The Webkinz Phenomenon

Webkinz are stuffed animals that were originally released by the Ganz company on April
29, 2005. The toys are similar to many other small plush toys, however they come with
a special code on their labels that allows access to the "Webkinz World" which is a
website to own a virtual version of the pet for virtual interaction. There are also smaller,
less expensive versions of the toys called Lil' Kinz.

With your purchase, you receive one year’s access to webkinz.com. There your toy
gorilla or cat or frog or bunny becomes a virtual pet, and it’s your job to keep it happy,
healthy and well-fed.

You do this by “buying” food, toys and amenities with Webkinz cash, which you earn by
playing the games and fulfilling various tasks.

Or just buy another stuffed animal — you get 2,500 or more in KinzCash for every
subsequent toy you purchase, compared with 3 to 50 by playing games. That is
assuredly part of the reason many people seem to collect dozens of WebKinz toys.

The huge variety of games and activities is by far the site’s best feature. Some are habit-
forming and addictive, including math, word and shape puzzles in the vein of “Tetris” or
sudoku. Most reward critical thinking in some fashion or another.

Some games appeal to the very young and others appeal to adults and teens. The
games can be played solo or two-player, and the Web site will usually find you a
challenger in seconds. You can see the site’s appeal to adults late at night, when the
arcade is still hopping and the level of competition on those word puzzle games rises
dramatically.

Some of the games seem complicated even for older kids. A dice game that is
apparently popular was a little confounding. Mark needs help playing some games, but
can do others by himself. The variety is sufficient to please everybody.

The toys have been compared to Beanie Babies since some are retired after a certain
amount of time, which encourages high secondary selling prices. The style of the
stuffed animals are similar to Ty Punkies. Webkinz have also been compared to other
virtual pet virtual worlds such as Shining Stars or Neopets. Webkinz have been
extremely popular, with Ganz claiming more than 100 million units sold to retailers.

Find out more and buy Webkinz in the UK here.