| 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. Back to our main Webkinz Page |
| Telephone Order Hotline 01475 689892 Monday to Saturday 9:30am - 5:30pm Sunday 11:00am - 5:00pm |
Photographs © GANZ. GANZ and its brand names are trademarks of GANZ.
Photographs and artwork © GANZ. GANZ, WEBKINZ, the WEBKINZ logo and all
character names are trademarks of GANZ.
Bus Stop Toy Shop is not an official GANZ site and is unaffiliated with GANZ.
Photographs and artwork © GANZ. GANZ, WEBKINZ, the WEBKINZ logo and all
character names are trademarks of GANZ.
Bus Stop Toy Shop is not an official GANZ site and is unaffiliated with GANZ.
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