Magic Cotton Candy

Hey guys, I'm here with news of the update– on the update! Not after it. I'm so excited :D

This time, I'll talk about more of the update than I normally do-- using the Jamaa Journal.

Let's go!

Direwolves are here! Surprisingly, they don't look as similar to arctic wolves as a lot of us predicted:

They're very chunky– literally. 

Also, despite dire wolves arriving, the egg above their statue still hasn't hatched.

A resounding Hmm is all I have to say. XD

The last statement on the front page says "How will these ancient animals fare together? Will they be allies, or adversaries?"

These two banners are on the front page. Maybe this will be a kind of Team Sabertooth vs. Team Direwolf thing, like what happened awhile ago with Mira and Zios?

You know, before I move on, I just wanted to state something I've noticed. It has barely been a month since sabertooths became available, and already people have forgotten about them. I see more pandas than sabertooth tigers in Jamaa!

I think this says something about new animals: we don't need a constant stream of visually similar animals. We already have a ton of canines and felines. All we need is a unique new animal once in a blue moon to get us excited.

Wouldn't a new reptile be so cool??? :D

The next big thing going on right now is the annual reintroduction of the Summer Carnival.

You know, last year, I rarely went to the Summer Carnival. But there's a new thing that's making me (and a ton of others) very excited to be there...

COTTON CANDY RECIPES

Originally, the only "special" cotton candy you could make was a phantom:

You make a cotton candy black with white in the middle, and it doesn't matter what cone you use.

But now, if you do the same thing with a gold star cone...

You get a king phantom!!!

There are a ton of different shapes. Here's how to make a heart:

Just choose a heart cone, and make your cotton candy all pink.

Those are all the ones I've figured out so far, but definitely not the only ones that exist. I've seen a rainbow cone– unfortunately too quick to take a screenshot –but I suspect you use a colorful polka dot cone to make it.

There may or may not be a bumblebee cone. I haven't seen it, but it seems like it should exist. XD

What kinds of cotton candy are you making? :D

In slightly less interesting news, the Ol' Barn den is back along with some new themed items. I actually really like how the barn den looks, so it's cool it's come back. C:

Some news outside the Jamaa Journal:

Splash and Dash is double gems for these next two weeks. 

Also, glitch alert:

Because Jamaa Township has changed for summer, it seems some signs are glitching. The Pillow Room sign has completely disappeared!

Hopefully the entire Pillow Room doesn't disappear... I've been anxious about beloved rooms disappearing ever since the Club Geoz incident... 

Speaking of Club Geoz, I had originally gotten over its absence by convincing myself that the Play Wild Party could replace it.

But guess what?

The Play Wild Party is gone now.

While we still have member-created parties that are sorta similar to the Play Wild Party, it's just not the same. Barely anyone goes to those, and those who do are just looking to buy the items.

I hope AJHQ decides to bring back the Play Wild Party. 

Thanks for reading, Jammers. See you all in Jamaa!

~DoomyPanda

Currency Challenges

Hey Jammers! I started this post on Sunday morning, and now I'm continuing it Monday night. Hopefully I actually finish it tonight XD

Today's post is a more detailed version of something I've been talking about this month– The Gem Challenge. 

While I did the Gem Challenge (which I will describe again in this post for those who forgot) I thought about how other currencies, like diamonds and tickets could fit into it as well.

Because I don't care much about diamond items, I converted all my accumulated diamonds into gems and donated them.

I don't know about you, but it was so satisfying when my entire diamond count just disappeared. XD

So this post is about a challenge for gems, tickets, and diamonds.

I've been talking about these ideas a bit in the comments, and I've gotten some pretty helpful feedback. I see now that a Diamond Challenge would be hard for those who are interested in diamond items, mostly because the only place you can get diamonds regularly is the Daily Spin.

That's why I'm not gonna combine gems/tickets/diamonds into one big challenge– this post will detail separate challenges, and you can pick the one/s that you're most interested in! :D

The purpose of challenges on AJ is to make the game harder for you– in a fun way! It's like Animal Jam: Hard Mode. 

The purpose of these specific challenges is that reducing the amount of gems/diamonds/tickets you can earn creates more of a sense of accomplishment when you finally have enough to buy something you want.

They're also like "beta simulators", too, because it was way harder to earn gems back then. If you want a taste of beta testing, these currency challenges might be fun to try! :D

The Gem Challenge

I went over The Gem Challenge in a previous post, but since then I've developed it a bit more, so I'll still explain it here.

Here's what you'll do before you start the challenge:

Step 1: Go to the Conservation Museum in Appondale.

Step 2: Click on the donation box.

Step 3: Donate your gems over and over again until you don't have any left!

Once you have less than 10 gems total, congrats! You have officially started the Gem Challenge. Welcome aboard! :D

All you need to do now is follow these rules:

– Don't spin the Daily Spin. Every time you log on, just X out of it. (Members who use the Diamond Spin are exempt)

– Only play games with a low gem yield. Some fun low-gem games include Long Shot, Swoopy Eagle, Gem Ball, Mira Says, Wind Rider, Double-up, buddy games... the list goes on! Who knows, this challenge might help you appreciate some under appreciated games. :)

– Avoid gem bags/chests in adventures. A single round of a kinda-easy adventure is enough to make a fortune, so collecting all the gems kinda defeats the purpose of the Gem Challenge XD

– Instead of recycling your unwanted items for gems, try trading them away. Who knows, your trash might be another Jammer's treasure!

If you follow this challenge for long enough, I can guarantee you'll feel super accomplished anytime you can afford something you want! I'm currently going through it myself, so feel free to ask me any questions. :)

These next two challenges are less complicated, because, well, there's only so many places you can get tickets and diamonds.

The Diamond Challenge

Does the Diamond Shop annoy you? Do you think diamonds are just too sparkly for Animal Jam? 

...Or, do you just want diamonds to seem more special?

If so, the Diamond Challenge might just be the thing for you!

Before you begin:

Step 1: Go to the Diamond Shop in Jamaa Township.

Step 2: Exchange all the diamonds you have for gems. (If you're also doing the Gem Challenge, you can donate these gems)

Now that you have 0 diamonds, your entire diamond count should just vanish! You can pretend that the Diamond Shop never existed :D

As you continue through this challenge, you might wanna commit to a couple things:

– If you're a member, always X out of the Member Spin. Kinda defeats the purpose ;D

– This part is optional. If you're totally dedicated to ignoring diamonds, just go on with your life without 'em. However, it will make them seem more valuable if you get them solely in December through the yearly Jamaaliday Calendar. 

I'd imagine this Diamond Challenge would be the least popular, as I admit there is occasionally a really cool diamond item to buy.

You can try it out, or you don't have to. :)

You may like this next challenge a bit more...

The Ticket Challenge 

With the Summer Carnival approaching us quickly, you might wanna think about this challenge all about maximizing your sense of accomplishment as you work for prizes.

If there was a way to exchange tickets for gems, I'd tell you to do that first, but you can't so never mind XD

– Earn your tickets from games instead of buying them with gems. If you have the time, it's way more fun!

– If you wanna up the ante, only play games that don't give you many tickets. I'm awful at Candy Catch, so I'll be doing that this summer XD

....Aaaand, that's all there is to it. You can try any challenge you want, do multiple, or don't do any if you're not interested! I'd love to hear what you think either way.

It's 11:20 PM right now.

I have to get up early tomorrow.

Maybe this was a mistake...

Uuuuuhhh....

Ah well, I'm happy I managed to post on a Monday anyway. I hope it was interesting!

I'm gonna go to sleep now... peace out guyz

~DoomyPanda

Rediscovering Jamaa: The Juice Hut

Hey Jammers!! Wassup? B)

If you're reading this post, you've probably noticed that I've changed this blog's background. The reason being that as it's getting warmer in the Northern Hemisphere (where I live), I thought that looking at some warmer shades of green would be the most fitting. :)

What do you guys think? I personally wish it was leafier. Being super picky, sometimes I feel like just painting my own backgrounds XD

Anyways, onto the main subject of this post: appreciating the under-appreciated rooms of Jamaa.

Aside from the rooms I've already talked about (the Hot Cocoa Hut, The Flag Shop, and Epic Wonders), the Juice Hut has received the most votes as you guys' favorite underrated room. Meaning, this post is all about the Juice Hut!

Keep voting on that poll if you want me to explore your favorite AJ room next. :)

Above the fish of Crystal Reef lies Crystal Sands, and on the shoreline of Crystal Sands lies Captain Melville's Juice Hut. Built mostly out of driftwood and shaded beneath a cacao tree, this refuge from the sun has been around since beta testing– of course, in a few different forms. 

I joined AJ in 2012, some time after the design change. While the beta Juice Hut is definitely more detailed and natural looking, I've only ever been familiar with the new Juice Hut. I think they both look cool in their own ways. :)

However, while the design of the Juice Hut's exterior has changed, the interior has always looked the same. Let's look inside:

So many people in here!!!

I took this screenshot today, and I wasn't even on a populated server! I guess the Juice Hut isn't so underrated after all ^_^

Let's just take some time to appreciate the aesthetic of this place:

The wall is tiger-striped green– something I only noticed recently. It's kinda similar to the wallpaper in Gabby Wild's Animal Hospital!

There are fun glowing lights strung everywhere, crossing over an even more fun chalkboard detailing in unreadable text the smoothies offered.

This little window makes me really happy. It just looks so bright and sunny outside!

The fruit hanging in baskets is similar to the fruit outside of the beta Juice Hut. It looks like these tropical fruits are guava, durian, and papaya! 

There are a couple fruit baskets by The Claw, too. It looks like... cherimoya and lychee! Yum P:

Being a Juice Hut, there's fruit everywhere. At the counter (which is a cool swirly blue/green) there are raspberries, oranges, pineapples, strawberries, starfruit and blueberries. 

You can only make smoothies out of four fruits, but because it all comes out looking like colored juice, I guess you can just pretend what kinda juice it is lol

I wonder why it's called the Juice Hut when all you can get are smoothies that look like juice. Maybe the smoothies were originally called juice, but because smoothies are generally healthier, AJHQ changed it. o_o

Overall, the Juice Hut is a really fun room. I'm super happy that I found it full of Jammers today! :D

Maybe we can fill up some more under-appreciated rooms by appreciating them ^-^

See you in Jamaa,

All the Videos in Jamaa

Hey guys! For the longest time, I haven't ever done an update post on the day of the update, during a school week. I swear it might have been years!

But, here I am. Defying the odds XD

And I come with some special news...

I was right!!!!

Dire wolves are not yet available, but they are confirmed! :D

Next up is some good news. However, it mislead me and many other Jammers into thinking it was the best news.

I'll show you what I mean:

New videos? An image of a bunch of animals watching something that's obviously the Geckos video!? HAVE MY PRAYERS BEEN ANSWERED!?!?

TIME TO HEAD OVER TO SAREPIA TO FIND OU–

Oh.

Nothing changed.

You see, even though AJHQ didn't mention Sarepia Theater in that page of the Jamaa Journal, I saw the word "videos" and I saw the Gecko and immediately I jumped to the conclusion that they brought back Geckos and all the other deleted videos.

That's not what they meant, but I swear it was intentional. I think this is the first instance of clickbait in the Jamaa Journal, except instead of trying to get YouTube views AJHQ was trying to get me to suffer. XD

However, don't think that this page is bad news. There are literally a ton of videos now available from Brady Barr, Tierney Thys, Gabby Wild, and Wild Explorers!

There are probably more videos here than there have ever been before. Also, you may notice that most if not all of the videos have covered up the Nat Geo logo on Brady Barr. Dunno if that's a coincidence or not.

Because the Jamaa Journal said that all of the videos are now there, there is a possibility that no new ones will come out anymore. Which is hopefully untrue, because the "Ask --- A Question" button is still at the bottom of each group of videos. 

Hopefully "all of the videos" means all the videos that were removed or went on "clearance"

Moving on, here's an update to the whole Conservation Museum thing:

I had come up with a bunch of hypotheses why the hats had all gone on clearance... and all of them might have been wrong, because most are back now!

I wonder what this means. Maybe it was a glitch that they all went on clearance.

As you might have already guessed, I don't review the whole Jamaa Journal– just the parts that I think you'll find interesting. Here is another thing I think you'll wanna see:

The Trials of Zios has a Hard Mode now– meaning, more prizes.

I probably shouldn't have told you, because I don't actually know the prizes as of yet. XD

However, I'll get back to you soon with them!!!

Before I go, here's an update on my experience with the Gem Challenge:

As you've probably seen from my Museum Shop screenshot, I have maintained a nice 31 gems all this week. Yay me!

I don't like having too many items beyond what I care about, so I decided to start cleaning out my mess of unseasonal items. However, when thinking up the Gem Challenge, I hadn't considered the fortune you can make just by recycling items.

So I didn't recycle my items. I gave them away.

Surprisingly, someone wanted my garbage! I called out the message above and almost immediately a bunny came up saying EGG. The lag was killing me, so I had to refresh, but I memorized their username and successfully traded back at their den.

It was a good day ^____^

See you in Jamaa, guys!