Playtopia is a hidden gem on the internet. Why do I call it a hidden gem? Well for one, they don’t get a lot of traffic, so not many people know about it. But ladies and gents, this site is fabulous!
There are multiple Playtopia mirror sites for different countries, but Playtopia.com is the official international site.
The company (CEGO) launched its first Playtopia site sometime in 2000, but Playtopia.com went up in 2008. It’s pretty young!
The games are gorgeous, there are a ton of profile options, it’s easy to connect with friends, there are weekly challenges, and the prizes are interesting!
To put it simply, I’m a fan. ^_^
Games
I haven’t played every game on Playtopia, but I’ve been quite impressed with what I’ve seen. A Glorious World is addictively fun (spent over 2 hours playing it last night!), and they have a lot more like it!
I’m really excited about getting to review Heidi Hunt. It’s a HUGE hidden-object game, something that’s nearly unheard of if free-to-win gaming!
Beyond that there’s a great variety of puzzle and arcade games. Many of the games have achievements and powerups that you can only unlock by completing different tasks.
Each game also has 4 medals/trophies that you earn by reaching score goals. (Medals are completely separate from achievements.) I have all 4 medals in only one game, and that’s Picture Logic. (It’s another one of my faves. ^_^)
Each week there are two new challenges featuring different games. These challenges last only for a week and there are always token rewards for completing them!
Profile
To be frank, there are a ton of settings for your profile. But it’s all really easy to navigate, so don’t sweat it.
It’s me!!
You can upload whatever profile pic you want, or you can leave the default pic. What I like most is that you can see what your friends have been up to. It appears that charlies has been making a lot of new friends!
Everyone also has a guestbook, where people can leave pictures or messages for you. I think that’s pretty neat. ^_^
You can also create a photo gallery, send mail, and challenge your friends to different games!
Prizes
Right now Playtopia is small, and they must have ninja advertising because I just don’t see it. My guess is that they’re using funds from their global sites to help kick start this one.
Not a bad plan! But for now, there aren’t a whole lot of prizes going out. When traffic builds up I’m sure that will change, so get all of your friends to start playing! ^_~
Currently there are three Jackpots you can enter.
To enter each Jackpot you have to buy the appropriate ticket with Playtopia tokens. Again, it’s really easy to navigate, so don’t stress out!
The Quick Jackpot has a progressive pot that starts at $10 and goes up to $30. The winner can be drawn at any time! Buy blue tickets to enter! (Each ticket is 500 tokens.)
The Extra Jackpot is drawn randomly between $30-$100. Buy red tickets to enter! (Each ticket is 1,000 tokens.)
Lastly, the Super Jackpot doesn’t have a pot limit! Right now (2/18/2011) the pot is over $9,000!! o_O To enter be sure you buy the green tickets! (Each ticket is 2,000 tokens.)
Playtopia also has something pretty unique about their jackpots, and that’s the fact that you can set up automatic ticket purchases! You pick the percentage of tokens you want to use, and it’ll buy the tickets right before the jackpot is drawn! This is a fantastic way to make sure you never miss out a jackpot drawing!
Yeah, you still might not win, but it’s definitely better than forgetting to enter and missing all of the drawings!
VIP
Right now Playtopia is completely free to play, but this may change in the future. On the mirror sites VIP is a paid membership option. For the moment we’re all VIPs at Playtopia! ^_^ Once the customer base grows, don’t be surprised to see things change!
I know we all want to play everything for free, and it might be tough to adjust to. But there’s something very important that I’ve learned from observing different free-to-win sites.
In general, sites that have paid membership options give out more prizes. They can afford it! So really, it’s beneficial to everyone.
Final Opinion
Can you tell that I like Playtopia? ^_^ They’re a great site, and if you haven’t tried them yet, give it a shot! You won’t lose anything by trying and you just might find a new favorite game or two!