My History with Webkinz
When I was a child, I enjoyed online games, but my favorite was Webkinz. Creating a world for your virtual pets was such a unique concept, and as a child who loved stuffed animals, I was on board. I collected many Webkinz over the years, some of my favorites being the original lion and my sweetie hamster.
Webkinz was absolutely fascinating to me, I loved being able to design rooms for my pets and create unique spaces for each individual one. I loved being able to log in and see my pets, who would greet me happily every time. I loved taking my pets to play minigames and to the school they had within Webkinz. I was absolutely enamored by this simple online game for kids.
My cousin played Webkinz as well, and would sometimes give me the Webkinz she didn't use. It was always appreciated!
Also, Mazin Hamsters was released, and that was something I was obsessed with. I loved hamsters as a child, and the fact that there was a separate area for hamsters made me SO happy. I wanted to train hamsters as a child, so I was very excited when a hamster related area was added.
History of Webkinz
Webkinz was created in 2005 by GANZ, which is a stuffed animal company based in Canada. With the rise of websites where you could keep virtual pets, GANZ went a step further by incorporating stuffed animals that you could actually own. Webkinz were sold in stores around the country, and I would see shelves full of these unique pets everywhere I went. The site started small, but soon grew to reflect it's popularity.
Some popular features of Webkinz were...
- Arcade: Webkinz had an arcade full of fun games! I remember Wheel of Wow, Lily Padz, and Spree. I loved these games because of the charm that they had, and how unique they were.
- Curio Shop: Every Webkinz user will remember the mines, and how they would go and try to search for all the gems to get the legendary Crown of Wonder. I'm still mad because I was missing ONE GEM and then my account was deleted. Webkinz is such a hater for that.
- The Fairies: Webkinz had a whole area dedicated to the fairies, full of minigames! I remember the ones where you could pick paths to go down, choose a fairy and that fairy would give you a prize. There's also one where you have to find Webkinz related constellations, which takes a bit to get the hang of.
- Mazin Hamsters: A world dedicated to the hamsters of Webkinz! These hamsters would go through mazes and unique worlds and collect coins. I loved the worlds within Mazin Hamsters, they felt so mythical and unique.
The Webkinz Killer
The Webkinz Killer was a rumor started online that a force within Webkinz was killing your pets! This sparked fear into the hearts of the Webkinz users, knowing that their pet could be next. The main suspect was Dr. Quack, the doctor of Kinzville. However, this was disregarded as only a rumor, and Webkinz World was now safe!
Article on the Webkinz KillerWebkinz I Had as a Kid
Promotional "Hop" Bunny
Blueberry Cheeky Dog
Irish Setter
Black Poodle
Pink and White Cat
White Mouse
Bottlenose Dolphin
Pink Pony
Original Lion
Unicorn
Webkinz Stamp and Blinkie
