Hi everyone, Steve Webkinz here. Lately I’ve seen several people on social media saying that they never collected all of their gems from the Gem Hunt—and some who don’t believe it’s even possible!

Well I’m here to let you know that it IS possible to get a Crown of Wonder, and to help show you how to do it!

The Gem Hunt was added to the Curio Shop as a daily activity way back in 2006. You don’t even have to be a Full or Deluxe Member to play it—even Free Players (on web and the desktop app) can go searching for gems every day!

Once each day you can search one of the mines for gems. There are 5 different colors to collect:

1. White
2. Red
3. Green
4. Blue
5. Yellow

For each color, there are 6 gems to collect with 3 different rarities:

• 1x Rare (R)
• 2x Uncommon (U)
• 3x Common (C)

You can see your collection by clicking on the Gem Collection box:

The gems are hidden randomly each time you enter the mine. However, only certain gems can be found in specific mines. The rare gem for each color can only be found in one of each of the mines. That mine will also potentially hold all the gems from that same color, along with the uncommon and common gems from one other color, and only the common gems from a third color. You can tell which mine you are in by the color of the cave stalagmites and stalactites inside.

It breaks down like this:

Buried Bones Mine

• All WHITE gems (including the RARE Webkinz Diamond)
• Uncommon and Common YELLOW gems
• Common BLUE gems

Muzzle Mouth Mine

• All RED gems (including the RARE Red Ruby Heart)
• Uncommon and Common WHITE gems
• Common YELLOW gems

Flea Floater Mine

• All GREEN gems (including the RARE Earth Emerald)
• Uncommon and Common RED gems
• Common WHITE gems

Howling Horse Mine

• All BLUE gems (including the RARE Ocean Sapphire)
• Uncommon and Common GREEN gems
• Common RED gems

Barking Mad Mine

• All YELLOW gems (including the RARE Corona Topaz)
• Uncommon and Common BLUE gems
• Common GREEN gems

Once you find a gem, Arte will make an offer to buy it based on its rarity and how many he has already bought that day (determined randomly).

However, if you find his “Gem of the Day”, Arte will make a special offer to buy it from you for 200% of its value!

You can choose to sell it to him, or to add it to your collection. If you want to save up for additional crowns, you can collect as many multiples of the gems as you want.

Once you’ve collected all 30 gems, you can click on your Gem Collection Box to trade one full set of gems for a Crown of Wonder.

Each time you complete the collection you can trade your gems in, so you collect a crown for every one of your pets!

Also, if you want to see your gems without leaving your pet’s room, you can pick up a Gem Hunt Jewel Box from the WShop. You’ll find it under the “Storage” tab, which is part of the “Furniture” category. Add it to your pet’s room and then can click on it to see your current Gem Hunt collection.

And if you’re ever bored of collecting crowns, you can also try dropping by Doug’s Collector’s Room in the Clubhouse (web and desktop app only) to look for Doug the Dog. When he randomly appears, you can click on him to trade gems for one of his special prizes. You can learn more about Doug the Dog and his prizes here.

Want to know more about the Curio Shop itself? You can read my earlier Special Report here.

That’s it for now—I hope this helps!

How many Crowns of Wonder have YOU collected? And what would you like me to report on next? Let me know in the comments below!

Hi everyone, Steve Webkinz here. In today’s special report, I’m going to take an updated look at all you need to know about Pet Medallions!

If you don’t know anything about our Pet Medallion system for adopting pets, you’ll want to first read our introduction to Pet Medallions here.

There are currently a total of 26 different pets that you can adopt with Pet Medallions.

Not only do different pets require different amounts of medallions to adopt them, but the chance of getting each medallion has different rarities as well. Here’s a look at each pet’s medallion value and rarity:

Out of these 24 pets, 2 of them (the Rainbow Googles and the Diamond Dragonfly) are exclusive to the Pet Medallion system, which means it’s the only way that you can adopt them!

Also exclusive to the Pet Medallion system are the seasonal Snowy Retriever Puppy and the Kiwi Bird, but those medallions can only be collected during special events. We most recently ran a Snowy Retriever Puppy floating medallion event during the 2019 holiday season, and then gave away a special 25 pack of medallions in the 2019 Christmas Gift.

There is also an “Any Pet” Pet Medallion that can be collected and used towards any of the pets. When you get one, it is automatically added to the Any Pet Medallion counter on your Pet Medallions screen. You can then add it to a specific pet by selecting that pet in the Medallions tab and then clicking the Any Pet Medallions transfer button in the top left (orange) area of your screen.

If you’ve collected 10 medallions for a pet, you can also trade them for 1 Any Pet Medallion. Just select that pet and then click on the exchange button on the bottom left (blue) area of your screen.

There are now many more ways to collect Pet Medallions than there were when we first launched this feature.

Arcade games marked with a red gift box can award prizes for a “Great Play” (i.e., a specific score threshold). One of the prizes included in those drops are Pet Medallions. All games in the Webkinz mobile app Arcade can award a prize drop.

The “Great Play” score is different for each game. We can’t tell you what those scores are because there is only a chance that you’ll get a prize drop if you hit it, however we have recently increased the odds of getting a prize drop when getting a “Great Score”.

You can also get a Pet Medallion in your Daily Delivery, so there’s a chance you’ll win one each day that you log into your Webkinz account.

We’ve also added a floating Pet Medallion that you can click on and collect 1 additional medallion per day.

Deluxe Members also get a Deluxe Pet Medallion Gift Box among their monthly prizes. Inside is a random assortment of rare, uncommon and common Pet Medallions, including a chance at getting an Any Pet Medallion!

NEW: If you use your SPREE rolls every day, you may already know that we’ve added a Pet Medallion 5 Pack to the Kinzville Mall! If you have 500 Mall Credits to spend when you get there, you can pick up this pack containing 5 random Pet Medallions!

How is YOUR Pet Medallion collection going? And what would you like me to report on next? Let me know in the comments below!

Hi everyone, Steve Webkinz here. In today’s special report, I’m going to take a look at the Webkinz Stadium!

The Webkinz Stadium is where all of your pets’ hard work at the Kinzville Academy can pay off. Raising their stats at the KVA allows them to enter into many of the scheduled competitions, and even helps to boost their chances of winning. There are 3 different competitions in the stadium:

1. Beauty Pageant
2. Cooking Competition
3. Running Race

Each competition has 2 different ways to compete:

1. Quick Events
2.  Scheduled Events.

Quick Events are open to anyone. Just take any pet, pay the entrance fee, and wait for other pets to join. Once the number of participants fills up completely, the competition will begin. Only the top 3 finalists will win a KinzCash prize.

On the Quick Events sign up page you’ll see the 3 different pet skills (earned at the Kinzville Academy) that will be a factor in determining the winners. The higher level your pet has in each one of those skills, the better chance they’ll have at winning. You’ll get a hint at your pet’s chances based on the message that appears below their pins. For example, your pet being a “Fleet Footed Favorite” shows that they will have a great chance in the Running Competition!

Scheduled Events award trophies or medals to the top 3 finalists and KinzCash to the other top 10. You can find out about upcoming Scheduled Events by clicking on the “View Schedule” button. You can also see Scheduled Events advertised on the main stadium page’s ticker banner above Fred Rover’s head. There are 4 different levels to Scheduled Events:

1. Open: No minimum or maximum pet stats required (any pet can enter). 25 KinzCash entry fee
2. Amateur: Minimum and maximum pet stats level requirements. 30 KinzCash entry fee
3. Pro: Minimum pet stat level requirements (higher than Amateur levels). 50 KinzCash entry fee
4. Deluxe: No minimum or maximum level requirements. Only open to Deluxe Members. No entry fee

When a Scheduled Event is ON, you’ll be able to click on the SIGN UP button on Fred Rover’s Desk. The sign up process works the same as Quick Events. However, while you wait for event to begin, your pet will be taken to a “Ready Room”. In this room you can do various activities with your pet to help them prepare for the competition. Although they look like just a fun way to pass time, doing the activities can potentially have an impact on your pet’s performance in the competition.

Once all of the spots are filled up, the competition will automatically begin. If you miss the competition, you can see it afterwards by clicking on the VIEW COMPETITION button on Fred Rover’s Desk. At the end of the competition, you’ll see the top 3 pets standing on the podium with their trophies, along with a full list of the standings.

Keeping watching Webkinz Newz in the coming weeks for a new trophy showcase featuring all of the different trophies and medals you can win at the Webkinz Stadium!

Here are some more Webkinz Stadium tips:

• Take your pets to the Kinzville Academy every day to help bring up their stats. Having higher stats in the right set of skills will definitely help their chances in the competitions!
• Beauty Pageant and Cooking Competitions have a random selection of judges who have their own likes and dislikes for clothing or ingredients. If you can figure them out, you’ll have a greater chance at success!
• Running competitions don’t have judges, but wearing the right things can help improve your pet’s fleet feet!
• If you miss the chance to view your pet in their competition, you’ll get a KinzPost message from Fred Rover the next time you log in, telling you how they did!

Do YOU take your pet to the Webkinz Stadium? And what would you like me to report on next? Let me know in the comments below!

Hi everyone, Steve Webkinz here. In today’s special report, I’m once again going to take a look at growing gardens in your yard, but this time I’m going to focus on the seeds found at the Ganz eStore. If you missed my earlier special report on growing gardens with WShop seeds, you can find it right here.

Just like the seeds that can be purchased for KinzCash, you can find eStore seed packets in the WShop under the Fun Stuff category.

You can find a variety of different food items that can be grown, including all the different berries from Jumbleberry Fields, which can be used to fill up your jam jars, or can be fed to your pet to win a prize.

Here’s a look at all of the different eStore seed packets, their harvest times, and the resell value of the harvested food:

DID YOU KNOW? We’ve recently updated gardening so that when you click on a plant, the harvested food automatically drops into your Dock without any message appearing, so harvesting a whole room of plants is a lot faster! This same feature will soon be added to another class of harvestable item—stay tuned!

You don’t have to be Deluxe in order to buy eStore Points, but Deluxe Members get FREE eStore Points added to their account EVERY MONTH! You can learn more about Deluxe Membership here.

What do YOU think of our growing garden functionality update? And what would you like me to report on next? Let me know in the comments below!

Hi everyone, Steve Webkinz here. Did you have an old Webkinz account that you were looking to get back? Well, read on and hopefully I can help!

Here are the important things you should know:

1. Due to current online child privacy laws, we are legally required to delete any inactive accounts after 7 years. So it has been more than 7 years since you last logged in, it has been deleted and there is no way for us to restore your account.
2. As of October 1^st, 2019, we followed through on our planned USER AGREEMENT UPDATE announcement, part of which involved no longer archiving accounts. While large accounts with 10+ pets were automatically restored, the remaining smaller accounts were permanently deleted. You can read an FAQ about this new policy here.
3. If it has been less than 7 years since your last login and you had a larger account that was possibly restored, but you can’t remember your login information, you’ll need to contact Customer Support. You can reach them via email at: webkinzsupport@ganz.com

PLEASE NOTE: the Customer Support team can only respond to emails during regular business hours: from Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm EST. They often get a high volume of requests (especially over weekends), so please be patient. Response times vary, but can sometimes be upwards of around 10 business days. Sending repeated requests every few days will only add to the backlog.

If you can’t remember your user name, it is still possible to recover your account. However, they can only search for an account using one of the following pieces of information:

1. The EXACT user name for the account
2. The email associated to the account (if one was provided when the account was created)
3. Any of the registered pet Adoption Codes on the account

If you don’t remember any of this information, or if your account was deleted, please understand when Customer Support says they can’t help. They want to do everything they can to help people reconnect with their Webkinz pets, but there is nothing that can be done once they get beyond these technical and legal restrictions.

Also remember that if you wish to start a new account, you can now do so for FREE. It comes with a free virtual pet and a free 3-day Deluxe Membership trial.

If you restore an old account, please note that you will only have Free Player level access, no matter how many pets were adopted onto the account in the past. Adopting additional Webkinz pets onto your free account will unlock Full Membership. If you want access to all of the features and fun in Webkinz World, you can purchase a Deluxe Membership subscription. To learn more about the 3 different tiers of Webkinz membership, check out my earlier Special Report.

This has been Steve Webkinz reporting for Webkinz Newz! What would you like me to report on next? Let me know in the comments below.

Hi everyone, Steve Webkinz here. In today’s special report, I’m going to take a look at growing gardens in your yard.

For those who’ve been playing in Webkinz World for a while, you’ll know that you can find seed packets in the WShop under the Fun Stuff category.

Once you drag and drop your seeds into either an outdoor or treetop room, unlike before, you’ll no longer need to maintain them before they’re ready for harvest. After enough days have passed, you’ll see your plants are ready.

Click on them to send the grown food to your Dock. The harvested plant will return to its initial growth state and start the clock on growing again.

*Technical note: You can move Growing Garden items around a room at any time without affecting their growth timeline, but if you remove it from the room by sending it back to the Dock, it will be reset.

Plants will remain ready for harvest until you click on them and will never rot. Harvested food can either be fed to your pet or sold back to the WShop for KinzCash. Becoming a Webkinz farmer is a great way to earn lots of KinzCash!

Here is a look at the Growing Garden seeds available for KinzCash and how long they take before they’re ready to harvest!

*Technical note: Each Growing Gardens plant grows only 1 food item.

Note: Most Growing Garden seeds in the WShop available for eStore points take 7 days before they’re ready for harvest.

Have YOU been growing YOUR garden? And what would you like me to report on next? Let me know in the comments below!

Hi everyone! At the start of the month, we announced that we had made some important updates to our User Agreement. If you missed that announcement, you can find it here.

There were two important parts to this announcement, each one generating several follow up questions from our players.

PART I: Archiving and Deleting Accounts

“Webkinz World accounts are no longer being archived. Accounts that have purchased pets, in-game currency or Deluxe memberships may be deleted after 24 months of inactivity. Accounts with no paid activity may be deleted after six months of inactivity.”

“Players with archived accounts will have until September 30, 2019 to retrieve them. As of October 1, 2019, all remaining accounts in the archive will be deleted. As a result, the usernames associated to these accounts will be available once again to register as new accounts.”

Here are some of the questions you asked about this updated account policy, followed by our answers:

Q: Does this mean you are deleting all free accounts?

A: No. We are only deleting abandoned accounts still in our archives as of October 1, 2019

Q: How do I retrieve my account if it is archived?

A: If you know your user name and password, just attempting to log in will automatically retrieve your account from our archives within 24 hours.

Q: What if I don’t remember part of my log in?

A: Please email Customer Support at: webkinzsupport@ganz.com. Please note though, they can only search for an account by user name, an email (if one was provided), or one of the registered pet Adoption Codes on the account.

Q: I haven’t played Webkinz in many years, but I still know my user name and password, yet when I try to log in it says that my information isn’t correct.

A: If you haven’t logged in to your Webkinz account in more than 7 years, we are currently required by online child privacy laws to delete it.

Q: What can I do if my old account has been deleted?

A: If you still wish to play Webkinz, the only thing you can do is start a new account. Starting a new Webkinz account is FREE, comes with a pet of your choice, and also includes a 3 day free Deluxe Membership trial.

Q: I’m already playing Webkinz. If I don’t log in, will you delete my account?

A: STARTING OCTOBER 1^ST, 2019: If you have a FREE account where you NEVER adopted another pet, or NEVER bought eStore Points, or NEVER bought a Deluxe Membership—and then stop logging  in—we will delete that account after 6 months from your last log in. If you have done ANY 1 of those paid actions—even if your account is currently downgraded to the “Free Player” tier, we will only delete that account after 2 years from the last log in.

Q: Why are you deleting paid accounts after 2 years of inactivity now instead of 7?

A: We have already proactively retrieved many of the biggest accounts from our archives, in an attempt to preserve them for players who may return within the original 7 year legal deadline. However, there are still millions of smaller accounts that add up to massive amounts of data which is no longer feasible to store. Removing these accounts also means that millions of user names will be freed up for new players.

Q: To keep my account active, do I have to log into my account through the web or the mobile app?

A: Logging in to Webkinz on web, desktop, or mobile will all keep your account active.

PART II: Selling or Trading of Virtual Items

“The User Agreement now also explicitly forbids the sale or trade of any and all virtual items, with the exception of the trading of items for items through the in-game system. Virtual items may not be sold for cash, traded for eStore points, or traded for any equivalent service or consideration. Accounts violating these terms may be permanently banned.”

Here are some of the questions you asked about this updated virtual item policy, followed by our answers:

Q: Can we still trade items in the Clubhouse Trading Room?

A: Yes. Using our in-game trading system is still allowed.

Q: Can we still send items through KinzPost?

A: Yes. See more about this below.

Q: Can we still sell items for KinzCash back to the WShop?

A: Yes. Selling items in the WShop is still allowed.

Q: Can we still arrange for trading items on the Webkinz Newz trading forums?

A: Yes.

Q: What if a trade of virtual items was arranged between two players outside of Webkinz World, like on Facebook?

A: As long as it is a straight trade of virtual items through the Clubhouse Trading Room —not involving eStore Points, real money, or equivalent services—where the trade was arranged doesn’t matter. Remember KinzPost is for gifting ONLY, not for trading.

Q: Can we still gift items to friends and family through KinzPost?

A: Yes. Anything sent as a true gift is fine. But if that “gift” was sent in exchange for real money, eStore Points, or equivalent services–THAT is not allowed.

Q: Does this mean we can’t buy or sell any virtual Webkinz items on sites like eBay?

A: Correct.

Q: Can we trade codes for virtual items or virtual pets for real money, eStore Points, or equivalent services?

A: Codes are yours and can be sold/traded as you see fit. Just remember that you can’t trade the codes for virtual items in an any way, as virtual items can only be traded through our in-game trading system. Also, if you trade codes for any service that breaks our Terms of Service, your account will be considered to have broken our Terms of Service as well.

Q: I paid real money for some of the virtual items and pets on my account. Doesn’t that mean I own them and can do anything I want with them?

A: No. Please refer to our User Agreement which states that all game content “is owned, controlled or licensed by or to Ganz”.

Q: What about buying pet Adoption Code tags from places like eBay or other sites?

A: While buying the physical Webkinz pet Adoption Code tags that are not attached to a plush toy from a secondary seller on sites like eBay is not forbidden in our User Agreement, it is not recommended. An unsealed Webkinz pet Adoption Code may already be used, or could potentially compromise your account’s security.

Did I miss any questions you still have about this update? And what would you like me to report on next? Let me know in the comments below.

“Why do I have to pay money to play Webkinz when I played it for free when I was a kid?”

As many people who played the game years ago are re-discovering their childhood fandom, this is a common complaint posted on social media. However, while it may have seemed to some that they were getting access to the game for free, in reality, they were not.

When Webkinz.com launched in 2005, the only way to play on the site was by registering a code that came attached to the plush pet they were adopting onto their account. Once a code was registered, the player could play for one full year from the date they adopted that pet. At the end of that year, the account became locked until another code was registered during a new pet adoption. An important side note is that multiple adoptions NEVER “stacked” multiple years of membership. So, adopting 10 pets on the same day only ever gave 1 year of membership—not 10 years.

Once the “Webkinz craze” hit around 2007, with so many new plush pets flying off the shelves and players’ collections constantly growing, most kids never got locked out of their account. Basically, they were continually adopting so many pets that their membership never ran out.

In 2009, once plush sales began to decline from their meteoric peak, Ganz introduced Deluxe Membership as a new way to subscribe to the Webkinz game without having to constantly purchase physical plush toys. While this form of membership came with many bonuses like monthly gifts and eStore Points for special items, the amount and variety of bonuses added to Deluxe Memberships has steadily increased over the years, while the fee has essentially remained the same.

In 2012, Webkinz transformed its membership structure to a “Freemium” model. While Deluxe and Full Membership basically remained the same, once those subscriptions ran out, players were no longer locked out of their accounts. Instead, they could continue as a free player, with limited access to certain items and features. Kids that wanted to create a new account could also for the first time adopt a free pet instead of registering a code. This is the membership model that Webkinz still uses today.

Want to know what all the differences are between being a Free Player, a Full Member, and a Deluxe Member? We created a handy list which you can see here.

Do YOU remember the days when the only way to play Webkinz was to purchase a plush toy? And what would you like me to report on next? Let me know in the comments below!

Hi everyone, Steve Webkinz here. In today’s special report, I’m going to take a look at some specialty storage items.

For those that don’t like a lot of clutter in their Docks or rooms, storage items can offer the perfect solution for keeping everything neat and tidy.

When we first launched Webkinz World, the only storage items we had were toyboxes and fridges. Since then, we’ve expanded to allow wardrobes and closets to store clothing. We also have “Swatch Closets” that can store away Wallpaper and Flooring. While most are only sold at the eStore, the Samples Style Cabinet is available for KinzCash in the Storage subcategory of the WShop!

If you have a lot of coupons cluttering your Dock, the Ganz eStore has a Couponer’s Chest of Drawers to help you store them away.

This past St. Patrick’s Day, we gave away a Lucky Coin Box, which can be used to store away all of your collectible coins!

We now also have 2 garages which can be used to store away some of your pet’s favorite vehicles! The Tie-Dyed Garage is sold at the eStore, and the Garage Shed was given away as a prize to members during our June 2018 Deluxe Day!

This has been Steve Webkinz reporting for Webkinz Newz! Which other items do YOU think should have specialty storage? What are some other things in Webkinz World you’d like to know more about? Let me know in the comments below.

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.