Web Development

An Alternative, Chinese Poptropica: BoKe Travelogใ€Šๅœๅ…‹็Žฏๆธธ่ฎฐใ€‹ ๐Ÿ•น๏ธ๐Ÿ๏ธ

Hold onto your blimps, Poptropicansโ€”we’re about to take a deep dive into an alternative universe. You’re looking at a Chinese Poptropica!

Shout-out to Pink (popping-tropics on Tumblr) for the discovery.

ใ€Šๅœๅ…‹็Žฏๆธธ่ฎฐใ€‹โ€” which translates to BoKe Travelog โ€” was a PC browser game made by TaoMee Inc, a Chinese company creating children’s entertainment. The game ran from 2011โ€“2013, though it was only recently discovered by Poptropica fans now, over a decade later!

Though this Poptropica-inspired game is no longer playable, it was once hosted online at boke.61.com. We used the Internet Archive to explore what the site used to look like and grabbed some screenshots:

Unlike Poptropica, BoKe Travelog came with a background story, as found in this Chinese wiki. The lore goes that due to climate change, human life gradually moved from land to sea. As water levels rose, cities were submerged, and mountains turned into islands.

People known as BoKe lived happily on the islands, each with their own unique styles. One day, a mysterious black fog appeared on the southeast side of the ocean. As it continued to thicken, the islands faced various troubles, with people disappearing and economies collapsing.

The attacks came from the evil and highly intelligent Dr. Hedra, whose face no one had ever seen, and who wanted to rule over the world. But the brave BoKe people chose to unite to solve the crises of each island.

Inside BoKe Travelog are many visual similarities to Poptropica, as documented by Simon Cai ่”กๆ€ๆ•, who played both games in 2011. While BoKe Travelog puts its own spin on designs, many of the mechanisms such as the map layout and island adventures are clearly inspired.

BoKe Travelog had eight islands that closely followed many of Poptropica’s classic adventures, as outlined and documented in videos which you can watch by clicking on the BoKe island names below.

Also like Poptropica, BoKe Travelog released a book series with more stories unrelated to the in-game islands. They were called Mystery Island Adventures (่ฐœๅฒ›ๅคงๅ†’้™ฉ) and some details are on Amazon.


What an interesting glimpse into an alternative version of the game we know! Though this green Chinese Poptropica is now lost media, its existence is a testament to the inspiring power of Poptropica. ๐ŸŒด

Did you know that there’s another alternative Poptropica? Check out our exploration of Our Discovery Island (Orange Poptropica)! ๐Ÿฅ•

What do you think of BoKe Travelog ใ€Šๅœๅ…‹็Žฏๆธธ่ฎฐใ€‹? Would you play it if you could? Share with us in the comments! ๐Ÿ‘€

~๐Ÿ 

Pop Places IRL, Time Tangled Island

Pop Places IRL: Time Tangled

Pop Places IRL Header

Welcome back to “Pop Places IRL” everyone! SD here with a Time Tangled Island edition, where I’ll be taking you through some scenes from the island and matching them up with scenes in real life (IRL). Since you literally travel through time in the quest, we actually visit a lot of famous places! Of which many have changed over, well, time.

Let’s kick things off with Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world (above sea level) and odd location of the Statue of Liberty model in game! We also get to meet Edmund Hillaryย andย Tenzing Norgayย in Poptropica, the first confirmed climbers of Everest inย 1953. Sadly, our Poptropicans probably wouldn’t have been able to climb it as easily IRL. Would you want to visit theย Himalayas someday?

Next up, let’s take a look at the Statue of Liberty! It was built in France, but today resides in the New York Harbor on Ellis Island (which is technically also a part of New Jersey!). In Poptropica, we get to return the statue to 1882’s France. The model is, well, a bit smaller to say the least.

After returning the statue, your Poptropican ventures to the Graff House in 1776. Also known as the Declaration House, this was the home of Jacob Graff and the place in Philadelphia where Thomas Jefferson wrote America’s Declaration of Independence. The resemblance is uncanny, huh?

If you’ve played though Time Tangled Island, you know we’re just getting started! In 1387, our Poptropicans visit Timbuktu during theย Mali Empire, which occurred in West Africa fromย c. 1230 to 1670. You may recall returning some salt rocks, visiting the Timbuktu Inn, and repairing a puzzle of King Mansa Musaย while here! Doesn’t the architecture look familiar?

After visiting the Mali Empire, Edison’s Workshop in 1877’s New Jersey is next. We primarily get to help Edison out with his phonograph in game, but he’s famous for inventing many other items as well! Today, a Memorial Tower and Museum is up in Menlo Park to honor the inventor. What do you think is his best invention?

Following the workshop, we have the Aztec Empire of 1519’s Mexico. Like the Mali Empire, the Aztec culture had great influence on its area. The Poptropica Creators seem to have implemented their architecture pretty well into the game!

Next, let’s visit Leonardo da Vinci in 1516’s Italy! As an artist and inventor, one of da Vinci’s most famous paintings was the Mona Lisa, which we got to see in Poptropican form! Which of his works do you admire?

Later, we get to peek at Lewis and Clark’s 1805 Expedition. Like some other time periods our Poptropicans visit, it’s not like we have a whole lot of photos to compare with the actual event. Still, the expedition had a big impact on how today’s United States of America came to be!

Afterwards, we stop be a tourist destination that I’m sure we’re all aware of: the Great Wall of China. Our Poptropicans get to check it out in 1593, but it’s still up today! Have you ever walked along the Great Wall?

One of the last stops we have is the Vikings in 831. Other than in Time Tangled Island, we also get a glimpse into the world of Vikings in Mystery of the Map Island!

Finally, we have Ancient Greece in 328 BC. You’ve probably learned about this time period in school, but that doesn’t make it uninteresting! What are your favorite tales from Greek or Roman mythology?

Well, I think that’s it for our real-life tour through time! Did you stick around this long? Maybe one day, we can add the dystopian future to this post! ๐Ÿ˜‰

What did you think? Have you been to any places that show monuments related to these time periods? Where would you like to go next on โ€œPop Places IRLโ€?

Until next time!

~SD

Store

Turn off all special abilities!

Hello everyone! It’s EP here in China with a quick post detailing a new feature inside the Poptropica store. Below is a picture picturing the new feature, which is carefully circled in red.

Special thanks to Shaggy Tornado for this pic. Also, according to ST, Icy Lightning on the phc discovered this first and notified us! Thankyou to both of you guys! Meh computer is running so slow right now. The wifi in China isn’t so great and it’s hard to even save a photo.ย  So thanks so much ST! Behold:

It’s pretty self explanatory. Want all your special abilities turned off? A click of a button will let you switch them all off. Want to turn the phantom abilitiy, electrifying ability, and shrink ability all off ย instead of going back one by one? This new and innovative button will get the job done easier!

Thanks for reading this quick post. Blogger and gmail is banned in China here, but I’m using a proxy server which can barely get past the IP block. I can still be active here, guys. I’ll try to post if something hasn’t been done in a day. EP out!

*teleports in a red flash to Forbidden City*

Shrink Ray Island

The top 10 and an away notice

Hello everyone, it’s EP back again for another new post based on the..*drumroll*…TOP 10 FINISHERS OF SHRINK RAY ISLAND! Let’s give it up for the top 10 people! The new PCB post details the first people to finish. Personally, I think they should include an exact amount of time for us. Just an idea to keep track on how long it took to finish each island. ๐Ÿ˜‰ Anyways, here goes the new PCB post:

Congratulations to the first 10 finishers of Shrink Ray Island!

Finishing Shrink Ray Island is no small task. These 10 Poptropicans went above and beyond, becoming the first to complete the quest!

1. Funny Lobster

2. Super Fox

3. Curious Popper

4. Squeezy Hamburger

5. Prickly Spider

6. Crazy Dolphin

7. Fearless Tornado

8. Sleepy Horse

9. Silver Foot

10. Grey Icicle

We can’t wait to see many more of you solving the mystery of the Shrink Ray gun and earning that Island Medallion.
0111010001101000011010010110111001101011001000000111001101101101011000010110110001101100

Finished…already?! Boy, it t0ok me 30 minutes just to find out how to get shrinked to miniature size 0.0…a fail, I know :D. I was walking around and didn’t know what to do. I heard it took most people HOURS if not more than a day to figure it out. Luckily, I had help finishing the island and writing out my guide along the way (special thanks to Hijuyo for her amazing edits and publishing).

But the top 10 finished this fast?! Someone could’ve finished in an hour and still not be top 10. A lot of my friends woke up at 7 or 6 in the morning just to get on before the servers were flooded with people. These people must’ve finished less than my buddies’ times. Some people just work fast I guess ;). The top 10 people of epicness are:Funny Lobster, Super Fox, Curious Popper, Squeezy Hamburger, Prickly Spider, Crazy Dolphin, Fearless Tornado, Sleepy Horse, Silver Foot, and finally, Grey Icicle. Job well done :D.

On another note to all the awesome readers of this Poptropica blog: I will be leaving on Sunday at 5:00 PM to catch a 7:00 PM flight back to China to visit relatives and such. I really do hope the flight won’t be that boring and monotonous like last time. I had to be in a seat all night with a 10 year old telling me at least a dozen stories :/ about how “he liked squirrels.”

I’ll be on vacation there for some time enjoying the hot weather, enjoying the food and cuisine, visiting some people, and visiting some historical sights. Unfortunately, there are drawbacks of going to a communist country :(. The Chinese government doesn’t like “freedom of speech” so they’ve pretty much banned all religious sites, all email communication, like gmail and yahoo, unless approved by the government. So yeah, a really bad thing about visiting.

I’m telling you this because I may be inactive on posting for this blog for part of my stay because of sight seeing and such. But fear not, readers, I’ve installed a private proxy server to hide my IP so I can surf the web in an anonymous proxy location and visit sites that I normally can’t visit there like Gmail or Blogger or even WordPress (phew).

So I can still post time to time and be on the chat, although your morning is my night in the USA so no one will be on at the chat room..except maybe Hijuyo, since we’ll be living in the same region :D, so yeah. That’s pretty much it. I’ll post time to time on the blog and make sure all posts are updated each day when I come back from wherever I’m going. I’m still able to surf the web with a private proxy. I’ll be there for 2 weeks and be back in about 16 days to be active again. Wish me a good voyage, people! Thanx.

-EP signing out until I get to China.