If you have young children then you have most likely heard of the popular stuffed plush toy animals called Webkinz. They are similar to the once popular beanie babies, but with one important difference. Owners of these new toys are able to adopt an online version of their stuffed animal.
The combination of the real world toy and the virtual pet has been an enormous success. So much so that much of the toy industry has had to follow this example, but none have been nearly as successful as Ganz, the family friendly company that is responsible for this ingenious idea.
Each plush toy comes with a tag attached that has a secret code that is used to gain access to the online kids social site called Webkinz World. In this online environment, children are able to play a variety of games, take a quiz, create special rooms, create food recipes, and care for their virtual pet in general. By doing the different activities, kids earn an online currency called kinz cash which they use to buy numerous different items.
With every stuffed toy that is purchased the owner will receive 2000 kinz cash, a special item, and a special food recipe once the code has been used to access the online website. Numerous pets can be adopted on one account, and each code gives the user a years access to the online world. The owner of these virtual pets is responsible for taking care of them as well. The concept of taking care of a virtual pet has been around for a while in much simpler forms, but nothing as creative as this. The user needs to make sure their pet is fed and kept happy. If this isn’t taken care of then the online pet will get sick and become unhappy.
Some of the easiest ways to make sure your virtual pet stays happy and healthy is to visit the site everyday and collect the free food and kinz cash that is given out. It is similar to getting an allowance. Every little bit helps, but it will usually take a little bit more effort playing arcade games to earn some cash or going to the employment office to get a job for the day. Once you earn some money you can go shopping in the W-shop for different foods to feed your animal. If you have some left over money you might think about purchasing some new furniture or new clothes.
If you buy some basic kitchen appliances, such as a sandwich maker, stove, or blender, then you are able to create new webkinz secret recipes for your pet to enjoy. However, you can’t just mix up anything and feed it to your pet. Well, actually you can but it might not enjoy it as much. When you mix food items together that aren’t part of an actual recipe then you end up with gak or gunk. It is very unappealing. If you are having difficulty discovering recipes then you could buy a cookbook from Chef Gaspacho, or you could purchase a TV for your pet and tune in to his cooking program. New webkinz recipes are released every few months, and it is usually up to the users to discover the ingredients. This is not always an easy task considering many of the ingredients have nothing to do with the name or the picture of the actual dish. For example, the Fluffed Snuglapuffin recipe is a picture of a blue muffin that is created by mixing together hot chocolate, chicken noodle soup, and cookies. Last time I made muffins, I didn’t use any of those items.
