Mary Tyler Moore’s death is the only major celebrity loss of 2017 — a stark contrast from the string of deaths of beloved figures in 2016.
It seemed, for the past month, that the celebrity death curse might be over.
Well, I’m here to tell you the curse is not over: Club Penguin is dying in March.
That’s right, kids. On March 29, the original game will shut down for good, and a new service, called Club Penguin Island, will take its place.
Club Penguin has been one of the most popular MMOs for kids since its launch in 2005, and people who grew up playing the game are heartbroken to hear about its death.
As a tribute to the game, here’s a look back at Club Penguin.
To pay or not to pay?
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: was it worth paying like $5 a month for a membership?
If you used Club Penguin’s free service, you were able to explore the island, pick up free stuff and play games. But without a membership, you could not access certain features, like buying all available clothing and igloo furnishings.
Customizing your penguin and igloo was one of the coolest things about Club Penguin. Without a membership, your penguin was either forced to walk around naked or dress in a hodgepodge of free clothes.
Plus, paying for a Club Penguin membership gave you an incentive to keep playing. You had to put in a lot of time to earn coins, and the mini-games weren’t always easy. It was nice to have an incentive other than mindless fun.
While you could still have fun without a membership, paying $5 a month gave you the real Club Penguin experience. It was totally worth it.
Don’t say rude or mean things
Chatting with other penguins was a staple of Club Penguin. The feature had both a “Standard Safe Chat” setting and “Ultimate Safe Chat” setting. If your parents were really concerned about the dangers of internet predators trolling Club Penguin, then you were stuck with “Ultimate Safe Chat,” where you could only talk in pre-written phrases.
Nobody wanted “Ultimate Safe Chat.” The real fun occurred in “Standard Safe Chat,” which, in hindsight, really wasn’t safe at all.
You could type whatever your little heart desired — as long as you knew what would and wouldn’t make it past Club Penguin’s filters.
You’d better pray, though, that there wasn’t some goody goody kid who would report you for saying rude or mean things. Club Penguin would drop its swift hand of justice and suspend your account.
On a side note, remember the feature on the chat bar that allowed you to throw snowballs at other penguins? So much fun.
Parties and Mini-games
Free stuff, new games and hype music — Club Penguin knew how to throw a party. Normally, they would be for holidays, like Christmas and Fourth of July, but they would also throw random themed parties, like “pirate” or “western.”
During those events, Club Penguin would also scatter “Penguin Celebrities” throughout the servers during parties, and kids would try to get a “picture” with one. Remember Rockhopper the Pirate? Or Gary the Gadget Guy? I spent hours searching for these “celebrities” to no avail. What a waste.
During parties, they would also hide hidden pins on some random location on the island. Finding the hidden pins throughout Club Penguin was like trying to find the Holy Grail. I still have nightmares about trying to find those stupid pins. What a mess.
If parties weren’t your thing, though, you could always play some games. Club Penguin would have been nothing without its array of mini-games that kids could play to earn coins. The ones that most people seem to remember include Sled Racing, Jet Pack Adventure and Cart Surfer.
Cute lil’ Puffles
Ah, everyone remembers the adorable little pets of the Club Penguin universe. Originally, Puffles came in a limited number of colors. After a while, many more colors were offered, including yellow, orange, purple, and even a rainbow Puffle.
While undeniably cute, I was never a fan of adopting Puffles. The cost was exorbitant, and once you brought it home, it never did anything. Aside from feeding it, I can’t recall being able to do anything fun with my Puffle.
Tipping the Iceberg
Club Penguin’s infamous iceberg has long been the source of the universe’s most fabled rumor: Can you actually tip the iceberg?
For many years, the answer to that question was no. Until now.
Recently, developers have added a patch that causes the iceberg to tip if you get enough penguins to stand on one side.
It may have taken 12 years, but we finally got our childhood wishes. Too bad it’s all going away in less than two months. Go check it out while you can.
