The Rumor
When I heard the rumor going around last month that Poptropica was shutting down permanently at the end of 2023, I was upset when I first heard the news, despite not playing the game in years.
For those that did not have the pleasure of experiencing the game firsthand during their childhood, Poptropica is an Internet game that was first released in 2007.
Created by Jeff Kinney, better known for the still ongoing “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book series, the game features different “islands,” each with a different quest for the player to complete.
According to the Poptropica website, there were once “more than 35 islands.” The game also previously featured two islands with characters and settings from Kinney’s series.
My experience with the aforementioned rumor is probably different from others. While most may have followed the ongoing drama during winter break, I found out about the rumor just last week, then did a frantic search online, where I discovered that it was actually a hoax.
During those brief few moments when I thought that it was actually shutting down, I was sad as I thought of the times that I spent on it over the years when I was little. I loved going from island to island and solving the puzzles and mysteries. When I was not reading, I was probably playing Poptropica.
My Experiences with Poptropica
I first discovered the game through my older sister, and we played a lot together.
I also read the Poptropica comic when it was first coming out. It had an interesting plotline and I remember being confused when it suddenly stopped, as it ended on a bit of a cliffhanger.
I also loved playing the minigames on some of the islands, such as Mancala, archery, and a few arcade games.
Poptropica was my first introduction to those games at a young age.
Reflecting on the State of Poptropica Today
With that in mind, the last time that I read about Poptropica, I learned that the game that I knew and loved was no more.
From what I heard, the old islands (which were the islands that originally ran on Flash) were unplayable on the online version, and you had to either buy the Steam version (which itself does not have close to the amount of islands that were present on the Poptropica website during its peak) or download a separate program to be able to play the “old” version.
At first, when I heard the hoax, I thought that it was similar to 2017, when the original Club Penguin shut down and was replaced by Club Penguin Online, which also sent the Internet into a frenzy. I then realized that this was not the same situation, as realistically, the Poptropica we knew and loved back then practically already died in 2020 with the death of Flash.
Poptropica.com Today
Curious about what the state of Poptropica looked like today, I visited poptropica.com. I was greeted by a message that said that I would have to go to Cool Math Games to access the game.
Surprised, I did another search online, where I found out that, according to a post on the Cool Math Games website, Cool Math Games “[took] over the preservation and hosting of popular adventure game Poptropica” just this month (”January 2024″). An understandable decision by them, given their decrease in playership from their peak, but this signified an end of an era nonetheless.
Returning to poptropica.com, I decided to click on the link that they included in their message. I was still curious about what Poptropica looked like today, even if it was now on Cool Math Games.
What New Players See
The launch page was significantly different from what I remembered, and I was not able to pick my name or fully customize my character. Instead, I had to choose between a few preset options of different character designs. I chose my favorite out of the options, and we were off.
I was first dumped onto an island, where I was immediately told to stop someone who stole a statue. I chased them to the next page, where I found that that person simply stole their own statue. I received an “adventurer outfit” for solving that mystery, and I was able to customize my character from that and choose different outfits.
Next, I had to talk to another character, who told me to go complete a quest on Fairy Tale Island. Yet, before I did that task, I wanted to look around the map first and see what other islands were available.
I got back in the iconic yellow blimp (at least that was still there), and opened the map. I went through the pages of the map, and there was a mix of newer islands that I had not played before and older ones.
Currently, there are a total of 13 islands on the Cool Math Games website, including the “home” island that you are immediately dumped onto when you first launch the site.
You are placed on that island first regardless of if you are launching the game for the first time or if you are logging back into your account.
If you are returning to the same account, you see a button at the bottom of the screen that allows you to easily return to your last played island.
Playing Time Tangled Island
I was unsure of what island to play first. When I saw Time Tangled Island on the last page of the map, I knew that I wanted to play it.
Time Tangled Island was my favorite island when I was a kid. I replayed it all the time. Instead of erasing my progress on my account, I would create an entirely new account to replay it each time.
I especially loved the “future” part of the island that you get to see if you finish everything else, which included monorails and a “hover platform” to get to my future self’s “sky home.”
So, this was the island I decided to play to see what Poptropica looked like in 2024.
It took me about an hour to play it, with some parts where I rushed through and others where I took my time.
Some of the scenes I remembered clearly (like the Mount Everest and the Statue of Liberty workshop), but others weren’t as clear. For example, I completely forgot that Da Vinci gave you a glider or that you could get a Viking Suit.
All in all, to me, it seemed really similar if not identical to the original version.
It has been years since I played it however, so I might not have been able to catch any subtle differences. It was nostalgic to play the same island that I played back then and seeing the same exact things again. It unlocked memories and images that I completely forgot about, and it was nice revisiting them.
Closing Thoughts
Overall, I have really enjoyed playing Poptropica. It was fun playing it when I was younger and it was more fun than I expected revisiting it. While I did not try playing any of the newer islands this time, that may be something worth exploring in the future.
While the website has shut down permanently, the game definitely has not, so people are welcome to enjoy it until it does.