The Rise and Fall of Club Penguin

Millions of children around the world have played Club Penguin since its launch in 2005, however, many are unaware of its predecessors and how much they influenced the final game.
With the desktop version of Club Penguin shutting down by March 29, 2017, I'm taking a look back to the very earliest versions of Club Penguin, and how it has evolved in its 17 year lifespan.
For more information, I'd recommend reading Lance Priebe's (The game's original developer's) blog.
rocketsnail.com/blog/

[@rachelsmith3550]

it sounds like it had a happy ending, at least. there were no lawsuits or bankruptcies or anything. it's remembered fondly. it was just getting old.

[@Mrvideosandgames]

They suffered a lot of hacking issues and didn't see it as a worthwhile investment trying to solve it.

[@pavelow67]

Mr Videos & Games hehehe, i wish i could of seen that...that would of been funny

[@Mrvideosandgames]

^ More backend stuff so you probably wouldn't see much. However, there were those tools you could use to move a dozen penguins or so together in the shape of swastikas and whatnot.

[@jaxwhite2412]

Rachel Smith IT WAS AMAZING HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT

[@Liamnerfdude1]

no they stuffed it up with their stupid artwork disney made.

[@Sunsun208]

My childhood is dying. Here's to good times bugging my parents to buy me membership.

[@spas012]

if the serves work

[@Robowil]

I remember asking for a membership every month.

[@hibubgames7667]

I could have bought a real game...

[@zanerich9460]

Sunsun208 remember playing this when I was 9ish

[@vex6620]

I acan relate to ya mate

[@Mrvideosandgames]

The inclusion of Club Penguin music in this video made me cry.

[@Mrvideosandgames]

^ I didn't literally cry, but it did bring back memories.

[@josephinewainaina6203]

Mr Videos & Games Same 😭

[@kingaasohk8662]

me too ahhh 2009

[@carlosquesnel8881]

I almost cried 😭

[@Blapze]

I did actually cry

[@bartsfartandshart]

Jesus christ, the guy who created club penguin created adventure capitalist? There goes my fucking brain.

[@MSProductions24]

Andrew Jackson i know how you feel

[@cowcannon8883]

my life is complete

[@MakusinMeringue]

Andrew Jackson HYPER HIPPO? Really?

[@polygollie]

that's immediately what I thought lol

[@Spinner891]

That is immediately what I thought. Like, what?!

[@familyguyclipmoments590]

Club penguin was bought by Disney... *and that's when the advertisements attacked*

[@drippyog3935]

Hduszkwk

[@shiroyasha7324]

Lol. :)

[@claudiasolar2181]

Fuck Disney

[@heyitsazr2115]

Why Disney is shutting down Club Penguin? (This is a joke) Since they bought big companies there broke lol Wanna Play Club Penguin Island? *M E M B E R S H I P*

[@moew1051]

If nick bought it maybe it wouldn't have been en shut down becuase clearly every companies put Disney knows how to save a dieing game

[@HayLeesHomeMade]

We're forgetting the actual Club Penguin app, which was official Club Penguin but on mobile. It was not Club Penguin Island.

[@ChristopherLiu]

firepiplup the mobile app of club penguin had less features

[@jade_shula4807]

Club penguins Island sucks I want club penguin back

[@tuser8]

It still wasn't the same, all penguins had really strange 3D models which constantly lagged the game to the point of being hardly playable if popular. Also, as Christopher said, there were less features. It also was much glitchier and many older clothing items didn't work properly. I don't really know why I played it, mainly curiosity, but out of the few tries I had, that's what I remembered.

[@rz2374]

@@jade_shula4807 have you cprewritten.net ? Some fans made it again

[@jade_shula4807]

R Z yea I played that for a long time actually, it still would be nice to get club penguin back :(

[@MCGrassblock210]

Rip Club Penguin. I’ll remember the countless coins I donated to charity, and the amount of pizzas I made to raise those coins.

[@J.B.Knowles]

rip me and my cousins' childhood 2007-2009 and 2017

[@iraklipirveli7050]

S J Productions II Well,my siblings,besties and friends. 2009-2017 Rip.

[@callum273b]

It started amazing, then dipped in quality massively, then became so bad it was unplayable, then imploded on itself and died.

[@anonymoussavior2751]

Yoshiman716 That happened when they made it so you had to pay to do just about everything in the game. It honestly makes me wanna cry because my childhood was playing all the minigames to get clothes and puffles and they ended up making it so you couldn't use the shit you worked for unless you payed real money for it

[@michaeladams762]

It was frustrating. We couldn't even afford video game consoles until the end of middle school, and even then, me and my siblings shared 1 DS. There was no way we could afford a membership to an online website. I would play CP for a few days and then quit because I couldn't do ANYTHING. Webkinz was good about this. At least with that, you get a stuffed animal out of it.

[@Marlin123]

MEMBER MEMBER MEMBER

[@jed_w]

Blame Disney

[@kapi6449]

Even without membership it was a good f**king game

[@mardogaming1999]

this game was the best back in 2007-2012

[@jaxwhite2412]

MarioxGaming729 IT STILL IS THE BEST IN MY HEART

[@globii6030]

@@jaxwhite2412 I agree. ;-;

[@Alice-ox7pe]

Yes.

[@user-eh7rh3gz2z]

almost sure that you found minecraft or habbo around 2012-2014

[@weirdguy9659]

True

[@nikolaiblm1255]

R.I.P Club penguin 2005 - 2017

[@moosetwin9023]

R.I.P club penguin rewritten 2017 - ????

[@wordart_guian]

I feel like 2017 was a sad year in tech. The end of CP, Vista, Movie Maker, Maybe Vine (i don't remember Vine but my sister misses it)...

[@sckiteh3122]

Ahh... yes the good ol' days of my Windows 7 crashing while I was trying to use both Club Penguin and Roblox at the same time.. I'm gonna miss you Club Penguin, we had good times.

[@CocoHutzpah]

I remember some of my friends in middle school started playing this when it launched. I didn't the internet at the time and everyone forgot about it within 3 months.

[@kayaaa2686]

yo guys- if you want to play club penguin now that it's over, there are still many private servers available, like club penguin rewritten.

[@ChristopherLiu]

Kayalolz12 AJ try my version of it acmpenguin.weebly.com

[@lauriechammah]

Christopher Liu HAHHAHAH TRIED IT

[@globii6030]

@@ChristopherLiu ._. -Your making me sad-

[@ChristopherLiu]

@@globii6030 Sorry

[@melindad3643]

@@ChristopherLiu Cool man

[@RaianNSX]

Played this game since I was 7, the year was 2007 until around 2010 and it has and will always be a part of my childhood :')

[@Giraffiti]

"Suttup non-member scrub" Jokes on that guy that insulted me in 2012, his membership is now useless and a waste!

[@imacheckneck]

Lol

[@_james1598]

lol

[@SpaceSniper21]

Suttup😂😂

[@gotrillla608]

Endothermic Madness Suttup non-member scrub

[@Randompersononline]

Endothermic Madness are you telling me that you didn’t have a membership Hope you had fun with your naked penguin

[@bbomg02]

My mom paid over $90 on membership cards, just so I could be the black belt in the karate lol. I haven't played it since like 2011 though.

[@rpm6425]

I was a black belt, but I got it the hard way

[@rajchow1]

So you got those special cards instead of grinding?

[@SufficientlyGaming]

omg lol same

[@zsin128]

you got black belt in real life. i dont even have cp one

[@poroze8067]

2005-2013 club penguin was for me the best years.. 2014-2017 was when they re-used party ideas and it just got greedy.

[@CounteredSnow]

Even though rewritten is a thing, I still miss the original

[@ChristopherLiu]

TheMemer27 No its like the old version

[@zMikexd]

@@ChristopherLiu No its the 2011-2012 era (aka the last years of the golden era). The REAL old good version is the 2007-2010 era, before and when the EPF was a secret.

[@onlypuppy7]

Not any more

[@meikoyukino]

I miss everything in Club penguin, I remembered that I was having fun with my sister hanging around in the plaza, dancing in the night club, collecting pins, snowball fight, and I also collected all the belts and element pins. It was kinda sad when things are shut down. (also I never had memberships cuz idk how to do it)

[@juste.une.mouche]

the true fall of club penguin was when disney started turning it into one big ad for their movies:(

[@marcellevalente]

Ye... That was the worst thing ever, I hated that parties :(

[@maxwellmoore8818]

RIP in peace club penguin. Our hearts will always be with you. Never forget.

[@dave5194]

Oh my god, I remember seeing my friends playing club penguin during playtime when I was in elementary school. I never got into it though, Poptopica was what I constantly played and I think I kept playing up until I was 13, maybe 14. I remember I stopped because it was kinda bug prone and often times would result in a bug that would prevent progress in a story line. After going through 6 or 7 accounts, I was done, but I do remember it and its story telling and all the variety and creative worlds of the islands and the actually pretty difficulty puzzles to solve

[@windowskarenedition3276]

I played both, and I became addicted to both. Then I saw it was shutting down. So rip my favorite game.

[@cakehairline3240]

Club Penguin was my favorite childhood game and still is to this day. I usually play Game Day to go back and experience the Nostalgia i once had on the game. Nice video!

[@Kamexe]

MY CHILDHOOD 😭😭😭 They never finished the epf story and it was like... the most anticipated thing for child me...

[@daniiel3099]

exactly i just wish they would have finished the storyline properly above everything else

[@zMikexd]

They did kind of ended it with Operation Blackout, and they rebuild the commend room, but they are some things that are ''Undefind''.

[@teacherdude]

I remember recommending this to my daughter as a way of improving her English language skills and getting more familiar wit using a PC and the internet

[@419Films]

My son had many, many hours of fun on CP. His first experience with online friends.

[@hawradatoo6272]

The club penguin pictures and music made me cry so much💕 I miss these days, simpler times

[@AnonYMouse-ky4sg]

I remember all the kids playing Ballistic Biscuit in our school computer class. There was another shockwave game I remember that had you shooting down penguins trying to land on your iceberg with snowballs I think. And one where you had to roll a snowball down a hill while avoiding obstacles, and build up the snowball so that eventually objects that used to be obstacles were now "food" for your snowball to become bigger, to the point where you were eventually "eating" human skiers and animals.

[@Mahoromatic]

Ah... The old Bean Counters song.

[@kostasgr1858]

Hey can you make The Rise and Fall of Toontown?

[@zambie4314]

yeah. it has a pretty good history

[@EnviousWingDings]

Toontown rewritten!

[@pavelow67]

Simple, Toontown was advertised heavily on disney channel and attracted a lot of people. Then, club penguin was rising in popularity (somehow)....then toontown got dead...im happy that trash club penguin died

[@pavelow67]

Cygeniks won'y you?

[@zipp4910]

Look at LoopyGoopyG's 3 part history of it. It is very in depth and kinda long. Great video though

[@aureliaavalon]

I remember doing those secret agent missions and keep going the wrong way during the maze part where we had to trek through different routes in the snow 😂 my tiny ass brain kept forgetting how many turns of left or right i made during the return trip

[@alyswift6183]

I remember playing this game w/ my friends back in elementary school, we used to call each other on our house phones (it wasn't common for children to have cell/smartphones back then) and tell each other where to go and what to do, ah those were the days.

[@alohagaming0134]

....Darnit I'm crying I met so many friends :'( some of them ik irl now...so much memories gone

[@oozma1292]

This brought back so many memories, I’m crying

[@acryliccore]

Rest in Peace, Club Penguin. You raised me better than my parents did.

[@Rocky2001cp]

Damn man.. I remember spending a whole weekend working on making CPMVs(check me out BTW) , chatting with friends. I'm sad but I've also outgrown from the game anyways

[@dumb5308]

I remember playing this... so sad it's gone now

[@J_man-de5sw]

it is still falling with cpi (club penguin island)

[@waltthefan]

maybe ?

[@sedeanimugamez5418]

I started to play in 2010 good times i was a master ninja

[@sir0robin520]

I know am 2 years late to the party but I remember playing all the penguin chats as well as the launch day for Club Penguin, I was so proud of my day 1 account. Even years after I had random people contacting me on facebook wanting that account. I remember back when it was like 1 server and just a hand full of locations, and not much to do. Role playing was fun in the early days and was basic. I would just pretend that I was the owner of the Night Club and server people up in the lounge, ask people to "DJ" and casually have to fix the boiler. Lots of good memories that will last with me forever.

[@maidcatboy]

Do you know about box critters?

[@emardis8982]

I will miss Club Penguin :(

[@gamingshiba8175]

What??? Funnily enough, I was playing Adventure Capitalist like 2 days ago before I saw this video. Its pretty addicting.

[@judychen1038]

0:03 it’s mostly a chat game with mini games and clothing

[@nadunwijesinghe965]

Omg this was my favourite game when I was in 6th grade It was like my life what do kids these days even and this game was like the most family friendly game ever it was a good fun and time consuming game! I miss it soo much 😭😭😭

[@mtysky798]

Fortnite is better

[@nadunwijesinghe965]

IanV naah I love Pubg more in my opinion but I do respect that u like fortnite it can be fun in ur opinion

[@mtysky798]

I like pubg too btw I have it but I prefer Fortnite

[@pao-eg9eh]

club penguin rewritten

[@almightytallest9812]

ClashWith SKULL there is a void now

[@cambratzke3996]

Great information thx

[@JaydenVarghese]

The song played in the beginning brings back memories

[@mollyella4729]

Rip, will always be my forever favourite game :(

[@martym915]

I grew up with this game. I remember stealing my sisters laptop to play when I was 3

[@Andy_77799]

I started to play CP when I was 3 too!In 2006.

[@mr_flannels9632]

I first played in 2008 and I was six years old I stopped playing about 2011 but it was good memory’s and sad it shut down

[@9superhd995]

i still remember my child hood while playing Penguin club i never forget it 😞

[@trentoninnewjersey]

I joined CP in late 2012. 2013 was my favorite year for Club Penguin as I have a bunch of great memories about it back in those days. I remember loving that year’s puffle party, Hollywood party, Star Wars party, summer party, Marvel party, and mostly every party from that year. In 2014 the game went downhill for me though. Regardless of the short time that I truly loved the game, I treasured it and had a great time. I stopped playing at the end of 2015

[@icyhot8872]

I absolutely loved club penguin and i spent money on it too. I had so many puffles man. I wasn't even there for the last minutes but i will never forget this game first club penguin then toys r us. R.I.P. Childhood!

[@apairofheadphones8076]

I played it for a small time, wish i could go back to play it

[@ClaireAzi]

well flash is dying too.

[@ClaireAzi]

You can use a Firefox/Goanna based engine (which is forked from Firefox's Gecko) Web Browser, called Basilisk, which still supports all of the old NPAPI Browser Plug-Ins.But Yes, many Sites Like KZbin already switched to HTML5, which is built-in most Modern Web Browsers. (It's even supported by Basilisk)

[@techfreak1182]

Rocky Lincourt don't say that! I always want to have flash games for when I'm bored.

[@emmaemma8171]

Rip coolmathgames... You'll be missed

[@SerenityScratch]

This is how a game should be. Instead of annoying advertisement, people love it so much that it grows because it’s good.

[@Sha.ll0w]

I have the Club Penguin "Elite Penguin Force" Nintendo DS version to this day... it was the most amazing game I had played at the time even if I somewhy couldn't connect online! Its very sad to see it all wash away :(

[@nataliatothemoon]

Please bring back club penguin Life has been hard without it

[@zoeycrumpler7608]

This makes me Feel Old Jeez...

[@moneymandate]

Pour one out for the Club, folks

[@decicada8891]

Lance Preibe designed my two favorite games Club Penguin and ADVenture Capatilist.

[@Blapze]

IVE NEVER WANTED TO DOWNLOAD ADVENTURE CAPATALIST BUT NOW I KNOW ITS MADE BY THEM IM DOWNLOADING IT RIGHT NOW

[@squishy2941]

This was posted on my this years birthday GG

[@ece3094]

I had a membership when I was 7-8 and I used to BINGE play it now I learned that its closed up I am literally crying

[@FlapackandGregsPS5]

I wish I was able to play club penguin, but I was too young to know about it 😢 it sounds like it was a wonderful game.

[@555yrty]

I remember playing this game and I became getting addicted to it. So my mother got me a membership before membership cards had to hit stores. So I became addicted to the toys from Club Penguin to unlock, so my mother and me went to Toys R Us in Regina to get some trading cards and toys until it was phased out. RIP Club Penguin.

[@jeremyaster7470]

R.I.P. FrostFlame2. Kept the island adventure party music in his iggy til the end.

[@HappyTacoPaco]

It blew my mind when you said that guy also made Adventure Capitalist

[@user-cd4bx6uq1y]

Many people in Eastern Europe also grew up with local clones of this game

[@javialex930]

As cool new games come..they all have to go sometime!!

[@jellybean854]

Even though club penguin STOPED a year ago. I miss it, I wish I was there those final moments of the game. I crying right now thanking of my pet in club penguin, and how it's doing, I hope it being feed and taken care of. I miss it very much, I want to go back in time to play the game again. And I KNOW I'm NOT the ONLY ONE WHO THANKS THAT

[@watermelon918]

I want to genuinely cry

[@awesomeanimations3485]

your pretty underrated

[@wesgavin18]

Y'all gathered around one place, saying your thanks and goodbyes. Its a sad moment. Making friends in the internet, only to loose them. 😔

[@kill4life1000]

I had no clue, but I was using the game back when it was super new in 2006. I had to beg my mom to make me an account, because all friends at school had them and I wanted one so bad. It was spring of 2006 that I got my account. My penguin was pretty much as old as the site's existence. Now it's gone. RIP

[@MyAnxiety101]

I'm going to miss this game

[@ojmj1984]

So much nostalgia 😭😭😭😭

[@janey4319]

Now I gotta download that cp OST

[@stoveish]

I still remember this game made me found my first friend at my school..

[@icexred1015]

Damn it came out the year I was born, and now I’m 13. I wish I played it last year or so before it was shouted down. I miss it

[@avel6444]

You should make a vid on OMGPOP, that was also a popular website when we were kids and I'm sure it wasn't just me who freaked discovering it's shut down. I have no doubt many people have strong nostalgia from that website

[@thegardenofeatin5965]

Man, the look and feel of early-2000's flash....watching this video is making me uncomfortable. Like, have you ever swallowed a little too much soda and as it fizzes in your esophagus it expands and hurts? Imagine that but with nostalgia. It's bringing back some very vivid memories from that era that are uncomfortably overwhelming. Like, I would give anything to walk around for awhile in my life in 2003 for a few hours. I was a teenager then, I hadn't heard of Club Penguin at all, but the art style really takes me back to a different time.

[@aynopapi]

RIP I was 7 when I played it .., nostalgic

[@jameso2610]

This was my childhood now im 15. Sad times

[@theholderscock]

_i still didnt grow out of it..i miss that thing_

[@TintelFruit]

You should make one about habbo, that shit brings back memories.

[@FSM_Reviews]

I was born in the same year Club Penguin was released.

[@mattramos6307]

Boeing 797 same

[@atunrandom7765]

Here's to the hundreds of friends we added after playing one time and never connected together again 👍

[@trentoninnewjersey]

I had one friend who’s name I think was something like “Pahsha2468” or something. We used to play a lot back when I first started playing CP in late 2012. I never saw him again after the Hollywood party from 2013

[@SummonerArthur]

I remember playing that thing in miniclip

[@ManuelCoimbra]

THANK YOU QUACKITYHQ!!! 😎😎😎😎

[@Frying1Pans]

I started playing on November 11th 2008

[@OwlsV]

Even though it had ad parties, 2012 was the best year.

[@hawradatoo6272]

Our childhood💔 they took away one of the best games in existence 💔 ~kids of 1995-2005 (kids who are no longer kids anymore :/)

[@zsin128]

rocketsnail is mine favourite game developer

[@papyrussemi2848]

4:31 Ah... Funny you should mention it.

[@Chaosrunepownage]

Gods I was amazing at mancala when I played this... but I was terrible at all the other games so that was my main source of income. I was playing when it was microtransaction based and I secretly dreamed of getting the big igloo but knew I'd never get it. Those days man.

[@cipreste]

i played club penguin even before it was bought by disney. truly good times.

[@chiare5236]

Ahhh.i wish I played this when I was younger

[@amirahuwio9255]

Bring it back 😭😭

[@fagyiesfelocske7048]

I'm still playing with it :)

[@zMikexd]

So... you just played CPO or other CPPS