The history of Grub!

Grub Yums! 

Grub Yums! 

When my mother-in-law would get upset, she would say "Grub!". I continued this tradition and added it to Club Penguin. This is one of the original messages penguins can use to express their feelings of frustration. Others included the angry and skull emotes.  

Grub appears in most of my games. Mech Mice makes reference to a food and weapon company called Grub Co and the mice say "Grub" when they are frustrated.

A little secret about Club Penguin

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Want to learn a little secret about Club Penguin? I didn’t make it for kids. I made it for anyone that loves imagination.

Club Penguin is a world full of adventure, mystery, and delight. You can be anything you want to be. A pirate that sails the seven seas, a thief that robs the pizza parlour, a ninja that masters an ancient legend, a secret agent, a barista or even an army that wages war on this little snow-covered island.

I do not create kids games, I create games that kids can play. Club Penguin is for everyone.

Club Penguin turns 10!

The First Newspaper

The First Newspaper

10 years ago today, we launched Club Penguin to the world. Over the years I have had the amazing opportunity to work with hundreds of crazy talented people and the opportunity to watch a generation of kids become creative young adults. In the past 10 years, around 400 million children have created penguins, made friends and waddled around. I look forward to the next decade.

Ninjas and Penguins

The original penguin ninja from Penguin Chat 3

The original penguin ninja from Penguin Chat 3

I have always had a fascination with ninjas. As a kid I would spend endless hours doodling ninjas and reading my favourite comic GIJOE. Snake Eyes was my favourite.

The penguin ninja first appeared in Penguin Chat 3 early 2005. To unlock the ninja you would have to click the "n" in "penguin" to unlock the ninja. The secret penguin ninjas proved very popular.

The History of Club Penguin Ninjas

I had always planned to release ninjas before pets, pirates, and secret agents in Club Penguin. The original plan was to include the dojo in the Plaza, but the Pet Store and the Pizza Parlor were not ready, so the Dojo was hidden on the map with the iceberg. The mountain became the perfect home for the Dojo and later Card-jitsu. When Club Penguin launched on October 24th, 2005 the Dojo and all the clothing items were ready to be unlocked. (Including the sword) Then something happened.

The players wanted pets for their penguins!

The original Dojo was in the Plaza

The original Dojo was in the Plaza

THe original dojo was inspired by the Matrix

THe original dojo was inspired by the Matrix

I immediately stopped working on the ninjas and started working on Puffles. I did not realize at the time how popular the Puffles would become, and how many years until I returned to the ninjas. The new Plaza, Pet Shop, and Puffles launched March 2006.

The original concept animation for the penguin ninja in Club Penguin. The game was inspired by Monty Python's Fish Slap Dance 

The birth of Card-Jitsu!

For years I wanted to add a comedic paper, rock, scissors game to Club Penguin. The original game was going to appear on Rockhopper's ship as a pirate sword fighting game, inspired by the insult sword fighting of Monkey Island. We decided not to launch the this game.

In early 2008 the Club Penguin team was looking for a collectible card game. Disney introduced us to the design team at WizKids Games. I was inspired after our first meeting. I went home and decided to write the design document for Card-Jitsu. I wanted something more than a collectible card game. I wanted a card game that worked with the digital world. Card-Jitsu was born. Card-Jitsu was launched November 17th, 2008 and quickly became the most popular game on Club Penguin with millions of daily players.

Penguin Ninja Demo

Below is the original penguin ninja from Penguin Chat 3. Waddle around, enjoy!