Neopets jumps to 4.1M visits per month but is now unsurprisingly wracked with cheaters
Neopets was a blindingly popular, browser-based universe—filled with faeries, aliens and legendary, battle born puppers. Since its conception in the late 90s, it's seen millions of users pass through, playing games to earn Neopoints in order to feed, dress, and fight their Neopets, or otherwise adventure across the strange and eclectic world laid before them.
It was a dream to have such an expansive, free-to-play world at my fingertips as a tween, but there's a darker side to this lovable pet-keeping site that I should've probably spotted way back then, and it's only been getting more dodgy as the years pass.
Back in the early '00s the total number of Neopets users peaked at around 25 million and, while it can't match that number today, it's seen a good 4.1 million site visits just this month. A few years ago, it was estimated to have around 100,000 active daily users. The pandemic-induced nostalgia trips many of us found ourselves in translated to a fairly noticeable spike, too. At least, that's why I've found myself here again, back to relive my tween years, and reinvigorate my love for browser-based shenanigans.
The Neopets site was my first introduction to choose-your-own-adventures, collectables, interest rates… oh and gambling, come to think of it. At age 11, you'd find me there, learning the ins and outs of back alley poker, hashing out a round after round of roulette, or even trying my hand at auctioning. I think I even had a go at the Neopets stock market, but it turned out I wasn't cut out for the high-roller lifestyle.
The play-to-earn games on the site were built with the now-defunct Adobe Flash, but most have been saved from the fate that has befallen many other games of the era. They don't even appear to
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