Hey Poptropicans, pop quiz incoming! Head over to Escape From Pelican Rock Island and you’ll find a new pop-up stand right in front of Bay City Bank on Main Street asking: Good vs Evil — Which are you?
Click to “Take Quiz” and you’ll get five fun questions to determine just how malicious of a person you are. The quiz is hosted on Interact Quiz Maker, so you can also visit its direct link here to take this pop quiz!
(Spoiler) If you answered like you’re an angel, your result is that “You’re a good one! Phew! You’re certainly not evil. High-five!” But if you pick even one of any of the guilty responses, you’ll get “Evil Villain! You’re a regular human who does questionable stuff sometimes. Unless you answered yes to the last question. You may be an evil mastermind!”
Thanks, BrittScarlet, for letting us know about the quiz update — as well as this next one. If you check your Poptropica messages, you might find a new one that promises new games starting in January!
Also in your messages, you may find a notification about the announcement of the Design Your Dream Island Contest winner. In case you missed it, Fairy Tale Island is only the first of a few winners — we’re still waiting to hear about the rest, which were supposed to be announced last week!
If you’ve been traveling around Poptropica lately, you may have noticed the recent ad for The Croods popping up at inopportune moments, as its own ad scene with an incongruent background: the hand-drawn streets of Timmy Failure Island. You might come across it while entering and exiting buildings on Home Island, for example.
But recently, it’s gotten more ridiculous, even appearing right as you jump in your blimp. Tell me, Poptropica, why I’m having to cross the street before flying off to a new island? The game world might defy logic from time to time, but this much? What do you think?
Speaking of ads, there’s another one on the map: American Girl has returned, but this time as a bit of an Australian Girl. Check out our deep dive into American Girl: Kira’s Island, with all its authenticities and oddities, in the post below! See ya later, mate. 🦘
Hey Poptropicans! The long-awaited announcement for the Design Your Dream Island Contest winner is here — but apparently, it’s only just the beginning. 🏝✨
Dropping in late Monday night (around 8 p.m. Eastern time), the Creators’ Blog finally posted a winner whose idea will turn from fable to reality in Poptropica: Fairy Tale Island by Perfect Crab! But wait, there’s more: blown away by the hundreds of entries they received in the past couple of months, the Poptropica Creators will be announcing multiple winners for this contest. Stay tuned as we await further news this week!
Transported by the magic of the movies.
Meanwhile, Perfect Crab’s idea is sounding like the perfectly twisted fairy tale. Here’s what the Creators had to share about it:
The plot: On an island ruled by fairy tales, something has gone awry. The fairy tales are getting mixed up and no one is getting their happily ever after.
We loved this entry because it had a full storyline, a great set of characters, and intrigue! It also touches on a bunch of classic tales that are rich in storytelling.
Poptropica Creators’ Blog
Congrats to Perfect Crab for this crowning moment, which comes with a one-year membership prize! And, although it’ll probably be a while before the island gets made, we can’t wait to play Fairy Tale Island.
(If you’re reading this, Perfect Crab, we’d love to share more about your island idea here on the PHB. And for everyone else who isn’t Perfect Crab, we’d be happy to share yours too — just contact us!)
Whether you have stakes in the game as a contest participant or just want to hear about other people’s island ideas, you can join us over on our Discord server, the PHC, as we eagerly anticipate the rest of the results of the Dream Island contest. May the greatest islands win — and may we all win when Poptropica pulls up with new adventuresome islands, like Fairy Tale Island, in 2021!
In other news, December 28 was also a big day in Poptropica for one other reason: it was the official end of the Flash era of Poptropica, with all Flash accounts scheduled to smoothly transition over to the game’s Haxe build, which has steadily been updating since February of this year.
So if you’ve been playing on Flash, you may log in to see some changes — most notably, the fewer islands on the map — but rest assured, most of your stuff (from items to islands completed) has made it over to Haxe. Scrolling through my items, I found many classics from the Flash days that haven’t formally been introduced to Haxe until now, like the 8th birthday balloon and even the infamous Fart Gun.
Animated items ran noticeably slower and may have contributed to lag.
Classic items from the Flash days made it to Haxe.
Some players have reported still being able to access the game on Flash via the unofficial Format Loader tool. But with the plug being pulled on Flash any day now, that’s probably not going to last for long — so be ready for the inevitable migration. We know, it’s sad to say goodbye, but at least the presence of Early Poptropica on the map (i.e. all the classic islands for members) might assure us that Poptropica is keeping their promise of making the old islands accessible after 2020.
There are some new store items in Haxe, too. Well, more like one item recolored a few times and being passed off as different—take a look at the jackets of the Boss Babe, Neon Rockstar, and Pretty Tough costumes. New hair, same styles. The other items in the store are similar to last week’s selection, though some costumes were switched out.
Catch you all soon in the next update — we’ll be waiting for the other winners of the Dream Island contest. 🤞 What a way to end the year!
So much has happened in the past 365 days… and we’ve got a lot of it on the record. Tune into the PHB on New Year’s Eve for a look back on 2020 in our upcoming annual Rewind! 🥳
Hey, Poptropicans! Yesterday, the Creators posted a teaser image for a new Dr. Hare-themed minigame and offered a way for fans to help make it! Let’s take a look!
The game has a cute retro art style and stars a Dr. Hare who has nearly gone full rabbit. As for gameplay, it seems that you would need to jump up the platforms and reach a checkpoint before time runs out. There are also items like clocks that give extra time, stars that likely give extra points, and spikes that thwart Dr. Hare’s escapades.
This minigame already has a lot going for it; however, it is missing one crucial thing: a name. The Creators are asking fans to come up with a unique title for this new game. Do you have any cool or punny game names? You can send them to the Creators on the Creators’ Blog or on Instagram, The game will be releasing very soon, so hop to it!
With the release of Arabian Nights: How Bazaar on Haxe, Poptropica made four Arabian Nights-themed coloring pages to “keep the sense of adventure alive”. The first page is an elaborately decorated frame, and the other three are characters from Arabian Nights. You can save the pages from the Creators’ Blog to your computer so you can print them or color them digitally.
When you’re done, you can send your newly colored masterpiece (or any Poptropica-related art) to the Creators via the Submissions page. Your art could be featured on the Creators’ Blog or even in Poptropica’s video player! While you’re there, you can also submit an entry for the Create Your Dream Island contest. Who knows? Your dream island might become a reality just like Arabian Nights did.
Hey everyone! After hardly six days since the Creators’ first announcement, Arabian Nights Episode 1: How Bazaar has appeared on the Haxe map! And, as promised, it’s open for members and non-members alike to play.
Arabian Nights, as shown on the Haxe map.
I’ve just run through the new How Bazaar, and here’s what’s I found to report: it seems that, unlike Mythology Island, the Creators made the decision to keep Arabian Nights the same as its Flash equivalent. Most of the scenes remained almost exactly as those in Flash, and the only differences I could spot in the entire island were minor dialogue changes.
Better yet, I experienced very little lag whilst playing. Despite the pop-up ads between scenes, the gameplay was quite smooth! I’d say that overall, Arabian Nights has given me fresh hope for what can be done on Haxe. If Arabian Nights can be executed so well, maybe the islands still waiting for a port will turn out awesome too.
By the way, bring along the PHB’s Arabian Nights Island Guide for handy help as you play through the episode!
A couple scenes from Arabian Nights on Haxe.
For the first time in a while, Quippy has appeared on time! You’ll find the little droid—sporting a cunning thief garb—in the Rumi’s Rugs common room, waiting to deliver his newest stash of Arabian Nights gear.
Did Quippy join the ranks of the Forty Thieves?
And speaking of the Arabian Nights gear pack, let’s see what’s in store! The four new items include: Arabian Style, Silent Thief, Desert Lizard Follower*, and Purple Smoke Bomb*. (Two of which are members-only.)
It’s the latest desert fashion.
The Creators haven’t yet mentioned if the later episodes of Arabian Nights are planned to be released as well; although, in separate news, they did mention in their most recent post that they’ve already received hundreds of submissions in the Create Your Dream Island contest! Wow. Competition is getting real, and there’s still plenty of time left to submit your ideas! All this Arabian Nights stuff is sure to get creative juices flowing.
That’s all the news today! What are your opinions on the new Arabian Nights? What islands do you hope to see converted next? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Welcome back to “Pop Places IRL,” Poptropicans! We’re gonna be moseying back in time today to visit Wild West Island! And if you like this series, sure to check out other Pop Places IRL posts.
Wild West Island quite obviously takes place in the western US during the American frontier period of the 19th century. The time period has been highly romanticized, especially in film, so there’s no wonder we have a Poptropica island themed around it!
photo: Dodge City (smithsonianmagazine)
Pretty much every building, character, and background matches this old western aesthetic. Details range from apparel, architecture, fonts, dialogue, and beyond! Sometimes the smallest changes can have a big impact on an island’s theme. The setting has this wide open feeling, and I think Poptropica was able to successfully portray that in their own style. Do you agree?
Rawhide: It’s a little wild, and a little strange, when you make your home out on the range.
Double Dos: This cactus looks lonely. Maybe it should stop being so prickly.
photo: The Wild West Era (vintagenews)
photo: Wild West (BBC)
One of the most iconic places in any old western town is, of course, the Saloon (in this case, found in Diamond Plains). And Poptropica did manage to make such a location kid-friendly enough to be included! Anyone care for a round of root beer? It’s on me!
Saloonatics: This Poptropican is a stand-in that you’ll never see on any Island.
photo: Old Saloons (vinepair)
photo: Saloon (wallpaperup)
Another noteworthy building would definitely be the Marshal’s Office or Jail (also in Diamond Plains). Whatever the law enforcement may be (sheriff, marshal, constable, you name it), even deputies seemed to be quite prevalent in a time rampant with outlaws, bounty hunters, and gangs. It was cowboys galore!
Marshal Law: Justice is black and white.
photo: Old West Jail Interior (Jeffery L. Cohen’s flickr)
Since we mentioned the jail, we of course have to bring up the Bank, because the whole “outlaws robbing banks” trope just cannot be ignored. The bank we see in Poptropica is located in Rock Ridge. Stick ’em up!
photo: Pioneertown California (onlyinyourstate)
photo: 19th Century Bank Teller (petticoats&pistols)
We could very well look at the Train Station as well, considering it does tie into the bank robbery within the story. Quite different than the train station we see in our Mystery Train comparison, huh?
Train in Vain: It doesn’t look like much is happening at this station.
photo: Lochee West Railway Station (David Mason’s flickr)
After all that, I think we simply must talk about the Casino in Dos Cactos next. During such wild times, gambling tended to be a common occurrence. But yet again, Poptropica was able to fit it into its kid-friendly world! Looks like everything’s coming up aces for them!
Everbody Wins: Everything is coming up aces in this Wild West town.
Games of Chance: Everything’s coming up aces!
photo: Old West Cowboy Gamblers (ebay)
photo: Frontier Gambler (wikipedia)
If we stay in Dos Cactos, we can head on over to a sort of carnival, but more specifically a shooting gallery. Yes, traveling shows did date back to the wild west era—you simply had to travel between the far away towns for profit! And every good cowboy knew how to shoot a pistol.
photo: Early 1800s Midway (doc’smidwaycookhouse)
photo: Easton (delawareandlehigh)
Curious about other displays of showmanship? Why, just take a look at the local Snake Oil Salesman in Rock Ridge of course! Traveling carts were quite the norm in the wild west, with salesmen often promising miracle cures and obscure tonics of all sorts. Maybe be careful about spending your money around here…
photo: Traveling Medicine Shows of the Old West (curioushistorian)
Another cart we get to see in Wild West is owned by a photographer (this one in Dusty Gulch), which could perhaps be considered more of a miracle than the tonics! The world’s first photograph was taken in 1826, perfectly fitting into the frontier era. That makes us pretty lucky to even have photos from around that time to compare with the island!
Pilot Error: Different parts of scenes are made at different times, so we use stand-in characters when necessary.
photo: Remarkable Old Photographs from the Wild West (historycollection)
Dusty Gulch is also home to Rusty’s Ranch, as you may know (though this can also be compared to the ranch in Rock Ridge). Raising cattle and horses and such was so common in fact that it was actually one of the factors leading to the Dust Bowl. So maybe it was only a stable job in one sense of the word?
Cool Ranch: Giving you a new perspective on the next Poptropica Island.
photo: Dude Ranches of the Wild West (st.louispost-dispatch)
Something else we can’t forget: the gold mines! The California Gold Rush of the 1800s was a huge population push to the west. Time and time again it seems like people yearned to move west! Though it didn’t guarantee fortune to all, that’s for sure.
Mind the Gap: Be careful not to get off-track here.
photo: Montana Mine Old West (mcmahanphoto)
Bringing our adventure to an end, the Canyon Hideout feels like an appropriate grande finale. One of the most famous IRL hidey-holes for gangs and outlaws was the “Hole-In-The-Wall,” an isolated area in Wyoming.
Desert Inn Nothing: like a secluded hideaway for the discerning bandit.
photo: The Hole-In-The-Wall (historydaily)
Boy howdy, that was a lot of places, wasn’t it? And we didn’t even go into detail about the hotel, clock tower, or trading post! Just goes to show you how much detail goes into one setting/game design.
Do you think Poptropica successfully replicated the alluring aesthetic of the IRL wild west? Yay or neigh? What island would you like to see us compare next in this series? Be sure to leave your thoughts in a comment below!
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