What in the world is Webkinz?

Webkinz are stuffed animals that were brought out by the Ganz gift company in 2005. These plush toys are sold with a special code on their labels that allows their owners access to the "Webkinz World". This is a website which allows the participants to "adopt" a virtual version of the owners plush toy pet for virtual interaction. The smaller versions of these plush webkinz toys are called "Lil' Kinz".

These toys are like Beanie Babies. Some of these webkinz models have been retired and so, they are hard to find and fetch high selling prices. Webkinz toys are extremely popular with both kids and adults.

Webkinz pets are lovable plush pets that each come with a unique Secret Code. These codes let you enter Webkinz World and play with a virtual version of your pet.

After you adopt a webkinz plush toy pet and gain access to the secret code, you will be given items such as webkinz currency called "Kinzcash" and a room. Upon the adoption of a pet, certain items are unique to the pet.

After their 10^th, 15^th, 20^th, and every fifth adoption thereon, the user can choose any of the SuperBeds that they like. Gameplay mostly involves the earning and spending of Kinzcash. Kinzcash may be earned by playing multiple minigames, like arcade games & quizzes . Each pet also has different levels of HHH (happiness, health, and hunger) that increase as time is spent with that Webkinz pet. They can be increased by feeding food, bathing the pet, putting the pet to sleep, playing with the pet, exercising, and answering surveys. The virtual pet may get sick and must go to the doctor and be treated with special medicines if these meters get too low. After the purchase of the first toy, the online game is free to use for one year . After a year, the user must enter a new code from another pet.

In 2007 (summer), Ganz introduced whole new sets of Webkinz charms & trading cards. The trading cards and charms codes allow access to additional content on the website. The codes that are supplied with the charms allow access to the site's "Charm Forest". Ganz released other Webkinz-themed accessories in Fall 2007, such as clothing which includes website codes.

Where do I buy new Webkinz/Lil'Kinz pets? Because of its immense popularity, finding webkinz pets in retail shops might be really hard. I have found the best place to shop for them is ebay. On E-bay, I have even lucked into some hard to find and retired webkinz pets.

Okay, now if you are ready to buy one, where do you start? First, you adopt your pet and name it. Then you can design a room for it with your own ideas. You can play games in the arcade, or compete against other players in tournaments. You can answer quizzes and enter contests, too. All of these things earn you KinzCash, which you can use to go shopping for your pet in our W Shop, where you can buy custom furniture, toys and clothes.

P.S: If you luck into a webkinz pet without a 'W' on them, then these pets are part of the first generation of Webkinz pets and are extremely hard to find and expensive too. All the new Webkinz pet's paw carry the letter 'W'.