About Club Penguin
Picture a snow covered land completely surrounded by arctic waters. Now picture yourself there in the middle of a gigantic flock of penguins. Imagine waddling around the ice and snow with them as you gather treasures and meet new friends. Now, imagine that this is a place where you drop your kids off and never have to worry about them. It is a 100% safe environment. Sounds too good to be true, doesn’t it?
It is true. There is a new club in town call Club Penguin. This virtual club is a valuable resource for families. As a member of this club, your children and grandchildren will have access to a virtual world of wonder and fun. The following is a brief overview of the site.
First, you get your player card. This is you, your penguin. With this you can customize your penguin. Your penguin will earn coins by playing games all over the site. With these coins your penguin can go shopping in the penguin catalogs. Here you add to your inventory things like jackets, colors and backgrounds. All purchased items are added to you player card. A note about the catalog, occasionally there are limited time items which are available only until the next catalog update.
The following is a discussion of the mini games to be played on club penguin.
Down in the Ski Lodge lobby and hidden away in the Lodge Attic is a game called find four. This is played very similarly to connect four. Simply stack four in a row to win. Your four in a row can be straight up and down, across, or vertically. This is played with an opponent.
Travel to the Snow Forts and you will find the Super Rink. Here you will play a fast moving game of hockey. Use your penguin to move the puck around the ice. To make it an even more fun game, play with all your buddies. This is a for-fun only game and no coins are rewarded.
Down at the Coffee Shop there is a Book Room. In this room is a game called Mancala. This is played with an opponent. This is based on the family of Mancala games which traditionally are sowing games as they were played with seeds at its conception. Each player alternates taking seeds, stones or other medium from holes on their side of the board and they sow them elsewhere one seed at a time. The game ends when your opponent has no more seeds on his or her side of the board.
For some fast sliding fun have your penguin adventure over to the Ski Hill. This is the most popular place in the Club. At the Ski Hill are the sled races. All you do is choose a sled run and compete against others. The arrow keys on your keyboard will help you maneuver your penguin around obstacles.
At Club Penguin there is a pirate. He is Rockhopper and his ship is the Migrator. He docks his ship about every two months at the club. While he is docked you and your buddies can go on a treasure hunt aboard the ship. A good place to look for hidden treasure is in the captain’s quarters. If you work with a buddy penguin, you can click on columns and rows in search of treasure. Some things you will find are rubies, emeralds, and gold coins. Working with a friend doubles the earnings that you will share at the end of the game.
In the Night Club go up the stairs where you will find an arcade game called Astro Barrier. This game has 30 levels to play. The arrow keys on your key board will help you shoot at items and earn gold coins.
Everyone enjoys a trip to the lake. We all love to go tubing behind a speedy boat. At the docks, have your penguin climb aboard a speed boat and off you go. This ride is a little trickier than the family trip to the lake. Watch out for debris in the water. While playing Hydro-Hopper, (formerly Ballistic biscuit), your mouse will assist you in maneuvers.
Back at the coffee shop another game awaits. The Bean Counter game is a fast paced stacking game. Your job is to stack bags of coffee beans as they are thrown off of the delivery truck. During your turn there will be five delivery trucks. If you manage to unload and stack the bags from all five, you will get extra coins.
In the Underground is the Mine. Journey there and play a game of Cart Surfer. Use your arrow keys and space bar as you speed down mine tracks. Do flips and tricks to earn coins. The more tricks you perform, the more coins you can earn. This is a one person game and is a great place to accumulate a lot of coins.
Speaking of surfing, want to go? At the Cove, click on the Surf Hut and choose your level. You can play freestyle, pro and others. Members can have even more fun by upgrading their boards. Points are earned when you do tricks.
Back in the Ski Village at the Ski Lodge, head out the back door. Don’t forget a fishing pole because you just drop a line through the ice and hope for the big fish. If you are lucky enough to catch one you’ll earn bonus coins. Every fish earns a coin and your mouse will control your pole.
Down on the beach is the Lighthouse where you’ll find the Beacon. Once there you can strap on a jet pack in Jet Pack Adventure. Zoom around collecting coins but watch out for the obstacles. Use your mouse to control this adventure and make sure to get extra fuel and packs as you fly.
Find the Pizza Parlor. Here at the Pizzatron 3000 you get to become a master pizza chef. Collect coins as you build pizzas. Click and drop the toppings on each pizza and pad your penguin’s wallet.
Down at the Pet Shop is a special door. It reads Employees Only. Sneak right on in and play the Puffle Round up. A Puffle is the penguins’ favorite pet. Use your mouse to grab all the puffles and put them in a pen. Earn coins for collecting puffles but hurry because the game is over once they are all collected or once they all run away.
Back in the Lounge on the second floor of the Night Club is an Arcade Game called Thin Ice. In this game you must guide your puffle through to hit and melt ice cubes. A coin is earned for each cube so melt as many as you possible can.
For a deep diving underwater experience, travel to the Iceberg and board your very own Agua Grabber. Using your arrow keys, maneuver the ship’s claw around to grab items floating by. You and this sub will earn coins for all items recovered.
Book worms feel right at home in the Book Room. Here you not only read the story but help create it as you type along to decide what comes next. Brace yourself because each new page of Paint by Letters holds a new surprise.
Head over to the Night Club where you decide what to play. In DJ3K, you are the DJ. Click the speakers to get started. Your mouse is your guitar pick, use it to move around and blast some noise. Hey, the longer you play, the more they pay. Play as long as you like and collect all the coins.
Card-Jitsu is played at the Dojo and is administered by the sensei. Played similar to Rock-Paper-Scissors, each player uses cards to defeat the others. Fire melts snow, water extinguishes fire, and snow freezes water.
Additional instructions for each game are listed with the game itself.
On the home page are five links. They are Fun Stuff, Membership, Toys, Help & Support, and finally Parents. I will now give a brief description of what you will find once you click those links.
Fun Stuff. This link takes to a community page where you can get information and even see fan artwork. The artwork link is very sweet. The fans draw pictures of what their penguin looks like. Some were done using clay or other moldable medium. It is a neat place for kids to show their creativity.
On the same page there is a blog about the things that are new. At the point that I viewed it, Wednesday the 5th of March, the blog was talking about a new puffle you can adopt. The new puffles is white where as there were only black and colorful ones. Here the kids get to post comments about what they think of the new addition. They sound very excited about this new addition.
There is also a penguin pole on the community page. This is where they keep you updated on projects and events. They were congratulating children on their virtual generosity by making the December 2008 Coins for Change Drive a huge success. In December children were given the opportunity to donate their virtual coins to a charitable cause. By the end of the drive kids had donated three billion of their virtual coins to the cause. The coin drive donated $1,000,000 dollars, via New Horizons a Club Penguin organization, to several different groups in need. The coins from the children served as votes as to where the kids wanted the money to go.
Also on the community page are some links. One will take you to comics. One will take you to printable coloring pages. On this page you can also learn to draw a penguin, a talent you can then use to submit a penguin on the artwork page. There is another link where you can choose wall paper and banners. The wallpaper can be used on your computer and the banners on your web site. Complete instructions are given on each page for execution of the desired tasks. There is a penguin standard time clock and a featured logo.
Membership. Although you can play at Club Penguin for free, you can also purchase a membership which allows you to have access to more content and other areas denied to non-members. Membership can be paid on-line or a gift card can be purchased at retailers like Wal-mart and Toys-R-Us. The card can then be activated on-line. Memberships can be monthly, yearly or bi-yearly. A membership allows you to buy more clothes for your penguin and dress it up more. You are also allowed access to rooms that non-members are not allowed in. You can adopt more puffles of every color and buy them furniture. It basically enhances the experience for the child.
Another benefit to membership is that the funds are used to help keep the site child friendly and safe. New innovations are always coming along to ensure children’s safety from online predators and other things that children need to be shielded from. Your membership dollars make this a reality. Also, membership fees go to help the charities funded in part by New Horizons charitable organization established by Club Penguin.
Toys. This link allows you to purchase for real items that relate to the Club Penguin virtual world. They are Club Penguin themed toys like figurines. The toys are available at the on-line toy store and at other retailers like Disney Stores and Toys-R-Us. Each toy comes with a special code that will unlock something for the child’s penguin. This item could be something new and never seen or it could be some thing old and reliable that can not be purchased any more. There is a complete tutorial for children to unlock their special code making the site very user friendly.
Help & Support. Upon clicking this link, you will find many more links to visit. This is a very important page for the beginning user as well as the seasoned one. Here there are many tutorials about how to play. You will learn how to use your igloo, how to navigate, how to play the games and so on. Also on this page, many frequently asked questions and technical questions are answered. There is also a link for contacting someone at Club Penguin. For this section of the report I would like to cover a little bit about each part of this page as I feel there is a wealth of important information on it.
Your Penguin. Here there are tutorials on your player’s card. This is basically your key to customizing your penguin. You will use it to dress use to store items purchased like clothes and accessories. It is also where your coins are stored. You can view catalogs with your card. Included in this tutorial is information about the catalogs, buying items and limited edition items. These are items that disappear when the catalog is updated.
Mini Games. This link will give a brief description of all of the mini games to be played on Club Penguin. There are some multi-player and some solo adventures.
Navigation. This link is where you will find a map of our virtual play ground and tutorials on how to move your penguin around this world.
Your Igloo. Each player has an igloo for their penguin. The igloo can be customized by members and you can invite friends to your igloo. This link gives the user information on how to decorate and customize their home. You can play music in your igloo and even check out other igloos.
Penguin Coins. These are the coins that your penguin earns as you play on Club Penguin. This link gives as detailed account of what they are and why you want to collect them.
Newspaper. This is another venue for children to show case their talent and individuality. They can submit poems and stories that are published in the Club Penguin Times. This is published every Thursday and is available as you waddle through the site. Old issues are even available to read in the Boiler Room.
Characters. This link gives the children a detailed description and job duties of the three characters they will come to know at Club Penguin. They are Captain Rockhopper the pirate, Aunt Arctic the reporter, and Gary the Gadget Guy the inventor.
Special Roles. Here seasoned players can step off the beaten path and become someone else for a quest. This link gives details about each role a penguin can slip into and what is required to play it. Your penguin can become a secret agent, a tour guide, or take a tour. New penguins should take the tour given by older penguins.
Secrets. This is a link telling about things to discover while playing. There are secrets and collectable pins to be found.
Your account. Next is a tutorial on managing and creating an account. Membership is discussed as well as accessing your own account.
Other penguins. This next tutorial shows you how to make penguin friends and invite them to your buddy list. Your player card is how you are identified and the other players are identified by their.
Puffles. This tutorial describes the penguins’ favorite pets, a puffle. Just as a real pet, you must care for your puffle while on-line. This link gives you valuable puffle data.
Communicating. This link has a few other links. The links tell the user how to communicate with the other penguins on the site. They show you how to use quick keys to add emotes, a smiley face or other emotion, penguin movements, penguin mail, and penguin chat.
Safety. This link tells about safety protocol and participant requirement. There is a rules and punishment system. The rules are outlined here and specific consequences for the offence are given. Parents can set it to the ultimate safe venue. Here children can only communicate using pre-written phrases. All messages are filtered for inappropriate comments prior to them being allowed public viewing. If inappropriate content is found, either reported by another player or the moderator, the penguin gets a flag informing them of their punishment. The punishments are bans, the length of which will be determined by the moderator and can be from 24 hours to forever depending on the severity of the action.
Parents. This link is for penguin parents. Here many frequently asked questions by penguin parents are answered. First is a description of Club Penguin and a basic overview of the different features like customizing your penguin, adopting a puffle pet, and playing games. It talks about collecting coins and deciding when and how much to spend. They tell the parents about the safety measures from the onsite moderators to the advertising free play place for kids. They talk about the option penguin parents have to set time limits and hour limits for their waddlers. Right on the site is timer functions that parents can use once they have created a penguin parent account. They state the benefits of Club Penguin as being not only a safe online place for kids to play but a place for them to grow and learn as well. For example, a child must use math skills to decide how much is needed to purchase items and to manage their penguin account. They practice keyboarding as they play. Hand eye coordination is another skill practiced as they play. They learn to meet new people and practice appropriate skills associated with interactions. This aide in the building of social skills and community understanding in regards to a child’s specific role in the community itself.
Player Safety. Behind this link is necessary information for parents to pass along to their kids. Club Penguin outlines the safety measures they have in place but also gives you a list of review safety information. Things like; never give out personal information, never tell anyone your pass word, don’t use your name for your penguin, never chat in an un-moderated room, and never be afraid to tell if something does not seem right or someone is breaking the rules of the site.
Club Penguin Privacy Policy. Here penguin parents can read the privacy practices regarding personal information collected. Club Penguin’s privacy policy adheres strictly to the United States Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, European Union Data Protection Legislation, Canadian Federal and Provincial Privacy Legislation, and Brazilian Data Privacy Laws. They also added that they adhere to any other applicable privacy laws.
Misc other penguin parent links. You can also read testimonials from other penguin parents on this page. There are links to resources for children safety. You can read about global projects like coins for change. You can also manage your penguin child’s account.
That gives you the basic overview of the site and a brief description of what to expect at each of the five main links.