talk Webkinz' 1st birthday on May 8th, we ran a Treasure Hunt. To play, you just looked for underlined words in LTW articles, wrote them down, and tried to decipher them into a message. We tried to make the message complicated enough to not be guessed immediately, but it may have been a little too complicated...
So I will give you two hints. If anyone doing the Treasure Hunt really needs them, they are after the break.
As such, you cannot use this without a Facebook account. (yet?) You can find the app here.
This new app is called Webkinz Friends. It is currently in beta, and is a Farmville-meets-Webkinz kind of world. It is a lot more complicated than Webkinz World, as would be expected of an app that only 13+ can use.
Here is the app description:
Webkinz Friends is a social game where you can make a big happy family
in the Kinzville of your dreams, with the added benefit of sending
prizes to anyone in Webkinz World!
This is what it looks like...
This is a snippet of Sir Rhineholt's yard. What's supposed to be animated, is, and it's the perfect opportunity to decorate with eStore items when you normally couldn't.
About every 5 minutes, a little ditty that sounds like a cross between Mazin-Hamsters/Creatures Adventures music plays. Birds chirp the whole time.
Upon starting up, Ms. Birdy greets you, and asks you to choose a Webkinz with which to represent yourself in your Kinzville. You also get to name it. You may choose a Black and White Cat, Golden Retriever, Basset Hound, Pig, Cow, Hippo, Cocker Spaniel, or Lion. They don't get specified genders, though.
Then they just traipse around the roads.
The features of the game are as follows: Pet Adoption--You can adopt Webkinz pets to create your family. You can use the codes from actual Webkinz plush pets (only works if the code is unused, or was used after May 2012), and you can collect Adoption Certificates from the Adoption Center, and trade them in for a pet (which can only be used in the app, of course). Plush pets adopted in Webkinz Friends come with their PSI.
You earn 1 Adoption Certificate a day. It takes 5 Certificates for your first pet, 10 for the second, 15 for the third, and so on--just multiply the number pet it is by 5.
Upon adopting a new pet, you can choose if you want a new room in your house, OR 2,000 KinzCash.
I do not know exactly how this plush-adoption thing works. We know that Webkinz World first, then Webkinz Friends does not work, but does Webkinz Friends first, then Webkinz World work? I imagine it would only be fair for it to work as such, because I'm not going to buy a plushie just to have it wander around in my Facebook app.
Kinzville--Everyone's wondered what Kinzville looks like in-depth...and now we know--whatever you want it to look like! Yep, you can make little buildings and houses and make your own Kinzville. Sir Rhineholt, your first and default friend, has his own bustling Kinzville that looks like this:
Goals--As you play, you'll see goals--a little Cocker Spaniel in a box--on the left side of the screen. Completing these goals gets you KinzCash, items, goods, and prizes!
Experience--The more you have, the more levels you get. The more levels, the more items you can unlock in the KinzMart. The more items, the bigger your Kinzville can become!
Goods--On the top of your screen, there are Goods. There are four types: Materials, which you get from resources like the Mystery Mine. You can also get them from cutting down pine trees. Materials are used to make buildings. The second type is Food. They're used to stock restaurants. The third type is Items. They're used to stock places like the W-Shop. And lastly is the Clothes, which are used to stock places like clothing stores.
Kinzfolk (I've always wondered what you call citizens of Kinzville)--Kinzfolk are just Webkinz that run around your town, adding the cutest slice of life. A wider variety of Kinzfolk are made available by buying Pet Packs in the KinzMart, however, these packs cost real money in the form of Facebook credits.
Happiness--This is important, as the more happiness you have, the more bonuses you get from harvests from buildings and resources. To get more happiness, have a large family, and/or a high-quality town.
Town Quality--Based on what's in your town, the Quality level helps determine your Happiness level. You can increase the Quality with a big Webkinz family and having lots of Kinzfolk.
Neighbors--These are your Facebook friends that you invite to Webkinz Friends. You can visit their towns, and help them by collecting from businesses and harvesting crops. This gives you Experience and KinzCash. You can only help out with 5 buildings daily, though.
Your House--Or just "My Room" in WW terms, your house allows you to make recipes. You can also decorate it, of course! You can also get a Happiness bonus from it--the more pets in your family, the more Happiness you earn.
Eager Beavers take care of the construction work. :D
...that Tomato Soup recipe up there is the most sensible one I've seen Webkinz World associated with. (also, I feel duped. I took a book, some gardening tools, and a pen and tossed them together in real life, and was not given a blank book. Just some confetti.)
Collections--Collections are groups of items that you can get from collecting from buildings and harvesting crops. They're awarded randomly, so you never know what you'll get, but the goal is to get ALL the pieces in the collection. For getting a complete collection, you can trade them in for KinzCash, goods, or a special item. Some Collection items can be used in recipes.
Whew! That's a long list.
Ms. Birdy shows up at the start of your Kinzville to guide you through a tutorial. The first building you build is your own house, and you can build other houses, too, from mobile homes to mansions.
You can adopt pets, but only a few varieties work--there's a list you can find here, along with a Q&A of Webkinz Friends. eStore pet codes don't work and due to the lack of a place to enter codes, Zumbuddies and Mazin' Hamsters wouldn't work, either.
If this sounds like something you'd like to check out, do note that the app requires the following of your Facebook account:
Basic information (name, gender, list of friends, anything you've made public)
Your birthday
The ability to send you e-mail notifications
Post on your behalf (make posts about stuff you've done in Webkinz Friends)
Manage your [Webkinz Friends-related] notifications
For more information, check out the following:
-this video, made by the staff of Webkinz Insider
There is also a Webkinz Friends website, though there's not much point to it, as it just shows the WF title screen and gives a link to the Facebook app, the only place so far to play it.
The thing that I find the best about this new app so far is that the decorations you can place are real items from Webkinz World. Also, there's an option to make it fullscreen. It just makes it so much cooler.
The app runs surprisingly fast, and the little Webkinz running around are so cute! There's so freaking much to learn, though, and it's still in beta, so who knows what's still ahead.
You can send gifts to WW accounts, apparently, but I don't know how to do that yet.
On the Kinzville Map, you'll see a new gazebo, right next to the My Page icon. Click on that, and this will appear:
The way this works is that you ask your friends for flowers--you can ask 10 friends a day, but you can only get 5 flowers daily. You also get 1 free flower daily, and from May 10-31, you can get flowers from WKN. You can also buy them from the eStore.
"Why all the flowers?"
Because prizes.
Upon collecting...
10 Flowers------Bloomin' Comfy Chair
20 Flowers------Baby Buttercups Plant
40 Flowers------Lollipop Seeds
55 Flowers------Flourishing Tree and Flower Bed
75 Flowers------Grand Prize: Wildflower Gazebo
With the 5 Flower per day limit, if you want the grand prize, you need 15 days to get it. This means the latest you can start is May 17.
As of today, Let's Talk Webkinz has: 5 followers 248 posts (not including this one) 11,048 pageviews, averaging in 1,000-1,400 a month since December 2011 71 comments
Thank You, Everyone!
Lots of news to report! The Wednesday update is tomorrow, May 9th, but I highly doubt that I will be present to make the list on time, so...have the known updates early!
Wednesday Updates: May 9, 2012
Three new Pet of the Month items will be added!
These can be obtained by either trading for them, or by adopting a Pet of the Month during its month--they're basically Exclusive Items given as a bonus for Pets of the Month adopted in their month.
However, to make room, two POTM items will be retired. They are the Dex's Lugbot Lookout and the Blooming Dandelion, both pictured above.
The new items are the Caramel Apple Seeds (which grow into Caramel Apples), Volcanic Geyser, and Air Hockey Arcade Unit!
Three new Challenges will be added.
Deluxe members will be able to take on the Once Upon a Time...Challenge, which is unlocked to them after completing The Big Scoop Challenge.
All WW members can play the New Cat in Town Challenge (unlocked after the Plumpy's Great Advice Challenge), and the Webkinz World Summer Games Challenge (unlocked after the Jungle Safari Challenge).
Albeit 2 days after it was scheduled to be, Ganz has finally added the Webkinz Road Trip Map to Webkinz Newz. It does not show all of the events yet, but it will be updated.
Do note that not all of these dates and times are set in stone. Please try to remain updated with WKN, Webkinz Insider, Let's Talk Webkinz, and by calling the locations the day before the event to make sure that the Van is still stopping there. The Van is scheduled to visit Georgia five times, South Carolina once, North Carolina twice, Virginia twice, Pennsylvania three times, New Jersey twice, Massachusetts once, Maine once, New York three times, Ohio three times (and then to stop at the Ohio State Fair), Minnesota four times (and then to stop at the Minnesota State Fair), and Texas once (then to stop for almost a full month at the Texas State Fair) this year, with a possibility for even more states and events to be added later on.
Georgia
Tuesday, May 1--Woodstock
Melissa's Hallmark, 5-7 PM
Wednesday, May 2--Marietta
Learning Express, 4-6 PM Thursday, May 3--Cumming
Parsons, 4-6 PM Friday, May 4--Richmond Hill
Richmond Hill Pharmacy, 3-5 PM Saturday May 5--Rincon
Curiosity Shoppe Jewelers, 1-3 PM
South Carolina
Tuesday, May 8--Myrtle Beach
Toys and Co., 4:30 PM-6:30 PM
North Carolina
Thursday, May 10--Garner
Peggy's Hallmark, 4-6 PM Saturday, May 12--Kitty Hawk
Grandma Sushi's Closet, 1-3 PM
Virginia
Tuesday, May 15--Portsmouth
Children's Museum of Virginia, 3-5 PM Wednesday, May 16--Richmond
Mackenzie Grace, 3:30-5:30 PM
Pennsylvania
Saturday, May 19--Harrisburg
Strawberry Patch, 1-3 PM
Sunday, May 20--Elysburg
Knoebels Amusement Park, 1-3 PM
Thursday, May 24--Havertown
Ruth's Hallmark Shops, 5-7 PM
New Jersey
Wednesday, May 23--Marlton
Joy's Hallmark, 5:00-7:00 PM
Sunday, May 27--Absecon
Browserama of Historic S[there isn't enough room for the title so I don't know] 1-3 PM
Massachusetts
Tuesday, May 29--Shrewsbury
Herberts Candies, 5-7 PM
Maine
Sunday, June 3--Kennebunk
Best of Everything, 11 AM-1 PM
New York
Thursday, June 7--Webster
Schutt's, 5-7 PM
Saturday, June 9--Williamsville
Raff and Friends, 2-4 PM Sunday, June 10--Arcade
Domes Gift Shop, 2-4 PM
Ohio
Tuesday, June 12--Howland
Gorants Candy, 2-4 PM
Wednesday, June 13--Cleveland
American Greetings Card S[cut off again; assuming it says "Shop"]
10:45 AM-1:45 PM
Thursday, June 14--Cleveland
Nicky Nicole, 1-3 PM
And then the van will stop at the Ohio State Fair in Columbus from Wednesday, July 25 to Sunday,August 5.
Minnesota
Friday, August 10--Rochester
Ashley's Hallmark Sunday, August 12--Minneapolis
The Park at the Mall of America Tuesday, August 14--Burnsville
Ficus and Fig Friday, August 17--Maple Grove
Maggie's Hallmark
Then, the Van will stop in St. Paul for the Minnesota State Fair. The Van will stay there from Thursday, August 23, to Monday, September 3.
Texas
The Van will be stopped in Dallas for the State Fair of Texas from Friday, September 28, until Sunday, October 21.
Thursday, October 25--Houston
Texas Children Hospital, 1-3 PM
This year, we'll be celebrating 7 years of Webkinz World!
Ganz has set up some events in celebration of this day...
-a Contest at Webkinz Newz. The prize is every single Webkinz Day log-in prize! This means you'll get every poster, trophy, and slice of edible cake from 2006-2011--an excellent opportunity for collectors. Enter the contest here!
-and of course, don't forget to log in to your account on April 29 to receive this year's prizes!
-from 2 PM to 3 PM KinzTime on April 29, Ganz will be hosting a party at their Twitter. Prizes at this party include 100 free virtual Webkinz pets, some of which are very rare! Please check out the rules here , the Webkinz Twitter here, and the Facebook message here to get all the details.
You can read more about the Road Trips of the past here (2010) and here (2011), but the basics of the event is that, for the entire summer, Ganz brings out the Webkinz Road Trip Van, and travels all across the USA to different locations. For 2012, the Road Trip begins May 1, and ends in October.
Once the van sets up at the location of the day, then Webkinz fans can stop by--admission is free--and play fun activities such as spinning the Wheel of WOW, tossing Zumbuddy plushies through targets, guessing the amount of Jellybeans in a jar, singing along to Pet of the Month songs, answering Webkinz trivia questions, and maybe even more in 2012! The best part is that for practically every activity, one can win Webkinz Trading Cards, figurines, clothing for their Webkinz Plush, Kinz Klips, stickers, and the Best of KinzTunes CD. On top of all of this, you get a free code for an exclusive Webkinz Road Trip Van, just for showing up!
The map for this year's event will be on WKN on April 25.
If all of this sounds fun, then the so-far published list of events and places can be found below. If you live in Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Minnesota, or Texas, then the Road Trip Van is scheduled to stop at least once in your state!
Additional states with predetermined locations, but not dates, are:
Columbus, Ohio (Ohio State Fair) St. Paul, Minnesota (Minnesota State Fair)
Dallas, Texas (State Fair of Texas)
Do please take into account that it is not a rare happenstance for the
day's events to be cancelled. If you want to go to the Road Trip, please
call the store you'll be visiting ahead of time to make sure the Van
will still be visiting. This is a copy/paste schedule from Webkinz Newz.
Tuesday May 1st
Melissa’s Hallmark
130 Woodstock Square Avenue
Woodstock, GA
Wednesday May 2nd
Learning Express
3625 Dallas Hwy
Ste-718
Marietta, GA
Thursday May 3rd
Parsons
525 Lakeland Plaza
Cumming, GA
Friday May 4th
Curiosity Shoppe Jewelers
210 North Columbia Avenue
Rincon, GA
Saturday May 5th
Richmond Hill Pharmacy
2409 HWY 17
Richmond Hill, GA
Tuesday May 8th
Toys and Co
Broadway at the Beach
1206 Celebrity Circle #207
Myrtle Beach, SC
Thursday May 10th
Peggy's Hallmark
Contact: Kenneth West
233 Shenstone Blvd
Garner NC
Saturday May 12th
Grandma Sushi's Closet
3810 East North Croatan Highway
Kitty Hawk NC
Tuesday May 15th
Courthouse Galleries (Portsmouth Children's Museum)
521 Middle Street
Portsmouth, VA
Wednesday, May 16th
Mackenzie Grace
Richmond, Virginia
Friday May 18th
Banner’s Hallmark
Virginia Gateway
5047 Wellington Road
Gainsville, VA
Saturday, May 19th
Strawberry Patch
112 Strawberry Square
Third and Walnut Street
Harrisburg, PA
Sunday, May 20
Knoebels Amusement Park
Knoebels Blvd
Elysburg, PA
Friday, May 25
Joy's Hallmark
230 N. Maple Ave
Crispin Square S/C
Marlton, NJ
Ganz appears to have brought back the "Trial Account", an option introduced in 2008.
Trial Account History 1
This Trial Account system has had a bit of complicated history. It was first introduced in November 2008, in its own site, Webkinz Demo.com (don't bother searching for it; the website doesn't exist anymore). For the first few days, it was available to all, until Ganz changed it so residents of the USA and Canada couldn't use it. The system for the demo was separate from the regular WW system, meaning that you could use a username already in use by a regular Webkinz World account. The demo was multilingual, meaning you could play in multiple languages other than English.
Those who created a Demo account would receive a male Webkinz Mutt named Patches. The Mutt is a pet only available to Demo/trial accounts, and you could not choose his gender or name. The adoption gifts for the Mutt were:
PSI: Red Dragster (actually the Webkinz Dragster to a non-Demo account)
PSF: Burger and Bun (a regular W-Shop Hamburger to non-Demo accounts)
Plus a Welcome Balloon, 5,000 KinzCash, some furniture, and a Wish Token (despite the fact that the Wish Factory was closed to Demo accounts).
Demo accounts were closed after 24 hours of existence.
Trial Account History 2
Shortly after the Demo's retirement in the US, players were given the option to use a Trial account. Players could choose between the Mutt or Domestic Cat (also a Trial-exclusive pet), and they could choose their new pet's name and gender. The Domestic Cat did not come with its own PSI and PSF. In the trial account, players could only access a few hourly activities, 5 Arcade games, a few pieces of clothing, and not much else. Some players managed to adopt a pet before their 24 hour trial was up, meaning that they got to keep their Domestic Cat or Mutt.
Trial Account History 3: Current Day
Today, it was discovered that the Free Account option was open again, even to members in the USA. Go to the Webkinz homepage, and click on the "New Member" button.
This should be what you see.
I'll make a video about it to post in tomorrow's newsletter. Stick around!
I won't be testing to see if adopting a pet will let you keep your account. Sorry.
Coming to Webkinz World in June 2012 is the Webkinz Rockerz series. Shown in this picture, according to Webkinz Insider, is the Punk Princess Cat. You can find the rest of the four-pet ensemble here.
What makes these pets so special is that they come with, besides their PSI, PSF, and exclusive item all pets get, an exclusive Pet Specific Outfit, and two passes that can be exchanged for items of the Rockerz-only theme!
I'm kind of excited for this. This isn't the only time there have been pets offered with more than a PSI and PSF--there's Signatures, Webkinz Foundation, and Caring Valley pets. How cool! Will these be the only pets released in June 2012, or are there even more?
Ganz has Webkinz Newz for the children, and the Ganz Parent Club for their parents. You need separate accounts to post comments on each one, but on March 14, that will change, as accounts will be upgraded to GanzWorld accounts.
You will need your Webkinz Newz username and password to finish the account upgrade, and after March 14, changing your password will become more difficult.
From what I can gather from the Parent Club's video about the subject, it seems that the upgraded accounts will let people use the new Share Center, also making its debut on March 14, no matter what kind of account they previously held.
Your Webkinz World account will not be affected by this change
If you have a Parent Club account and a Webkinz Newz account, they will merge
You will not lose login information, comments you've made, pictures you've uploaded to the Share Center, or any KinzCash you've gathered from playing games on the WKN/Parent Club sites
The whole point of this is to allow players access to WKN, the Ganz Parent Club, and any future Newz sites with a single log-in.
The following 4 Webkinz are announced Series 3 Adventure Park pets. If you own, but have not adopted, any of them, then it is advised to wait until February 29, 2012. From that date forward, they will be considered AP pets. The pets are: Bengal Tiger Caramel Lion Pinto Horse Pink and White Cat
We'll begin with the Valentine's Day themed ones. They are alike in that they all begin on February 1, end on February 14, and the prize is an eStore Valentine's Day pet. However, the types of contests are different.
Ganz has posted an article recently at Webkinz Newz.
As you may know, the Adventure Park is a place added to WW back in August 2011. However, only owners of a Chimpanzee, Spotted Frog, Koala, Pink Pony, Mud Hippo, or Spotted Leopard could enter, and only those who had adopted those pets after August 2011 could participate in the quests. Later on, Ganz added the Husky, Fox, and Velvety Elephant to the Adventure Park, but again, only those who adopted them after October 2011 could use them in quests. Of course, WW fans were quite annoyed by this, especially those who already owned all of those pets and couldn't/wouldn't buy another one of the same pet.
Well, that is momentarily no longer an issue! Ganz has announced that, for the entire month of February, ALL Webkinz World members will be able to access the Adventure Park to play the Valentine's Quest! So no matter what pet you own or when it was adopted, you'll be able to play this quest! What great news this is!
The Elephant Fountain, the oldest EI still available! A mistake in the WKN article claimed that the Elephant Statue was to retire, which would be impossible, as there is no item in WW with that exact name. The closest thing to it would be the Stone Elephant Statue, an EI from 2005-May 2006, and brought back as an eStore Replica in 2009. This error caused some puzzlement amongst fans, but it appears to have been corrected.
Upon the retirement of this item, the oldest Exclusive Item still available will become the 4-Wheel ATV and the Disco Ball, both introduced June 30, 2007.
The Wading Pool, an item that has been around since October 1, 2008.
And the Farm Tractor, an item that was introduced May 16, 2008.
These items are scheduled to be retired on the February 1, 2012 Wednesday update, so snag them while you can!
And how to get these items? There's five ways:
Adopt a pet, and a random current Exclusive Item will be given to you (excludes the adoption of the first pet on that account)
Stop by the Trading Room and maybe you'll get one in a trade
Spin the Super Wheel on any of the days it's available, and perhaps you'll win one there
Make a Wish of the Day at the Wish Factory and, if you're randomly selected to win that EI, you'll get it
Or, the easiest way that is 100% certain to get the exact EI you'd like, just use your Wish Tokens at the Wish Factory.
Webkinz Newz has just posted an article that concerns Winterfest 2012. Due to the unexpected WW downtime on Tuesday, Winterfest will run until January 15, 2012, rather than January 13, 2012. This not only means two more days of Snowflake fun, it also means Webkinz fans get a chance to catch 20 more snowflakes. As you may know, there's a limit to 5 snowflakes per account on weekdays, but on weekends, you can catch 10! So, if you attend every day of Winterfest this year, you will have 65 prizes to eat, wear, and decorate with! (or throw in a storage bin so you can trade them in 4 years, or to sell for a large sum, if you'd rather do that.)
That's not all! Webkinz World players who log into their accounts this weekend will be given a free Winterfest Party Pack.
And last but not least, there will be a new Winterfest 2012 Challenge added to Webkinz World this weekend. Judging by this WKN article, which contains a video that tells what the prize for this Challenge is, there is only one set of tasks for this Challenge, but of course we will have to wait and see to make sure.
