Category: Islands

Nabooti Island, Pop Places IRL

Pop Places IRL: Nabooti

LJ

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Hello, Poptropicans! It’s Lucky Joker here with another “Pop Places IRL” tour!

Thoughย Nabooti Island is a fictional place, all of the other locations we visit in our Nabooti adventure are very real-life places in Africa! Get ready to fly as we take a look at some of them and see how they compare to Poptropica’s versions. ๐Ÿ›ฉ๏ธ

At one point in the island, we tour the temples of the Great Sphinx. The 66-foot tall statue is located in Giza, Egypt and is a symbol of strength and wisdom. It’s theorized that the face on the Sphinx is a representation of Pharaoh Khafraโ€”the fourth king of the fourth dynasty. (The more you know!)ย Poptropica nailed it with this one, in my opinion. The only real difference would be the little hole of light at the top, of course.

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When you land in Blue Nile Falls (also known as the smoky waterfall), you can see a large number of rocks and a surplus amount of lush vegetation surrounding the massive spectacle, just like in real life.

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And now we’re off to the Kaya Forests! Kaya is a forest located in Kenya inhabited by the Mijikenda people (a group of closely related, but distinct tribes), and includes an array of fortified villages which are considered to be their sacred, ancestral homes. Poptropica portrayed the forest villages quite well, don’t you think?

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To the place where you encounter a mancala master and collect a costume-giving cell phone, we now arrive at The Rwenzori Mountains! Located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, these mountains are the source of the second largest river in the worldโ€”the Nile River. They’re known as Mountains of the Moon in Poptropica because that was what the legendary mountain range was referred to by ancient peoples.

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In this last comparison, we see a variety of beautiful wild animals in the safari and they’re equally as captivating in Poptropica as they are IRL. Wouldn’t you agree?

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And that’s it! Thanks for coming along for the tour of Nabooti and the places that inspired it’s being! What do you think of all of these beautiful destinations? Would you like to visit any someday? If you liked this post, be sure to explore the other Poptropica places we’ve tour guided. And with that…

Whereย would you like to go next on โ€œPop Places IRLโ€?

โ€“ Lucky Jokerย ๐Ÿ€

Escape from Pelican Rock Island, Pop Places IRL

Pop Places IRL: Escape From Pelican Rock

Spotted Dragon

Pop Places IRL Header

Hey Poptropicans, and welcome back to our new “Pop Places IRL” series! Here, I’ll be walking you through some of Escape From Pelican Rock Island’s most notable scenes and comparing them to those scenes in real life (IRL).

You may already know this if you’re very familiar with California (or have read our trivia on the Escape From Pelican Rock Island Guide), but Pelican Rock is based onย San Francisco (or “Bay City”), and more specifically, its famous Alcatraz island prison.

Even though the prison is no longer up and running IRL today, visitors can still take a tour of the islandย located in San Francisco Bay (if you can withstand the strong smell of pelican feces). When it was still in operation, the facility was well known for being impossible to break out of, though I guess our Poptropicans proved that wrong!

photo: Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay (travelingwithmj.com)

Once you’re arrested, you get to visit many important places inside the prison, including the yard. If you thought it was a pretty dull way to spend your time in game, I’m sorry to tell you that the IRL prisonย recreation yard isn’t any more dazzling.

Impressions: You’ll want to easel onto it.
photo: Alcatraz Cell Block From Rec Yard (Andrew Brown)

Aside from your recreation time behind bars, meal time makes up a big portion of our Poptropicans’ adventures. While photos of Pelican Rock’s cafeteria aren’t in black and white, the IRL prison cafeteria may just have better food!

Mise En Place: We’ve got mouths to feed.
photo: Alcatraz 2 (bonappetit.com)

The last main location you often visit while at Pelican Rock (besides the plate making room, which shows a very common jail trope) is, of course, your cell. Poptropicans may have it a bit better space wise, but it’s cool to see that even the green walls match up with the IRL prison cells.

photo: Alcatraz Prison Cell (artstation.com)

Another big landmark on the island in game was the “Colt Tower” that you chase Booted Bandit up. IRL, this location was based on San Fran’s Coit Tower, a tourist destination aside from Alcatraz!

photo: Coit Tower (tommygirard.wordpress.com)

A spot that I’m obligated to mention is of course San Fran’s famous Golden Gate Bridge! Though not a huge destination in game, the bridge can be seen in the background multiple times along your adventure and is a staple in the city’s skyline.

From a Distance: Something new is on the horizon.
photo: Golden Gate Bridge (franks-travelbox.com)

Well, that wraps up our tour of real-life Escape From Pelican Rock! What did you think?

Have you been to San Francisco? How does it compare to Poptropica’s interpretation? I’ve actually been on an Alcatraz tour and think the resemblance is pretty cool! What other places do you want us to cover in this series?

If you liked this post, be sure to smash that like buttonย check out our real-life tour of Crisis Caverns Islandย too! ๐Ÿ™‚

~SD

Big Nate Island

Big news: Big Nate Island is available to all!

LJ

What’s up, Poptropicans? It’s Lucky Joker here, and I’ve got some big news. Today, Poptropica just announced that…

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There it is loud and clear, folksโ€”Big Nate Island is available to all players this week only! Up until this Friday (July 27), members won’t be the only ones able to play this classic island. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Sadly, it’s not really a full week, but rather a full standard school/work week which is only five days. :/ But heyโ€”it’s better than nothing at all.

UPDATE: We’ve been getting reports that the membership lock continues to activate up until the end of the demo point. To combat this, PHB reader Massive Monster suggests closing the “get membership to continue” window and refreshing the page to continue without membership.

So what are you waiting for? Log on to Poptropica, check out our Big Nate Island Guide for some extra help, and earn those credits (since store items are super pricey now)!

Well, that’s the little amount of news for now. Thanks for reading as always! Talk to you all soonโ€ฆ pop on!

โ€“ Lucky Jokerย ๐Ÿ€

Big Nate Island, Sneak Peeks

Storefront sketches and the gate to Big Nate

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans, Slanted Fish here, with two bits of news. ๐Ÿ 

The first is this: another sneak peek! Yup, soon after the Creators posted a sketch of a pet barn on their blog, we find another view of the same scene posted on their Instagram. This one includes a movie theater (hopefully it’ll be better than the current one), store (which we’re familiar with), and the aforementioned pet barn. Check it out:

barn peek2

The caption on Instagram offers some insight into the island creation process:

Ever wonder how games like Poptropica are made? It all starts with our artists working on lots of concepts like this one! Once a design is chosen, itโ€™s redrawn in Photoshop! Stay tuned for more behind the scenes pics! ๐ŸŽจ

And the comments reveal a little more. A commenter (hiskeyblade) asked, “Do you guys start just random doodles after you figure out a plot of a world?”

To which the Creators replied: “We do! We also create mood boards with photos of real places and other inspiration!”

Pretty cool to hear about โ€” it’d be great to learn more about their creative process, and the prospect of seeing more behind-the-scenes pics is one we can all look forward to!

Now for the second shocker: there’s a good chance that Big Nate Island, which is currently locked for members only, will be unlocked for all to play! See for yourself:

The hundred-plus comments received on the Creators’ proposal on Instagram are overwhelmingly in favor (albeit with some repeat “votes”).

As it should be! Poptropicans who hear about the sponsored islands being made members only are still as salty as Cap’n Salty’s about it as the day the news broke three years ago. With Poptropica Original likely to fade by the end of 2020, perhaps all features should be made free โ€” better that more of us get to enjoy it than not at all, right?

That’s all for this post, but be sure to scroll down the blog for more news. We’ve had a lot going on in the Poptropica sphere lately!

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Back Lot Island, Member Gifts, Membership

A back lot peek for July’s member gifts

Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans! It’s Slanted Fish, here with some mildly interesting social media posts from the Poptropica Creators.

First, with July just around the corner, we get a sneak peek of what next month’s member gifts (a concept introduced this month) will be. Can you tell from the pixels below?

I’m seeing a red balloon dog, a black-and-white cat, and a triple-scoop ice cream cone! What are your guesses?

Remember that you have until the end of the month to claim the first ever batch of monthly member gifts. All you need to do is have an active membership and they’ll be added to your account.

Now, if only we could have sneak peeks of future islands as well…

Over on Instagram, the Creators put up a collage of characters from Back Lot Island and asked if we recognized all the celebrities they were modeled after. Here, give it a tryโ€”is your pop culture knowledge as good as your Poptropica background?

I see Audrey Hepburn, King Kong, and Smeagol, to name a few…

Find out who’s who and more in our Back Lot Island Guide‘s trivia section! And tell us who you recognize in the comments below. Keep popping, Poptropicans.

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