The Balancing Act
Have you ever wondered how Webkinz Challenges are created? We sat down with Michael Webkinz to learn more about his creative process.
In this 6-part series, we’ll break it all down: How are Webkinz Challenges made?
Part 3: “The Balancing Act”
How do you balance a challenge’s difficulty so that it’s fun for everyone?
“I don’t think that we’ve really gone back and revised some challenges that players seem to feel were tricky, but I have gotten better in balancing over the years.
Some challenges goals are quite high, especially for some of the mega challenges that we’ve released, which are still available and permanent on the site.
More recently, I’ve become a lot easier when setting the goals, and I usually balance it so that you know, it’s about 15 to 20 minutes of gameplay for any given game that you need to play to complete the challenge.
In order to impede progress, what I would do instead is use a daily activity as part of a task.
So, you need to spin the wheel of, well, five times or make 25 wishes and wishing well too, which takes several days to complete.
So, instead of creating super high goals that are really a grind and time consuming, we just throw in a few steps of spinning the wheel of Wow so that you don’t complete them as quickly.”
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Is anyone else getting stuck after playing checkers on Adventure 5/8? I win the game, but Adventure Park doesn’t recognize that I did. It just kinda hangs up.
radish35 Hi, for the Candy Festival Jeopardy Quest 5/8 you will not advance the quest if you win a game of checkers again Raziel. Read carefully you must lose the game of checkers when playing Raziel. Hope this helps with your quest to move on.
LOL Thanks so much! :)
I like to write down the challenges, so I don’t have to click back and forth. I forgot to write the grand prize for level 5 for the adventure park challenge. I have over 200 pets and don’t remember which pet was up when I placed in a room. thanks in advance for help.
I love this series! It makes me appreciate the challenges even more! The only thing is, I wish I could replay challenges since it’s been so long since I’ve played through them!
I’ve had a issue with the challenge also. I could NOT get 2,000 points for the tunneling game, so I used E-store points to get the final prize. When I was able to get the other parts complete it awarded me the next adventure pack. But I can’t get to the challenges for the new adventure pack because it will only send me to the old challenges for the previous pack that had paid to get the last part of the challenge from that previous pack. PLEASE Help??
In the adventure park, on the top left of the screen, there is some kind of book icon. When you click on that, it shows you the challenges that are still open for you, and you can change between them. For me, every time I got back to the adventure park, it wanted me to do a quick challenge instead of the “backpack challenge” which I wanted to do. But I could just click on the other one and do that first. Hope you will find the book icon that I mean.
I had sent a notice to web about boris giving me same directions my husband tried fo r sev days could not get Boris to give any other way to find the yellow star or light we both tried again several days too much time i am an elder but other than games i have always done all my challenges sorry I have until now enjoyed but re thinking if I am going to get delux in april 2026 thank you
The Adventure Game, although 50% of it is really fun, has some issues that have not been addressed in Webkinz Newz. For example, no where was it said that we would NOT get the Grand Prize at the end of each Adventure, IF we had already played that Adventure before and won the prize. I know I have played several of the Adventures before, but had to look up online and see which Adventure had which prize! THEN, I have to search through my many many rooms and crowded Dock, to see if I even still HAVE that Prize! If I do, I have to take it out of the dock or room, add it back to the room, and….Wow! I can finally move on to the next Adventure. If I don’t have that prize, I HOPEFULLY can find it in another account, I have KinzPost the item to the account I need it for, use it, then send it back to the original account it was in! I’ve read numerous posts where players have said they won prize again, even though they already have it! I won the Crystal Treasure Chest, and the Celestial S’More Campsite several years ago. I did NOT receive those prizes again when I played the recent Adventure Games. Two or three of my accounts have never played any Adventure Games. Guess what? None of them got the first two or three Grand Prizes either. Also, a BIG issue is the amount of Trail Mix we have to “feed” our Pets for each game! Why only give us ONE package of Trail Mix per day? I’ve been saving my Trail Mix for use in the Adventure Cookbook. Some of my accounts had fewer than 5 packages in their docks. So, I’m sending a lot of my extra Trail Mix to my other accounts. I’m also spending real money to get ePoints so I can SKIP some of these ‘challenges’! I’d rather spend my ePoints on furniture/wallpaper/flooring/etc. Then, there is the issue of increasing the amount of Wheel of Wow Spins for each Adventure. I used my 2 WOW coupons, which I had be saving for long time to use only when there was something on the WOW that I really really wanted. No Floating Trail Mix. No Floating WOW coupons. But, LOTS of Floating Seed Packages of seeds we all ready HAVE, expect for the elusive Pineapple Seeds. I’m already amassing a lot of seeds that I already have a lot of!!! I would trade them all for extra Trail Mix and WOW coupons! I actually love doing the Adventure Games, and hope you will create more of them for us. But, this “Challenge” has a lot of issues. I would like to have the prizes that I should have received, no matter if I’ve played the game before or not. If I should buy an Adventure game 10 times, I should receive 10 Grand Prizes, as long as I’ve paid for, and played, the games! I just don’t think this whole Challenge was really well thought out. Too many unanswered questions. Maybe have one Adventure Game Challenge per month. Not for ALL SUMMER!!! :-/
I’m sorry to hear that those who already did the adventure park packs and won the grand prize, aren’t getting the prizes this time around – that’s rough to hear. I’ve been playing Webkinz since ’07 and this is my idea of how to fix the crowded dock issue a bit – I buy a bunch of small rooms, designate them as hallways and use those items to decorate them, then I arrange all my other rooms via the “hallways” and my dock is no longer crowded (same for my designated large storage rooms). I agree with you on the amount of Wheel of Wow spins – way too many of them per challenge. But I love the thought about the Floating W.O.W coupons – that’s an awesome idea! Something that hit me on the head that Ganz needs to do – update the adventure park cookbook with new prizes (like one recipe creates the Wheel of Wow coupons that we can use to get through the challenges). And they definitely need to remove some seeds from the prize pool (at least for a little while) so we can have a higher chance of gaining the pineapple seeds. If you want me too, I have two pineapple seeds packages (I’m a full player so I get 2 prizes a day and of the 20 I got, only 2 ended up being pineapple for me), but if would you like, can I know your user and add you as a friend and send you one via kinzpost?
@CDR_Shepard – What a sweet Webkinz Friend you are! I was very touched that you would send me one of your precious Pineapple Seeds. Thank you, but I did actually win one Pineapple Seed pack after I posted here last night. That is all I need. Just one. You keep your two seed packs and grow lots of yummy Pineapples for your pets! :-) I would still love to add you as a Webkinz Friend. My User Name is farout1. I also have an account that needs a few more Webkinz Friends if you would like to join that one instead. Or…join both! :-) That User Name is Sayward. (It’s a character name from an old mini-series that was on TV back in the late 70s called “The Awakening Land. Always loved that name.) I love how you are using the small rooms as Halls for storing items. I started using those rooms as Hallways so I could make pathways going up and down, or left/right. This way I can kind of control where my doorways go. I hate having that “outline” of an open door blocking things in my rooms, even though you can kind of see thru them. It’s really hard to arrange rooms since you can’t move rooms around without them having to touch another room. I wish when we were in “Move Room” mode, we could let the rooms stand alone, without having to touch another room, and our rooms wouldn’t automatically move up/down or sideways, out of our control! Once we get the layout of the rooms, where they are all touching somewhere again, them we can leave the “Move Rooms” and nothing moves and all is well! I also love your idea about updating the Adventure Park Cookbook! Love the ideal of getting some new prizes like a camp style coffee pot, tin mugs with “steaming” coffee that is placeable. Or maybe an old fashioned canvas pup tent (not one of those that deflate when the pet leaves the rent- yuck!). Or maybe have cardboard box that would have food supplies in it that is really another fridge that will sit on the picnic table. Maybe have more trees, logs, stepping stones, larger stones so you could circle the campfire area and let the pet sit on them. That way it would look like the pets would look like they are singing around the camp fire. :-) Ha! Okay, I’m all out of ideas right now! LOL! Look forward to having you as a Webkinz Friend! :-)
Hey Alucard (love that your name is Dracula backwards lol). I sent an invite to both accounts look for the Webkinz name that begins with “1kit” (I’m not use to posting usernames and that sorts of stuff on forums, just me being cautious, so I figured I just type the first four letters, my Webkinz name is pretty long lol). I never heard of the series The Awakening Land, but maybe my mom has; I use to watch “Get Smart” with my dad every Saturday morning before he passed away in 2015 (haven’t watched a full episode since, but I still think back about different episodes and have a good laugh by myself, maybe I’ll pick up watching them again). And awesome to hear that you got a pineapple seed! Congratulations! The prize pool for this Magic W event was waaaaaay too large, thus it made the chance to get the pineapple seed harder. And I love the ideas you listed for the Adventure Scouts (I don’t know why we kept putting park when it’s a scout book lol) Cookbook! The camp-style coffee table would definitely be a good addition and I love the idea of a cardboard camp box being a fridge that we can put on tables and stuff. And definitely having a tree to go with the camp theme, that would be awesome! It could rotate to show 4 different sides to it – a plain regular tree, one with lanterns, the third rotation shows a prank tree, and the fourth rotation reveals a tree with a “campkinz” banner decorating it. I’ll send you some trail mix as well, I got plenty in my dock from previous years!
@alucard, My dear WW friend. I really appreciate the wonderful gifts, but I am not expecting anything. Just trying to help out. I save my trail mix to craft items, as you do, and I hardly ever play the challenges, so I’ve got a few to help you ! Makes me happy ! :)
@noonesfriend – You are so precious! I truly appreciate your kindness in sharing your Trail Mix with me. I hope to have some Trail Mix left over after this Challenge is finished. If I do, I will send you some Trail Mix so you can make the neat Adventure crafts. I’m hoping they will up date that cookbook soon. I don’t often make Adventure Crafts, just one or two of the items I really like. I’m not a huge fan of the challenges either. I will often skip them if it involves having to go to the Tournament Arena, or play games I do not like to play, or just don’t like the prizes. I’m getting picky in my old age! ;-) LOL! I know you never expect anything in return, but I love sharing with my friends, so indulge me. :-) Besides, what’s the fun in having so much, if I can’t share with others. :-) Have a wonderful and Blessed Day, my Webkinz Friend! :-)
@alucard, No, No ! NO, no, no ! =:o LOL Don’t send me back any trail mix !! Truly. Glad to help. Need any more ? Hugs to you
To my Webkinz Friends, especially noonesfriend and my newest WF, CDR_Shepard. THIS is one of the MAJOR reasons I love Webkinz! Meeting and making new Webkinz Friends! It’s like having a Pen Pal (remember having those? Ha!) but never knowing our real names. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind knowing my WF’s names, but I understand the safety reasons we have these rules for all players, especially the younger ones. Noonesfriend, I congratulate you! You are only the second person that has understood my User Name here! LOL! I did try to use the word “Dracula”, but it wouldn’t let me. So…..I just spelled it backwards and “Voila!”, it was accepted! LOL! It’s nothing creepy. I just love old black and white Horror movies from the 30s, especially the original “Dracula” starring Bela Lugosi. I also adore Christopher Lee who was wonderful in the Hammer Studio films of the late 50s and early 60s. He was a wonderful Dracula. I’m not much for the horror movies they make today. Too much over the top gore to suit me. Yuck! I’m a tad old fashion when it comes to that. Ha! By the way…a bit of Trivia about the name “Alucard”. It was used in a 1943 black and white film called “Son of Dracula”, where Dracula called himself “Alucard”. It was a pretty good movie. Shows up on Turner Classic Movies from time to time. Anyway, I just wanted to Thank both you and CDR_Shepard for being such kind and wonderful Webkinz Friends. I do wish they would make the Forum a little easier to use when conversing with each other there. I can’t keep up with conversations. I don’t know if you have this problem, but it takes a while for the Forum to load for me. Not always, but at least 7 out of 10 times I just give up waiting for it to load. Plus, when asking questions about issues with the game, we seldom get a reply from Sally Webkinz or Michael Webkinz. But, it is what it is. I guess we ask way too many questions! LOL! Noone…I PROMISE I will not send you any Trail Mix! But, you never know just what I MIGHT send you! hee! hee! ;-) CDR, Thank you for adding me to your Friends list! Wanted to let you know a little bit more about “The Awakening Land”. It was based on three books by Conrad Richter, “The Trees”, “The Fields”, and “The Town”. The mini-series was a shortened version of all three books. It had an outstanding cast! Elizabeth Montgomery and HalHal Holbrook, were the two main stars of the shows. You may be able to find the books in a library, or on line like Amazon (that’s where I got my DVD). I originally had all three books in paper back, but have lost them. They were a good read, but I liked the mini-series better. Hope all this info helps you to find the books or the series on DVD. I think you would like it. Google the book and see what you can find about it. :-) I love “Get Smart” too! I remember watching them on TV way back when it was a brand new TV show. What a lovely reminder you have of watching it with your father! I’m sure that makes the show even more precious to you! I bet he will be happy you were watching the show again. :-) Thank you both, Noone and CDR! Y’all just made my day, this hot and muggy and humid day, so much brighter! :-) Have a wonderful and Blessed weekend! Have fun playing on Webkinz! :-) – your friend, alucard! :-)
I was surprised to read that we don’t get the grand prize if we already played before. I got the celestial s’more again, when I played the challenge again. So I thought we are supposed to get them again.
I have no idea if I finished any Adventure Park Pack Challenges! I can’t seem to get to Boris or whomever I need to get to for the Prize to get past the First of these Summer Challenges. I’m stuck right there. I guess I’ll just have to miss out on these prizes. I am so tech challenged that I can’t even figure out which, if any, of the Adventure Park prizes I might already have even if I could use it to complete this by placing it in a room. Lol
I appreciate any time they are not so difficult with the playing of actual games. Not everyone is good at every game and some that may take someone 10-20 minutes, can take others days of basically failing to complete it. A lot of people left playing webkinz are not kids and are not even young anymore, we have arthritis, carpal tunnel… etc to contend with.
Yep!
I’m glad to hear that you like to make things easier for us users when doing the challenges, and setting a set amount of spins or wishes for certain challenges, so us users don’t complete things too quickly is a good idea. But for the Adventure Scouts Challenge that we’re currently doing, the amount of times it takes to spin the Wheel of Wow keeps on increasing. For starters, I am on Part 5 of 8, and in order to complete it I need to spin the Wheel of Wow 6 times (part 4 of 8, you had to spin 5 times). And I’m already guessing that when I hit part 6 of the challenge, I need to spin the Wheel of Wow a total of 7 times. I would have preferred if the amount of spins per each part of the challenge was at a set number, like “Spin the Wheel of Wow 4 Times” instead of increasing it as we move on to the next part; us users still won’t complete the challenge as quickly, but then we don’t have this huge amount of wait time to move on to the next part – that’s my only complaint about the Adventure Scouts Challenge, the amount of times we have to spin the Wheel of Wow per each challenge part. Maybe we could get some Wheel of Wow coupons or a few more “Extra Spin on the Wheel of Wow” in the activities page? That would be helpful.
I agree. I keep finishing everything before the WOW part, and it takes forever! I do think the challenges shouldn’t be too hard, but it’s kinda nice to be able to grind, especially if you’re trying to catch up, because you can’t really catch up with all these WOW challenges :(
@SteampunkUnicorn – I know. It’s a little weird. I have 7 accounts. Two are Deluxe. Five are Full. I’ve played Adventure Park games with at least 2 or 3 of the 7 accounts. I haven’t received doubles on the ones I’ve won before. Plus I’ve not received the prizes on a couple of accounts that I have never played Adventure Park games on. It’s crazy and annoying all at the same time. There are other players have been having the same problem, and yet no one from Webkinz has addressed this issue. Usually they just say to email Webkinz Costumer Service, which doesn’t help every player, only the one having an issue, even though there are many of us that are having this problem. *sigh!* I’ve spent real money on some ePoints just so I could pass on to the next Adventure. I really don’t like doing that, but it seems I don’t have any choice. Plus, I would like to know WHY we can’t get another Grand Prize even if we have played the Adventure before? What does it matter if we play the same Adventure game several times? If we pay for the Adventure Game and play it again, why can’t we get the same Grand Prize? I just don’t understand their reasoning about this. I’m getting to where these several months long Challenges are not worth the stress and glitches that don’t get fixed. Plus, many players have already played most, if not all of the Adventure games we are playing for this challenge. I love playing these again, but it would have been nice to have new Adventure games this time. Maybe it would have had less glitches and stress! And, yes…It’s hard to catch up and finish an Adventure due to only getting ONE package of Adventure Trail Mix per day, and having to spin the WOW soooooo many times! I guess they think we do nothing during a 24 hr. period other than sitting at our computers playing Webkinz. Honestly, I’ll be glad when this Mega Challenge is OVER. It has NOT been a lot of fun so far. On a lighter note….I love your UN here! A Steampunk Unicon would be very cool! :-) Have an awesome day! :-)