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PHB Quickie: Cryptids Island

August 13, 2020August 9, 2020 LJ

Cryptids Island Quickie

What’s up, Poptropicans? It’s Lucky Joker here with a PHB Quickie where I quickly review one of Poptropica’s many great adventures. Today I’ll be reviewing the riveting Cryptids Island. Let’s run through it!

(Be warned: Spoilers ahead!)

fake nessie

If you love urban legends and creatures, you’ll love this island. The task at hand is to find four of the most popular cryptids and prove their existence for the head of the Mews Corporation of scientific discovery, Harold Mews.

I really liked this premise. I find it as interesting and compelling as one could possibly be, in fact. It definitely makes for a thrilling and exciting journey. The creatures, of course, were just as cool. Who isn’t fascinated by mysterious beasts like Nessie or Bigfoot?

On the other hand, none of the Poptropican characters really stood out for me besides Mews — not even the island’s main antagonist, Gretchen Grimlock. There was an absence of any unique personality and everyone was just a bit lackluster, in my opinion. Again, Gretchen Grimlock could have been more heavily featured throughout the quest (like Black Widow, Mademoiselle Moreau, or Myron Van Buren on their islands).

mews excellent

As far as gameplay goes, a quibble I have, albeit slight, is that there’s a lot of back and forth from each location to the lab in Mews’s mansion. (By now, though, our Poptropicans must be used to that 😅) The tasks/mini-games, however, were great! At first the dart game was kind of hindering, but eventually you get the hang of it. And the climb up to the temple in the Himalayas was challenging, but not irritatingly so — so that’s a plus.

cr ness

Despite my complaints, Cryptids Island gets an impressive 4.5/5 yeti footprints rating from me! I have to admit that when I was younger, I never paid this island any attention, but upon replaying it I discovered a newfound love for it! The positives majorly outweigh the negatives in this case. If you’re a member and haven’t played through this island at least once, or even if you just want to revisit this classic, I totally recommend doing so — especially since it will be disappearing at the end of the year.

And that about wraps it up! What are your thoughts on this island? Sound off in the comments!

Also, don’t forget to participate in the Tribal Tournament currently happening on the PHC Discord server. You’ll definitely have a blast! Thank you for reading as always, and I’ll talk to you all soon.

– Lucky Joker 🍀

Clubhouse

Pearly white sights for your hideout

August 12, 2020August 13, 2020 Slanted Fish

Hey Poptropicans—it’s remodelling time, and this season’s color, apparently, is pearly white. From knit wall pieces to shiny bikes, there’s plenty to choose from in the latest update to the clubhouse store!

While new players got a set of special housewarming gifts a couple weeks ago (and old players were left out 😢), this update (on both Flash and Haxe) is for everyone—though a little under half of the items (including the “POP”-branded transistor radio) are for members only.

I took the liberty of going on a little shopping spree to showcase some of these slick new furniture items in my crib (including the intriguing head of the mythical jackalope!). Anyway, it turns out the (free) white wallpaper really goes well with a lot of this stuff…

In other news, there haven’t been any new items to the regular store since last week (despite the Home Island billboard’s promises of weekly updates), though some of the items did get shuffled around. But hey, I guess if we’re counting the clubhouse store, then we got some pretty sweet stuff.

If you’re in the mood for some home decorating, consider entering your clubhouse into our Tribal Tournament! Any Poptropica-related works of art, including costumes and clubhouses, can count for points towards your tribe. Plus, don’t miss out on this week’s round of Genius Games! 🧠🏅

That’s all for this post, but plenty more is happening with our ongoing tournament, especially on the PHC. Keep up the flame of the Games! 🔥

~Slanted Fish 🐠
(if I may be biased for a sec, go Nightcrawlers! 🐛)

Contests, Poptropolis Games Island, Tribes

PHB Tribal Tournament: Genius Games 💪🧠

August 10, 2020August 17, 2020 LJ

Welcome, Poptropicans, to the second round of the 2020 PHB Tribal Tournament! (Don’t know what’s going on? Check out our introductory post.) Note: The first round, Creative Competitors, carries on for the rest of the month, so keep sending in the awesome artwork.

“No pain, no gain”? More like “no brain, no gain” because this round is here to get you thinking. And you’ve got to think fast, too, since this round ends in just one week (Monday, August 17). It comes in three parts, so opportunities abound to earn points for your tribe. Let’s dive right into it!

Caption Challenge

In this challenge, you’re presented with a picture, and your task is to come up with a caption to go with it. The concept is simple, but the execution will require some careful thought. Your caption can be funny, serious, and anything in between. Just be sure it’s not longer than two sentences!

Each person can enter up to three captions for the contest, with 10 points earned per caption. You could speak from a character or even an inanimate object in the scene, narrate as an onlooker, borrow a line from something in pop culture, make a self-aware comment—as long as it’s interesting, and it suits the picture. So what’s the pic? Here it is!

Tricky Trivia

For this segment, there are 20 trivia questions about Poptropica; some are easy while others are more difficult. You don’t need to answer all of them, but do your best! For every question you do answer correctly, you’ll earn 10 points for your tribe. That’s up to 200 points!

Points for this game are earned collectively as a tribe — not on an individual basis. So, if there’s one you’re not sure about, chances are that one of your tribemates is, and can score the points for your team!

For this specific game, make sure to send your responses to your tribe representative via direct message on Discord, or send us an email, so as to not spoil the fun for your fellow tribe members. It’s fairer for everyone to be able to guess at their own speed. 🙂

Who created Poptropica?
What was the 32nd island released?
Poptropica’s in-game currency is called what?
What year was the Friends feature implemented?
How many islands have a bonus quest?
When was Early Poptropica (the settlement) founded?
Who was CJ’s role model on Shrink Ray Island?
Why is Crusher wanted in prison?
What are the nine flavor variations of PopGum that exist?
Which iconic character had their name changed due to legal issues?
What event, on Mystery Train Island, is the train headed to?
Where did Flambe, the prison chef, receive his/her culinary training?
What weight does the weight guesser incorrectly predict your Poptropican to be on Monster Carnival Island?
On Counterfeit Island, how long was the museum security guard’s break from his Monday night shift?
How much does an ECO-Bike cost at Twin Palms Mall?
How could one originally gain access to play the Blimp Adventure mini-quest?
Who is buried in the plot A42 at Hemlock cemetery?
What are Zeke Weke’s three favorite musical artists?
On which island is the Grease Monkey building located?
How many islands has Smokey Chinchilla completed?

Trace that place

Oh, the places you’ll go! We travel far and wide across Poptropica aboard our little yellow blimp and see so many wondrous things. But, how well do we really pay attention to the details? For this game, your task is to pinpoint which island each of these snippets is taken from.

All pics are open to all tribes to guess! Each correctly guessed photo counts for 10 points within a tribe, not per person.

As with “Tricky Trivia,” please send your answers to your tribe rep through direct message or email. Be sure to clarify which picture(s) you’re guessing, using the labels.

Presenting the Creative Competitors MVP

Last week in our initiatory post, we said for each round we’d be recognizing a Most Valuable Player (MVP), someone whose dedication and enthusiasm stood out from the rest. This week’s shining star, who so far has already entered a number of costumes based on her tribe’s colors, as well as a few of her drawings, is Magic Flipper of Flying Squid!

Congratulations, you just won a membership! Keep up with the good work and high energy. You’re doing awesome. 👑

Could you be the next MVP? We’ll all have to wait and see. Until then…

Have fun, and best of luck!

– the PHB tribe reps –

Noveen (Black Flags), Sporty Boa (Flying Squid), Spotted Dragon (Nanobots), Slanted Fish (Nightcrawlers), Lucky Joker (Pathfinders), Gentle Dolphin (Seraphim), Fierce Flyer (Wildfire), & Silver Wolf (Yellowjackets)

Join us on the PHC Discord and let us know which tribe you’re in!

F.R.E.D., we meet again

August 6, 2020August 8, 2020 LJ

Hey, Poptropicans, it’s LJ here! I hope you’re all doing great.

If you log into Poptropica, you’ll find there’s a new advertisement for the Galactic Hot Dogs novels, with a prize at the end. No game this time. All that’s required of you is that you sit through a short video clip that promotes the book series. Once you do, you’ll acquire a F.R.E.D. Follower.

If you’ve been around for a while, you may recall that this little pet robot was available in the Pop Store back in 2015 when Galactic Hot Dogs Island was first released. So I suppose it’s new for some players, but it’s not an entirely fresh item to the game itself.

More excitingly, we’re currently in the midst of a Tribal Tournament happening all throughout the month of August! The first round is still underway, so check out our opening post to see how you can join in the fun. For now, check out the PHB staff’s staggering style in spirit of the event:

Lucky Joker (Pathfinders)

Spotted Dragon (Nanobots)

Gentle Dolphin (Seraphim)

Sporty Boa (Flying Squid)

Slanted Fish (Nightcrawlers)

Plus, Community Creations is going on, and this month’s theme is tribes. What a coincidence, right? 😉 We encourage you to participate in that as well.

Welp, that’s it for now. Thanks for stopping by and I’ll talk to you in the next one. Pop on!

– Lucky Joker 🍀

Guest Posts, Pop Petitions

Pop Petition: Gear the game toward older kids

August 5, 2020August 2, 2020 Slanted Fish

This is a guest post by Tiff on why Poptropica should focus more on their older players. The following is the writer’s opinion only. Enjoy!

Hi, I’m Tiff, and I want to talk about a few things—but most importantly, the idea that Poptropica should gear the game toward older kids.

Despite the fact that Poptropica bills itself as a children’s game, fewer and fewer young kids are interested in Poptropica these days. In fact, if you look at the PHB’s surveys, you’ll find that the majority of players are 13 and up (at least, the majority of who read this fan site are teens and young adults).

If the Creators want to keep Pop going, they’ll need to create content suitable for the audience they have and expand on that, rather than holding onto the past ideal of being suited for kids. They need to grow with their fanbase, so that they’re not left behind by their competitors.

After all, Poptropica is my favorite game, and I really want it to stay. Plus, with an evolving games market, and a growing trend for augmented or virtual reality, I wonder if they can explore that avenue further.

And as we know, Poptropica has been putting a little too much emphasis on Membership. I know they’ve been working on the Islands, and bringing the old ones back, but they really should be available to all players, not just members. This post isn’t necessarily about the paywall, but more on the fact that the Creators seem to only orient their game for a subset of players that they find more valuable—whether that’s members or younger kids—rather than focusing on the majority of who’s already here: the non-members and the older players. I’m here to say, Creators, focus on who your players are now, not who they used to be, and expand from there.

Creators: grow with the game, and grow with the times. We are not kids anymore, we’re teens and young adults. Poptropica’s demographic has changed, so let’s change the game with it. It’s supply and demand: the demand is the older demographic, the little kids who aren’t so little anymore, who’ve grown up with Poptropica and have stuck around for the fun and nostalgia. And the supply is Poptropica, which needs to adapt for this crowd which seems to make up the majority of our community these days.

Let’s be a little less forceful in trying to promote our game to a younger audience, who seem to have already moved on to other things—after all, there’s not much a new player can do on Poptropica these days as they’re locked into a Haxe account with few islands—and perhaps, with careful consideration for the older demographic (and particularly our desire for islands with deep storytelling), Poptropica’s demand may rise again.

Hope you enjoyed this Pop Petition guest post by Tiff! If you did, be sure to check out our other Pop Petition posts on the PHB, as well as our series on the topic of Poptropica and Age.

The Poptropica Help Blog welcomes interesting Poptropica insights from anyone in the Poptropica community with thoughts to share. You can find some tips and guidelines on our page on how to Write for the PHB, and share blog posts on the PHC.

📰 If you have an idea for a PHB post, send it in! ✨