Counterfeit Island Guide

Synopsis

Some of the world’s most famous artwork is on display at the Island’s museum, but rumor has it someone’s out to steal it. Can you explore the dark and dangerous side of the online virtual world Counterfeit Island and save the day in the cracking canvas caper?

For walkthroughs on Counterfeit Island, scroll down.

Resources on this page: Island Extras | Synopsis from Poptropica | Video Walkthrough | Written Walkthrough | Album Photos | Trivia

Island Extras: Map | Videos | Official Tour | Art Museum Tour

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Video Walkthrough

For a written walkthrough with pictures, scroll down on this page.

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Written Walkthrough

Walkthrough written by Super De Struguri (Super Grape)
Special thanks to Slanted Fish & Spotted Dragon

Take a ride in the Poptropica blimp and arrive on Counterfeit Island. Head right to the Web Browser Cafe and you should see a big book on a table inside the cafe. Click on loose page to obtain a Page from French-English Dictionary (see pic for reference). In here are also some computers that you can play a game on, just for fun.

Now go back outside and next to the cafe you will find the Moldy Baguette Inn, which is the multiplayer room for this island. Next, get onto the roof and on one of the windowsills there should be a piece of paper. Pick this up and then hop back down to the ground. You need to collect six of these pieces of paper (Torn Picture in your inventory).

You will also see a man with a beard and paintbrush. If you click on “Create your own masterpiece,” it takes you to a big drawing pad, which you can paint on for fun.

Walk the other way over to the museum. Go up to the very top of the museum’s roof, where you should find and collect another piece of paper.

Balloon Boy

Now go all the way to the right, where you will see a few mimes and a clown shop. The mimes aren’t really important at this time. If you go up to the roof of the clown shop you will see a clown, who will tell you he is up there because mimes give him the creeps.

Inside the clown shop, you can take one balloon from the clown store (tip: get the green one!).

Keep going to the right, where you will pass by a dumpster and a tour of the underground tunnel.

You’ll then come across some trash cans. Click on the second one and you will get a view of what it contains. Just drag all the trash out of the way until you find Underground Tunnel Tour Tickets.

Farther down to the right, in the countryside (that’s past the Jazz Cafe and police station), you will see a young boy crying while his mother holds a red balloon. Talk to to the boy’s mom, who will say “Mon fils veut un ballon vert!” Check your French vocabulary sheet, which explains that ”veut” means want and ”vert” means green, so you can conclude that she is trying to inform you that her son wants a green balloon.

If you don’t have a green balloon already, then go back to the clown shop and get one. Give your green balloon to the boy and he will float away, while his mother will run off. Umm…

Head all the way left again until you’re back at the Web Browser Cafe. Enter the cafe. On the TV, there will be a new news report about “Balloon Boy.”

Underground Tunnel Tour

Talk to the tourist on the laptop. After speaking to him, go to your inventory and click on the ”Use” option on the tickets. He will then give you one of the tickets.

Exit the cafe, and walk to your right until you reach the underground tours. Click on the ”Use” option on your Underground Tunnel Tour Ticket to be allowed into the underground tour.

Click on the tour guide and she will provide you with some information about the tour. Just follow the tunnel untill you get to an area with some skulls. Jump onto the light cord that is hanging down and climb all the way up. Next, jump over and grab the piece of paper.

Once you reach the end of the tunnel, go out the exit and up right by the docks.

Docks

A shady man in a brown suit with a scar will be standing next to you. Talk to him and he will tell you that you must get a job at the museum and to meet him back there when night falls. Also, he says The Scream is going to be stolen!

After you talk to him, go over to the ship to the left. Up where the sail should be is another piece of paper you should take.

Now get back down to the tunnel exit from earlier. Go past the shady man, and pick up the piece of paper resting on a large boulder.

Now, climb up onto the docks and go right until you arrive at the museum.

Museum

Enter and talk to the security guard by the door. Tell him you’re interested in a job, and he tells you to go speak with the assistant curator.

Fixing the Paintings

Head up the stairs and speak to the man in a tan-colored suit. He says the job is yours if you can help fix the paintings.

Go to the bottom right wing of the building (expressionism) and click the third painting. You should now be carrying the painting. Go to the bottom left wing (realism) and click the middle painting.

Now go up to the upper left wing (cubism) and click the middle one. Next go to the upper right wing (impressionism) and click the third one. Finally go back to the bottom right wing (expressionism) and click where the third painting should be.

Forgery Detection Lab

Go back up and talk to the assistant currator, who will hire you for the job. Enter the forgery detection lab, and talk to the assistan currator again. He will tell you to choose a station. (Tip –  The second station is usually easier, but you have to do both anyway.)

At the first station, scan each copy of the painting until you find the one with a drawing on it.

Next you have to detect the fake painting – simply examine the corner for the artist’s signatures. The middle one is different, so it is the counterfeit copy (fake).

For the next one, just go up to the moon and click on it.

Time to move on to the chemicals station. For each paint sample, when the red meter gets to a box, the box turns a certain color. All you have to do is click the color above that it turns into. You must stay alert and react fast enough, or you will have to restart.

Once that is done, you will be given a Supply Room Key.

Leave the forgery detection lab and go to the area with two signs. You should now be in a statue room.

Walk right past this section and go into the next room. Pass by the security office for now. When you get to the door of the supply closet, go to your inventory and use your new key. Go in and grab the last piece of paper, forming the complete Torn Picture.

Speak to the man with a scar. He’ll say that the thief is about to strike. Enter the tunnel.

Follow the tunnel back up until you see a ladder. Climb the ladder and click on the object blocking the exit at the top. Make the center look like the drawing you have, and press the button at the top.

It will now open up to the supply closet, inside the museum. Use the key to leave the supply closet, then carefully get past the security office and out the door. Be warned; there are lasers all around you. Hide behind plants or statues to avoid the lasers until you finally exit safely.

Walk over to where The Scream is hanging. Click on the painting and you will jump up above it.

An alarm siren will go off and policemen will rush in to arrest you.

The Next Morning

“The next morning”, you will find yourself at the police station, where you will be asked to take a lie detector test. Simply answer the questions truthfully from your character’s perspective, and you’ll pass.

Exit the museum and visit the clown shop, where you will find the security guard from the museum. After talking to him, he will give you his Timecard.

After you get it, make your way back to the security office at the museum. Head over to the right to what looks like a computer. Click on it and a video should start playing.

View the video, starting at the point where the security guard left. You will be told to take a Surveillance Video Screen Print. To do this, press the print screen button. Show the screen print to the investigator.

Next, show the screen print to one of the mimes. The mime will signal to you, instructing you to enter the Jazz Cafe. Once inside the cafe, you will see the man with a scar. Try to talk to him, and he will escape out the door. Follow him out to begin a little scooter chase.

During the chase, dodge everything except the ramps. Going on a ramp can get you farther, and faster.

After a while, it will cut to a scene where you see the man with a scar driving off the dock into a motor boat and speeding away. You will then dash over and grab the Key Card which he dropped in his haste.

Early Poptropica Island

Make your way back to the museum where the assistant curator will hand you a package containing Van Gogh’s Starry Night with a scanning device. Use the X-ray scan to read the message, which tells you to visit the art museum on Early Poptropica Island.

(Okay, but is the painting in the package the real Starry Night, or is it the Starry Night painting that’s already hanging to the right of the museum entrance? Or is it the one in the Early Pop museum??)

Ride the blimp on Main Street to Early Poptropica Island, and arrive at the Pop Art Museum, where you will meet the curator of the Counterfeit Island museum. She will hint that someone you trust is watching you very closely, then hand you a Key.

The Black Widow

Take the blimp back to Counterfeit Island and go all the way to the right until you get to a cottage house. Walk up to the cottage door and use your key. Get up to the second floor, where the painting is.

You should see a corner of the painting peeling off, so click on that, revealing… The Scream!

The lights will go out. Someone will tie you to a chair in an underground room, and the Black Widow will reveal herself. It’s the cop who was working with the museum!

Tied up near you in another chair is the man with a scar. He advises you to scoot over to him so he can untie you. To do this, move forward and backward, but be careful – falling over means restarting.

After he helps untie you, go to the right side where you should find the exit.

Escape

(Tip – Stay alert at all times; the next part is tough!) Go all the way to the left and jump up onto the boxes. Carefully jump up onto the ledge and onto the boxes without being seen.

Hop up to the right when the guard turns around. Follow him and then jump onto the couch and up to the left ledge. Use your key card to open the door.

Saving the World’s Greatest Art

Now walk over to the left where you will find the Black Widow. In this next tricky part, your task is to help the man with a scar be raised and lifted up high, yet save as much art as possible. If you let the Black Widow destroy more than 1 million dollars’ worth of art, you must start over.

(Tip – Save the art, and then when she gets mad, go and get him up as high as you can. Avoid the bombs she throws, which will prevent you from doing anything.)

Eventually you will get him all the way up, and the man will knock the Black Widow out.

Reward

You will then be in the Web Browser Cafe with the curator. She will tell you to meet her at the museum. Head over there, and the curator will be waiting for you in the bottom right wing.

Talk to her and she will tell you that this museum really is the top secret storage place for the world’s greatest art. As she presses a nearby button, the walls will go down to reveal new paintings.

Congratulations, you have completed Counterfeit Island! You will be awarded with the Counterfeit Island Medallion and credits to spend at the Poptropica Store.

Looking for more walkthroughs? Check out our Island Help page! 🏝

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Album Photos

These pictures appeared in a former feature known as the photo album.

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Trivia

• Counterfeit Island is Poptropica’s 10th island. An Early Access pass was made available for 500 credits in the Store on December 21, 2009, and anyone who completed the island within the early access period won 200 credits for free. It was released on January 4, 2010 for all.
• Master Mime, a Poptropica Creator alias, is based on the mimes in this island.
• The Scream, a painting by Edvard Munch, plays a big role in this island. There are many other famous works of art featured in the Museum Fantastique, including The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh and Bridge over a Pond of Water Lilies by Claude Monet. For the whole list, check out the PHB post Ancient Artworks of the Counterfeit Island Museum.
• During the quest, players travel to the Pop Art Museum on Early Poptropica Island. This is the only island quest to feature inter-island travel.
• Common room: Moldy Baguette Inn
• The villain, Black Widow, reappears in Super Villain Island. Her design is based on the black widow spider. She is also a Poptropica Creator alias.
• There is a sign at the inspector’s cottage (“Veuvre Noire”) that reveals the villain’s name (“Black Widow”) in French.
• The scenery of Counterfeit Island is inspired by the country of France.
• Balloon Boy, who floats away after you give him a balloon, is based on the Balloon Boy Hoax of 2009. Balloon Boy also appears as a running gag elsewhere on Poptropica, such as on a TV screen on Reality TV Island.
• The underground tunnels may be based on the Catacombs of Paris, which are real underground tunnels containing human remains.
• The artist on Main Street beside the easel you can draw on is based on Bob Ross, who hosted a TV show about painting.
• There’s a game you can play on the computers inside the Web Browser Cafe. The objective is to bounce all the red balls, while the yellow ones are for bonus points. It’s just for fun and doesn’t affect the quest.
• During the quest, the curator sends you a package with Van Gogh’s Starry Night in it. However, that painting also hangs in the Counterfeit Island museum – and the Early Poptropica one! Which is the real one?

{ scream }