Hi everyone! I often get asked, “What ever happened to Mazin’ Hamsters?” and “Will you ever bring back Mazin’ Hamsters?”
I will try to answer these and some of your other questions about Mazin’ Hamsters below.
For those that don’t remember it, Mazin’ Hamsters was a fully 3D section in Webkinz World introduced in 2010, which was unlocked when you registered a Feature Code that came with a plush hamster.
Mazin’ Hamsters was unique from the rest of Webkinz World because it was running completely different animation software. While Webkinz World runs on 2D Flash, Mazin’ Hamsters ran on an early version of 3D Unity.
Inside ‘Mazin Hamsters, there were lots of mazes that your hamsters could race around or explore. Completing each maze awarded a trophy!
If you wanted more mazes, you could make your own using the maze building tool. You could even share your mazes with the community and have other players run through them.
Later we added a Hamster Hamlet section with different worlds for your hamsters to explore, along with daily activities like the popular Moolah Mountain!
Unfortunately, the uniqueness of ‘Mazin Hamsters was also its biggest problem. Much like the upcoming discontinuation of Flash by web browsers, the original version of Unity 3D was discontinued as a web plug-in. So, in September of 2015, because we could no longer run the game on the web, ‘Mazin Hamsters was closed.
However, Unity as a game engine has continued to thrive and grow. A new WebGL platform was developed to run Unity on the web, but unfortunately it was not backwards-compatible for those using earlier versions like ‘Mazin Hamsters. The Development and Art teams at Ganz that built ‘Mazin Hamsters would eventually take their collective experience and create a whole new massive online game: Amazing World.
Will ‘Mazin Hamsters ever return? While there aren’t currently any plans to bring it back, with Unity now one of the premier gaming technologies, you never know what the future might bring. Unity continues to be a technology that Ganz uses to develop new projects.
What was YOUR favorite part about ‘Mazin Hamsters? And what would you like me to report on next? Let me know in the comments below.
I miss ‘Mazin Hamsters. I’m sad I didn’t get to get all the trophies are prizes.
I love the hamster fun. We had a live little dwarf hamster at the same time. I loved collecting moolah and building the mazes. The prizes were really cool and unique. Would be nice to get them back, but I understand. I now have all the virtual hamsters.
There were parts of the game that were hard for me to do-I’m not that coordinated. lol But it was pretty. Loved finding items that could be used in Webkinz.
loved the games and the prizes
so cool
everything
Mazin’ Hamsters was wonderful, and I loved everything about it, especially the peaceful lagoon. Building mazes was an incredible learning tool for everyone. But, we did miss experiencing Mazin’ Hamsters together, at the same time. Then Amazing World was built to everyone’s delight, and we could experience it together through games, team play and adventures. The artistry in Mazin’ Hamsters was stunning and that carried through to Amazing World. Being able to work as a team in Amazing World is greatly missed. Steve, is there any chance of team play games for WW?
Hey Steve! Can you do one about Webkinz Friends? I loved that one!
I miss Webkinz Friends and I was heart broken when it stopped as I put in so much time, energy and money into it.
I think it was a Facebook thing, but I still want it back. They should make it a desktop app like the main Webkinz!
I never got to play in ‘Mazing Hamster world but I still have 2 Hamster plush pets with codes that were never redeemed. Are they redeemable in Webkinz World like regularlar Webkinz pets? I’ve been afraid to use them, waiting to see if Hamster world ever came back.
They are Feature Codes, so they won’t extend your membership, but you can redeem them for a virtual hamster.
it does count towards pet count though, so be warned of that i thought they didn’t ages back but they do, there’s 183 with them in there so yeah
The best thing about ‘Mazin Hamsters was collecting Moolah and shopping for unique furniture items to use in designing rooms for Webkinz pets.