You may not know that SmallWorlds has a brand new offer provider. They're called SuperRewards, and although they've only been inworld for a week, I've already heard some excellent feedback from citizens who have completed offers.

To encourage you to try out SuperRewards, SmallWorlds have decided to DOUBLE the Gold being paid out on every single SuperRewards offer for two weeks only!

That's right, starting immediately and finishing midnight on December 1st, SmallWorlds has doubled the normal reward you get when you complete a SuperRewards offer. (Note that we've already doubled the reward, so the reward shown in the SuperRewards offer window is the total amount of Gold you will receive for completing the offer.)

Just think what you could buy with all that Gold!  I've got my eye on a number of items myself - Honesty kindly lent me her new Magic Carpet to try out, and now I simply must purchase my own.

I know that in the past there have been issues with some Gold payouts that may have given some citizens a negative impression of offer providers. If you're one of those citizens who have decided that doing offers isn't for you, I'd like to try to convince you to give SuperRewards a try. 

In fact, I was so convinced that citizens would find SuperRewards offers quick, easy and trouble-free, that Honesty and I 'flew' around SmallWorlds, asking citizens for their feedback on SuperRewards.

When Honesty visited The Factory she found most citizens were too busy completing offers to talk, but two citizens - Maria Vega and Jodie Glennon had just finished.  She asked them what they thought about SuperRewards.

Maria Vega: I've gotten over 16,000 Gold on SuperRewards.  I love it how it gives you the offer status, it makes it easier to for me to know how much Gold I've gotten and why.  They give out a good amount of Gold too.

Jodie Glennon: It's great and they really are Super Rewards!  The offers are quick and easy.

While Honesty was visiting the factory, I looked for other citizens who had completed SuperRewards offers. I found Gina Bo-bina who had completed several offers, and she had this to say about SuperRewards.

Gina Bo-bina: I have had no problems whatsover so far. I actually think SuperRewards are easier than other rewards providers. Some of the surveys are less work as well.

Kirbie D-stratton told me that she'd completed a few SuperRewards offers and had found them easy to complete, and she received her Gold promptly after completing them.

Kirbie D-stratton: I'm really happy with SuperRewards! I can finally complete and earn Gold some other way!

I hope you're as excited about the Double Rewards offer as I am, citizens. Personally, I like to head to The Factory to earn Gold, but remember you can also complete offers using a machine at any SmallWorlds store.

Citizens, I sure hope you'll give SuperRewards a try. It just might be the most rewarding thing you do all day!

- Kent Kronkite

Hello Citizens.

Wasn't it exciting when the skateboards, hoverboards and rollerskates were released? I had a lot of fun learning how to balance. Luckily I'm feeling proficient now, because I'm about to move up to a far more exotic mode of transportation. But before I tell you about the newest and most exciting way to get around in SmallWorlds, I'd like you to close your eyes for just a moment....

One Thousand and One Nights - Starring YOU!

While you're in a dreamlike state, imagine yourself dressed in flowing white robes, perhaps wearing a turban. You're flying through dry dusty streets... you can see palm trees and camels, and delicious smells waft through the air as you zoom past a colorful marketplace. How are you zooming? By what method are you flying? You're standing on a Magic Carpet!

Yes, the Magic Carpet is being released today, and you'll find it for sale at Sovereign Plaza. There is absolutely no XP required to use one, but you'll need CL70.  To get it, why not invite your friends into SmallWorlds?  You can have magic carpet races together.

Once you've stepped on your floating carpet, you'll notice an amazing increase in speed - that's because it comes with a Speed attribute of +40!  So, as well as being a work of art (isn't it just beautiful?), it gets you places quickly. I felt giddy the first time I stepped on one. Once I'd got used to it, it was like I was in my very own version of One Thousand and One Nights.

I imagine that all you'd like to do now is to rush straight off to Sovereign Plaza to get one for yourself. Before you do, I have some interesting flying carpet information to share with you...

Make Your Own Magic Carpet!

If you'd like more information about the history of magic carpets, take a look at this very interesting site I discovered. It contained within it some little-known details about how to actually make a magic carpet (as well as lots of other interesting information). I've copied some of the 'how to' directions below.

Apparently, a flying carpet is spun on a loom like an ordinary carpet. The original flying carpet makers had discovered a certain clay, 'procured from mountain springs and untouched by human hand', which, when superheated at 'temperatures that exceeded those of the seventh ring of hell' in a cauldron of boiling Grecian oil, acquired anti-magnetic properties. The article goes on to talk about how the Earth itself is a magnet, and has trillions of magnetic lines crossing it from the North to the South Pole. The clay was prepared and the wool for the carpet was dyed in it before weaving it on a loom. So, when the carpet was finally ready, it pulled itself away from the Earth and, depending on the concentration of clay used, hovered a few feet or several hundred feet above the ground. Propulsion went along the magnetic lines, which acted like aerial rails.

Purchase your very own Magic Carpet today!

So there you have it - not only can you purchase your very own Magic Carpet right here in SmallWorlds and fly around just like a modern-day Aladdin, you can also do your own experimentation at home to see if you can make one for yourself.

I'm looking forward to seeing a whole flock of magic carpet flyers zooming around. What a unique addition that will make to my SmallWorlds scrapbook!

~ Honesty Blaize

I am one-hundred-percent delighted to bring you this report on the SmallWorlds 2.1 release. I shared a few exciting tid-bits with you in my last report just a few days ago, and now I can tell you absolutely everything. My only dilemma is, just where on earth do I begin?

Share Your Achievements

Now you can let your social network friends know about your SmallWorlds achievements.  When you achieve something special in SmallWorlds, you'll be asked if you'd like to tell your friends in Facebook, Myspace, Yahoo & Twitter about it.  Keep them in touch with what you're doing  - when you become VIP, when you level up your XP or CP, or when you win a tournament!

You can also let your friends know when you adopt a pet. Perhaps you can then take your pets out for a walk together?

Great New Spaces Available

Have you been rather hankering after an extremely long room? Perhaps you've got a mission in mind that would be finished to perfection if you had a Ring Archipelago (a ring of 5 islands)? Well 'hanker' no longer citizens, we've got four wonderful new spaces available for purchase! For each I've included a "zoom out" image to give you a little more context...

Skull Strait

A narrow strait dividing mountainous terrain - approx 21000 sq ft / 2000 m2. This piece of land gives a slightly scary - or just an interesting - look to your outdoor space.  

Long Corridor

A long interior passageway - approx 5400 sq ft / 500 m2. I can see Art Galleries and skateboard races. What ideas do you have?

Manor Hall

A large room with two adjoining hallways - approx 6500 sq ft / 600 m2.  Another interesting shaped space; I think long hallways are just so useful for displaying art and collectibles!

Ring Archipelago

A cluster of five islands - approx 17000 sq ft / 1600 m2. Just the name archipelago makes me think of being on holiday and I'm hoping a few citizens out there will create some truly relaxing places I could come and relax in after a long day at the Chronicle Head Office! You will need to install Teleports so you can move between each island.

Hello! Can We Help You?

We've got a brand new Help Centre in SmallWorlds - It's the Info Hub!  Our very friendly and extremely well-informed staff will be there 24/7 to answer any SmallWorlds-related question you might have. Inside the Info Hub, you'll also find individual information stations on all aspects of SmallWorlds.Simply go to a station of your choice and check out the information you require.

The information stations are: Getting Help, Citizen Levels, XP, Missions, and Staying Safe. There are also direct portals to the Landing Pad and Basic Training. If you still have questions, just go to one of the Info Hub staff members; it's their mission in life to make sure you get your questions answered! If they can't find the answer to your question, you can be sure they'll point you in the right direction.

Earn Gold Using a Single Machine - Now With SuperRewards Added!

Earning gold just got even easier! All offer machines have been merged into one new stylish ATM machine: one style for the stores and another for the Factory. The machines will operate in the way you are familiar with; we've simply combined them for your convenience.  In addition we've added a new Offer Provider - SuperRewards!  You've now got more choices than ever when it comes to earning gold in SmallWorlds.

Twitter Whiteboards

Do you Twitter? Perhaps you sometimes even Tweet about your SmallWorlds achievements? I hear that one can even Re-tweet things?

Now that one did put a smile on my face... as you may recall my last article I mentioned that Twitter was not something I have seriously looked into for myself as yet, but I have to say that after seeing the new Twitter Whiteboards that are now available for purchase I do feel a little tempted.

Improved Payments Process

We've made a significant upgrade to our payments processes. You'll now find them much easier to use and much nicer to look at!

Our old system used to take you out of SmallWorlds, but now when you purchase you'll stay in-world and be taken to a page within the Chronicle to complete your transactions. We've also added some really great feature packages you can purchase - there's sure to be a package you'll like! The packages include Gamer Boy / Gamer Girl, Ultimate Magic, Let me Entertain You, Haunting... they sound like a lot of fun to me!

We've also added Zong as a payment method (in addition to the machine in-world). Zong is now available in 26 countries - check the Zong website to see if your country is on the list.

Modern Living - New Retail Park

Modern Living is now an extremely spacious new retail park. No more pushing past other avatars in-world as you're trying to make your purchase decisions... come and shop in this great new space, it's a nice place to visit!

and another shot of this wonderful new retail shopping mecca!

Make a visit to the all new Modern Living Retail Park today. I may even go down and purchase a new Twitter Whiteboard and do a little Twitter experimentation!

Themes

I showed you an image of one of the new themes in the 2.1 Sneak Peek article, and now I can unveil all of them. These will give you a much broader scope in terms of the spaces you can create. I'm looking forward to seeing just how citizens use these in-world.

Fire and Ice - A Lava and Snow Mix

Ice age - Standard & Winter cliffs mix

Lava - A completely new Lava planet

Hawaii - Beach and Sea with lava cliffs and ground

New High Level XP Wearables

Well citizens - remember the poll I included in my 'sneak peek' article last week? I asked you to guess a mystery item. Well, a lot of you guessed correctly! Before I share with you what it is I thought I would share with you a few of the funny suggestions that citizens sent in: A Robot Cow, a Lawnmower, a Vacuum cleaner, a Photocopy Machine, a monster with the face of my Aunt (oh dear!). The citizens who guessed that it was a new wearable were 100% correct! And, what's really exciting is that we have a total of four new High Level wearables available for you in this release.

Super Bikes Helmet: Level 60 gamer. Attributes: Arcane+10, Fire+20, Speed+40, Health+60.

Master Geisha: Level 50 Social. Attributes: Arcane+10, Shadow+20, Speed+30, Health+50

Superhero Suit: Adamantium Man: Level 70 Artist. Attributes: Frost+30, Shadow+20, Speed+50, Health+70

Roguetrooper Major Helmet: Level 50 Explorer. Attributes: Fire+20, Frost+20, Speed+30, Health+60

Enjoy all the New Features!

Citizens, I'm feeling out of breath now that I've come to the end of this article. There's been so much to share with you, and I am sure that there's something in here for absolutely everyone!

Enjoy all the new features in SmallWorlds, and I'll be seeing you again very soon, right here in the Chronicle.

~ Kent Kronkite

I've got some exciting news for you.  We've got a new release coming up in a few days and I've managed to 'ferret out' a few little tid-bits of information to give you a taste of what's included. I have to say that the information was rather hard to come by and it's sketchy at best, but I'm giving you as much as I'm able to at this time. Yes, the SmallWorlds 2.1 Release is happening soon!

Make sure you complete your Loyalty Challenge tasks

When we upgrade to the new release, SmallWorlds will be offline for a number of hours.  Unfortunately, this may happen at a time that affects you in terms of being able to finish off your Loyalty Challenge tasks. We will try to give you as much advance notice of the upgrade as possible - so keep an eye on the Forums and the Newspaper Alerts and plan your Loyalty Challenge days so they don't conflict.  We'd simply hate for you to get caught out and miss out on winning your Elixir of Life Goblet.

Info Hub

As I delved around for information, I heard a few whispered comments just out of my earshot about changes being made to the Help Center... I think I heard them say "Info Hub" but it could just as easily have been "install lots of Hot Tubs"... which actually sounds like rather a relaxing thing to do if you're needing help and information!  (I think the likelihood of this is very low however, so please don't get your hopes up, citizens).  

One thing is certain, there are changes afoot in the Help Center.  I was hustled out before I could get any good shots of the drawings lying around, so all I have for you is this one very blurry picture.  In my opinion, any way that we can make it easier for citizens to get the help and information they need is a good one, so I'm very much looking forward to seeing the finished product.

Themes

Applying a Theme to your space is about to get substantially more interesting.  I tried very hard to get images of all the new themes that are coming up but only managed to get away with one image.  I can tell you however that two existing themes have had a bit of a makeover, and there are three really exciting new themes to look forward to.  One of them is called "Fire and Ice", and here it is!

Do you love to Twitter?

I'm just a little slow to adopt Twitter into my life personally, but Honesty tells me that it's very well used by a great many SmallWorlds citizens, which is why I know this is going to be a very popular addition.  Yes, I can safely say that Twittering in SmallWorlds is about to take a giant leap in the "twitter boards" direction!

Mystery Item

I was walking past the developers on my quest for 2.1 release information and they quickly shoved a very interesting-looking black and red item behind a curtain just as I was approaching.  I did manage to take a small snaphot of the corner of it, before it completely disappeared... but I simply could not work out what it was!  Perhaps you can help - what do you think it might be?  Is it a piece of futuristic looking bathroom-ware, a table lamp, or... ?  It's quite a mystery!

Modern Living - A Big Expansion!

If you have visited Modern Living recently, you may well have noticed that it's getting a little cramped in there.  Two words can describe the changes that are taking place, and they are "Retail" and "Park"!  Put them together, and you'll get just a hint of what the old Modern Living is transforming into.  Here's an image of the entrance to the new store, before any items have been shifted in of course.

And more to come!

This is just a taste of what's coming in the 2.1 release. It goes without saying that you can rely on me to bring you a full report on the day of the release when all new items and changes are launched into SmallWorlds.

Every effort will be made by the whole SmallWorlds team to keep the release as efficient as possible. As always, you'll be able to check in with our Twitter feed which will be located on the Home Page.

Citizens, I must apologize for the rather sketchy details I've included above, but I can assure you that all will be revealed just as soon as possible! Gosh, I must say that I do love new releases - SmallWorlds is such an exciting place to work, and to spend my leisure time in.

~ Kent Kronkite

Legend has it that the drinker of this potion is granted eternal youth. If you look closely at the luminous blue ball floating atop the liquid in the goblet, its almost hypnotic! The blue vapors which arise from the top of the ball have some kind of very faint perfume - it feels just out of reach, and is quite impossible to describe. I stared at the ball for a little too long and I honestly just lost all sense of time... maybe that's part of its 'mysterious powers'. I'm almost sure I came out of that trance-like state just a little younger than I was before my gazing began!

One thing is certain, you'll want to make sure that you complete all your Loyalty Challenge tasks for November so that you can win your own Elixir of Life and complete your set of three goblets.

Loyalty Challenge Items are a great investment

If you've read our recent article on Collectibles, you'll know that obtaining The Elixir of Life is a very wise investment, as the value of Loyalty Challenge items tend to rise in price in the months after their release.

Almost time to visit the Combobulator Laboratory!

Don't forget, if you have all three in the goblet series, you'll be able to make a visit to the Combobulator Laboratory, place your three goblets in the Combobulator and out will come..... something amazing! The scientists in the Laboratory have been keeping a close guard on the item itself, so I'm just as curious as you to find out what it is! I can imagine its going to be simply stupendous, those goblets are just so beautiful. I'm going to make sure I do all my Loyalty Challenge tasks this month so I don't miss out on The Elixir of Life!

Tell me more about the Loyalty Challenge

To win The Elixir of Life you'll need to complete four weekly challenges before the end of November.

What's the Weekly Challenge?

The weekly challenge is to complete one Featured Mission, Gambit task, or Peanut Labs task each day for three days in a row.

The first weekly challenge you complete, you'll win 1000 tokens and move up to Emerald level.

The second weekly challenge you complete, you'll win 1500 tokens and move up to Sapphire level.

The third weekly challenge you complete, you'll win 2000 tokens and move up to Ruby level.

The fourth weekly challenge you complete, you'll win 3000 tokens and move up to Diamond level

As you complete each weekly challenge, you'll see your gems 'fill up' in your gem holder on the right side of your screen. The lines underneath show how many daily missions you have completed for the week.

Like to know more?

Once you've completed a weekly challenge, you won't lose that challenge if you skip a week or if a new month starts. When you complete the Diamond level you get the collectible for the current month. To get all three Loyalty Challenge items in the goblet series, you need to complete four weekly challenges before the end of September, four by the end of Ocober, and four by the end of November.

To read information about the Loyalty Challenge inworld, just click on your gem holders which are located at the top right of your screen.

Farewell for now Citizens, I hope you have lots of fun earning your gems in the month of November.

~Honesty Blaize

 Each time a new collectible comes out, the prices of all previous ones take a hike... in the upward direction! Keep reading and you'll understand why it's a wise move to buy each collectible as it's released.

Monthly Collectibles

Every 1st of the month, there's a brand new monthly collectible. It's always exciting waiting for the new one to come out. The great thing about monthly collectibles is that they can be worn by all SmallWorlds citizens as they require no XP to wear - and the current month's collectible is always available in Mysterio's. Collectibles are limited to one per SmallWorlds account. When their month is over, they are never available in official stores again!

Let's look at all the Collectibles released to date, how many of them there are in-world and at their current market value... remembering that they originally cost just 2000 Gold to purchase. Note that the prices quoted below are totally dynamic; I've simply quoted the highest, most recent transaction for each collectible.

• Dec 08: Snow Fox. Number in-world: 270.  Now selling for around 325,000 Gold. 

• Jan 09: Chinese Dragon. Number in-world 584.  Now selling for around 80,000 Gold.

• Feb 09: Gorgeous George. Number in-world: 942.  Now selling for around 35,000 Gold.

• Mar 09: Sir Croaksalot. Number in-world: 1128.  Now selling for around 20,000 Gold. 

• Apr 09: Wascally Wabbit.  Now selling for 20,000 Gold.

• May 09: Ollyphant the Baby Elephant.  Now selling for 10,000 Gold.

• Jun 09: Woods the Tiger. Now selling for 10,000 Gold. 

• Jul 09:  Abe Bald Eagle.  Now selling for 15,000 Gold.

• Aug 09: Leo the African Lion. Now selling for 5,000 Gold. 

• Sep 09: Spacesuit.  Now selling for 5,000 Gold.

• Oct 09: Roswell the Alien - Still on sale in Mysterio's for 2000 Gold.

• Nov 09: What will it be?! It's due out 1st November, again for just 2000 Gold

Other Rare / Collectible Items

Occasionally other items are released which also become rare, and valuable! The rarest item in SmallWorlds is the Birthday Cake, which was in fact an accidental release (whoops!). Then there's the Haunted Pumpkin Head from Halloween 08 (currently selling for 20,000 Gold), and the Snowglobe (currently selling for 30,000 Tokens) which we gifted to citizens last Christmas. 

And here's a hot tip for you: the Brain in a Jar is destined to become another rare collectible, so do the Halloween Mission and get yours while it's still available!

Loyalty Challenge Items

The Loyalty Challenge items are another branch of collectibles.  They are free to collect, but can be worth Gold later!  For more information on how it all works, click on your gem holders in-world. Our Loyalty Challenge collectibles come in a series of 3, which you earn over a three month period. Just look at the last two series of Loyalty Challenge collectibles - they're simply stunning!

The Dragon Egg Series

• March 09: Fire Dragon Egg.  These are currently selling for an average of 40,000 Gold.

• April 09: Ice Dragon Egg.  These are currently selling for an average of 11,000 Gold.

• May 09: Whirlwind Dragon Egg.  These are currently selling for an average of 8,000 Gold.

If these three eggs are Combobulated, they turn into a Dragon. There are only 374 of these Dragons currently in-world!  They are selling for an average price of 35,000 Gold.

The Vial Series

• June 09: Snake Vial.  These are currently selling for an average of 10,000 Gold.

• July 09: Condors Claw Vial.  These are currently selling for an average of 7,500 Gold.

• Aug 09: Amazonial Plant Vial.  These are currently selling for an average of 5,000 Gold.

If the three vials are Combobulated, they turn into a Venus Fly Trap. There are only 714 of the Fly Traps currently in-world and they are selling for an average price of 15,000 Gold.

Current Loyalty Challenge Series - The Goblet Series

...What will the third item in the Goblet Series be? You'll find out in a few days time!

What will the Goblet Series turn into when Combobulated?  It's a great idea to try to collect two sets of the Loyalty Challenge items each month (you can only earn one of each item, but you can hold two of each in your inventory, and they are usually cheaper to buy during the same month in which they can be collected). You can then Combobulate one set and hold onto the other set.  All will become rares, as they won't be available again!

Collectible Collector: Hathaway Browne

Hathaway has collected all of the monthly collectibles to date. He considers them to be a great investment "...they are only sold for a set period of time and once they are retired they never come back!". Hathaway has noticed that as more and more people join SmallWorlds, they also become new collectors. 

"These newer members often try and get the older suits they missed and as a result the price goes up. Also, how many other full suits in Mysterio's are as affordable as 2000 Gold and Limited Edition to boot?"

Collectible Collector: Zenzen Supernova

I also caught up with Zenzen Supernova who's another avid monthly collectible fan! As well as possessing all the monthly collectible wearables, she also has all Loyalty Challenge monthly items on display at Smokes-Zenzen's Twlight Retreat, should you want to take a look.

ZenZen says that they are "the best investment there is on SmallWorlds, as their value appreciates over time." Like Hathaway, she says she'd never miss buying a monthly collectible "because: 1) they're extremely cool and fun to wear and/or display (in the case of the loyalty items); and 2) their value goes up over time so they're almost like a little "piggybank" that you can crack open some time in the future if you ever need to liquidate and increase your gold reserves. lol!"

Zenzen is quite a collectible trader. When I heard her "buy low sell high" comments, I did wonder if I was dealing with a part-time stockmarket trader! "I bought and resold a Snow Fox several times (buy low, sell high), each time making a profit. And with those profits I bought more collectibles as they came out. Buying and reselling collectibles on SmallWorlds actually made me quite wealthy, as it has with other players who have done the same thing as me. =). I would never ever miss a monthly collectible, EVER!  Zenzen offers some wise advice to others starting their Collectible collection: "It's always best (and cheapest) to buy them from Mysterio's while they're still being offered. Sometimes the price can double in as little as a week after they're taken off the market."

Collectible Collector: Nikki Blanc

Nikki first started collecting for a museum so others could visit to see all the rares and collectibles. Athough it's since turned into a hobby for her, one that she genuinely enjoys and one that she also does for investment purposes. "They always go up in value. For instance, the Snow Fox is now worth 5 times what i bought it for! Also, SmallWorlds never brings out the same collectible; therefore that makes each item unique. A great example is last year's Halloween pumpkin. It was not reproduced this year, and so it has gone up in value dramatically".

Nikki says that she would never miss a monthly collectible, "not only because I am always satisfied with the item that comes out, but also because it is the least expensive way to continue my collection".

Start YOUR Collectible Collection Today!

As you can see, starting your own collectible collection really pays off! Buying the monthly collectibles in the month they are released equals smart investing. They seem to rocket up in price, so you should at least get your investment back even if you sell them the following month. And, if you can sit on them for a few months more, well... just check back again at some of those current prices!

The current monthly collectible - Roswell the Alien - is still on sale in Mysterio's for only 2000 gold, but he'll be disappearing from there on the 31st of October, so get in quick! The next monthly collectible is due out on the 1st of November - I can't wait to see what it's going to be! If you buy them both, you'll be well on your way to starting your very own collectible collection; one that's bound to increase in value as the months go by!

~ Honesty Blaize

Greetings Citizens,

A question for you all: What do you think connects these four seemingly disconnected elements? 1 - 'Scariest Avatar', 2 - 'SmallWorlds Photography', 3 - 'Dance' and 4 - 'Just Plain Awesome'?

Well the answer is quite exciting! All of them are a part of something new that I've observed recently about the SmallWorlds community. I've noticed that as well as being an extremely creative lot you're also really rather competitive! If you haven't guessed already, the connection between the four items listed above is that they are all contests, they've all been created by players, and they are all open to ALL SmallWorlds citizens to enter!

Contests = More fun online social experiences

Remembering our recent exciting Adobe Max Award win in the Social Computing Category, it seems to me that competitions and contests are a really great way to put the "social" into "social computing"! One of the things I greatly admire about the SmallWorlds community is the many imaginative things I see citizens creating in-world so that you can all have fun together.

NEW Forum Category: 'Competitions & Events'

When I showed all the contests I'd discovered to Honesty, she came up with what I thought was a truly brilliant idea. She suggested making a separate category in the forums for Competitions and Events! So, from now on when you have a  Contest, Competition or Event you'd like to advertise to the community, this is the place to list it.

This will make it much easier for you to find the competitions you'd like to participate in; and for contest organizers should also mean that your contest gets a lot more exposure. In addition I have a feeling that it will inspire other citizens to create more fun contests...perhaps you'll be one of them!

If you have a competition currently running and you'd like it placed in the new category, please send us an email at support@smallworlds.com and we'll get one of the forum moderators to place it in the new 'Competitions & Events' forum category. Please make sure you put "Competition & Event Category" in the subject line of your email, and (most importantly!) that you include the URL of your contest forum thread.

New Chronicle Section - Coming soon!

Honesty and I are also drawing up some plans for a new part of the Community section of the Chronicle, devoted to Events and Competitions happening in-world. This is under development, but we wanted to let you know that something new is coming, and that your SmallWorlds community newspaper is improving all the time.

Competitions Currently Running

Like to show off your photography skills? Flaunt your dance ability? Or perhaps showcase your avatar creation expertise? If you take a look at the selection of 10 competitions I've listed below, I'm sure you'll find something to appeal to you! Due to space constraints, it was not possible to include all that are currently running, so I do apologize to those whose contests are not listed.

Contest Name:SmallWorlds Photography Competition

Organiser: Jake Zellwegger

Contest Name: Festive Fancy Dress Competition

Organizer: Design Star

Contest Name: Just Plain Awesome Awards

Organizer: Sarah Ryide the 2nd

Contest Name:The Scariest Avatar

Organizer: Ursula Vmk

Contest Name: Dance Contest

Organizer: Piolo Pascual

Contest Name: SmallWorlds Forum Awards

Organizer: Jake Zellwegger

Contest Name: Halloween Adventure Quote Contest

Organizer: Gillian Fraginfroogle

Contest Name: Rincewind and The Magic Within

Organizer: Caroline Wilkinson

Contest Name: Nautilus - The Voyage Continues

Organizer: Cee Emcee

Contest Name: Scariest Pet

Organiser: Johnny Mccormick

Create Your Own Competition!

Well citizens - what are you waiting for! There's great fun to be had and great prizes to be won. I'm hoping that the 10 contests above that I picked out of the forums will provide you with some inspiration to perhaps create one of your own.

I'm certainly going to be watching the new forum category with interest, Honesty and I are so  looking forward to seeing what new contests you all come up with next.

~ Kent Kronkite

That was one of my best attempts at sounding just a little supernatural... I've been practicing especially for this article, trying to sound as ghostly as I could! I'm sure you can guess what this means... its time for the release of the Halloween items here in SmallWorlds! Yes, there's lots of scary excitement on the way!

We've got some great new items and as we did last year, we'll be replacing items in-world over the Halloween period, so you can expect things to look decidedly disturbing from now until November 5th, when everything will return to normal once again. I have a feeling I'm going to feel quite relieved! Everything's available in Happy Halloween Hall, so do come in for a visit and pick up something truly terrifying today!

Don't let the Halloween Bed Bugs bite!

Imagine (if you're brave enough), taking a shower and finding bloody footprints on the shower tray. A swirling vortex will have appeared in the middle of your washing machine, lord knows where you'd end up if you stared at it for long enough! Pink slime in the bathtubs and green slime in the spa pools... its just simply awful! Awfully good, really!

Halloween-Theme Your Space!

We've added "Halloween" to the themes menu! Choose this theme, and your outdoor and indoor spaces will transform. Think "scarey autumn". You'll see skulls in the trees, and we'll put lots of creepy cobwebs in the corners of all your indoor spaces! To access this theme, when you are in your space click the spanner in the info toolbar, then click Space Settings / Theme.

Here's Dan SmallWorlds enjoying a soak in green slime, in his Halloween themed space!

Halloween Mission - Ridgeview High!

This fantastic mission has you playing the role of a young vampire who attends school (Ridgeview High) under the guise of being human! In class, you'll learn about the alliance between Vampires and Werewolves, signed after years of war between them.

Something breaks the alliance, and you'll then need to try and recruit other Vampires for the cause... and just wait till you get to HELLen Park and you've got werewolves hunting you down! Here's a picture of Class 7 in Ridgeview High; where you'll take your seat (if you can actually find your seat that is!).

and now for your science lesson....

I don't want to give away any more details, you'll have to try the mission for yourself! The only other thing I will share with you is that if you manage to complete the mission, you'll be given a rather ghastly gift, a Brain in a Jar! I spent a brief moment wondering just whose brain it was, but the thought was too troubling and so I stopped wondering straightaway.

Halloween Replacement Items

Just as we did last Halloween, there'll be a number of replacements made for standard items. Some of them are simply chilling!

As you can see, trees are replaced with a haunted version, all candles glow a spooky green, flaming torches and campfires will burn a supernatural purple, and fireplaces will burn with green flames.. if you look closely you might even see a face! If you felt like you wanted to 'shake your bones' a little, there's even a Skull Dancefloor!... ooooooh! Oh and look out for the haunted cactus - he's got a rather freakish look on his face!

Food & Kitchen Item Replacements

Planning on inviting your friends over for a meal over the Halloween period? Well now you'll be able to serve them some completely stomach-turning snacks! 

Look at what some of our standard fare transforms into over the Halloween period! We've got Maggot Pizza, Brain on a Plate, Green Hot Dogs & Coffee. Why not try some Eyeball Juice (its the one decorated with a bat wing - 'here's looking at you kid"!). As you can see, the blender is all ready to whip up another batch! What on earth is that cooking in the microwave? Oh and look inside the oven - creepy indeed! Don't forget to check the inside your fridge, the contents may have gone through a bit of a transformation!

New Halloween Magic & Lights

We'll be replacing two spells - the Fish Head Spell will transform into the Witch Head Spell and the Donkey Head Spell will become the Vampire Head Spell. We've also got some spooky wall lights too! Visit Mysterios and stock up to make sure you've got some Halloween magic to throw around at your friends!

School Desks & Chairs, and High School Lockers!

I asked Kent if he'd go and take a look at the Ridgeview High mission before it was publicly opened as I felt too nervous to go. He kindly agreed to go and get a couple of screenshots for me and made a rather exciting discovery - all new 'Back to School' items are being released for sale on Smallworlds today, along with the new Halloween items!

We've got three items: a School Desk, a School Chair and High School Lockers! Kent grabbed a couple of shots of these new items being used in the Ridgeview High Mission, and you'll find these items for sale at SmallWorlds Emporium, as well as inside the Happy Halloween Hall, where all the rest of the Halloween goodies await you!

Halloween at SmallWorlds = Lots of good scary fun!

Well citizens, what an exciting time we'll be having together over Halloween here in SmallWorlds! I'm off now to do my laundry, although I'm looking at my transformed washing machine with some trepidation... I wonder what that swirling vortex might do to my nice red suit? I'm just going to have to take the risk! Once its washed, I might even throw a vampire spell at Kent. What fun its' all going to be!

However you decide to celebrate it, all of us here at SWHQ hope you'll be spending some of your Halloween right here in SmallWorlds!

~ Honesty Blaize

Greetings, SmallWorlds Citizens!

Something really unusual happened a couple of weeks ago here at the Chronicle Head Office. Honesty and I were sitting together and things were actually just a little bit quiet. I think we'd been more efficient than usual and found ourselves with a whole hour where we didn't need to be anywhere, and we were both a little ahead of schedule on our story calendar. We're usually both such busy people and I confess that the lack of activity started to feel just a tiny bit uncomfortable for us both.

I noticed Honesty shifting uncomfortably in her chair and of course I wanted nothing more than to relieve any uneasiness she might be feeling. I popped my thinking cap on very firmly indeed and came up with what I thought was a great idea - I suggested that we play a little quiz game!

The Quiz!

When I suggested it, Honesty looked so relieved! Quickly, I glanced at the latest issue of the Chronicle. I hurriedly scribbled down a few questions, and asked her to find the answers to them! She really enjoyed it, and in fact it was such fun that it's become a bit of a regular game that we play together! At the beginning of each week, when the new main story comes out, we'll email each other 10 questions which we've taken from all over the newspaper. Last week we got Dan SmallWorlds to come up with a list of questions for us so that we could race each other - it was SO exciting... Honesty won by a whisker!

Anyway - it dawned on me after our last race that maybe we could create a competition around this for you all; Honesty agreed that this was a wonderful idea, and so we got right to work!  As well as something fun for you all to do, it has two great side benefits:

1 - You get to know your SmallWorlds Chronicle like the proverbial back of your hand, and 2 - you also get to enter into the a draw for some GREAT prizes!

Win 2000 Gold by reading your SW community newspaper

The quiz won't take you long at all to complete and we think it'll be a really fun thing for you to do! There's a lot of really good information just sitting there in the Chronicle that you may not even have known was there. By the end of the quiz, you'll be a Chronicle expert par excellence!

The Quiz will be open until midnight, 18th October 2009. Then we'll close it, identify the pool of correct entries and 10 lucky winners will be randomly picked and each will receive 2000 Gold!

Honesty and I truly hope you enjoy your intrepid tour around the Chronicle, and we're looking forward to seeing how many of you are up for the challenge!

~ Kent Kronkite

The Legal Stuff

* The Competition is open to SmallWorlds standard and VIP Club members 13 years of age or older. Employees of Outsmart 2005 Limited and its helpers, moderators, officers, directors, parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliated companies, advertising agencies, promotional suppliers, or production agencies, and their respective dependents, immediate family members (parent, child, sibling and spouse of each) and individuals residing in the same household, are not eligible to participate. Void where prohibited by law.

* The 10 winners of the "Test Your SmallWorlds Chronicle Knowledge" competition will be randomly selected from all correct entries, and each will receive 2000 SmallWorlds Gold. All entries will be carefully reviewed before determining the prize winners. The judge's decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into. Only one entry per SmallWorlds account.

* The prize winners will be chosen and notified on or about 19 October 2009.

We did it! Well, actually, YOU did it! The community of SmallWorlds rose up and spoke with a collective voice... and spoke really rather loud! Yes, the news is out:

SmallWorlds: Winner of the Social Computing Category

Adobe Max Awards!

In this year's Adobe Max Award competition, more than 450 entries were received from business, creative and application development professionals worldwide. The top 32 entries across all eight categories were identified as finalists by a panel of Adobe judges and industry experts. It goes without saying that we're extremely proud of the kudos we get as a result of our win. It means a lot to the whole SmallWorlds team to have their collective skill recognized by the industry. Being picked as a semi-finalist was an achievement in itself; the panel of judges are a well-respected and knowledgeable lot and to get on their shortlist definitely says something very positive about SmallWorlds and we were well pleased to be picked as one of the final four in the Social Computing category.

But for us, the real triumph has been the way in which the SmallWorlds community has come in to support us. It's this and this alone which has lead to this outcome. To all who took the time to cast your vote, thank you so much! It means a lot to us all. The whole team is walking around with giant unwipeable smiles on their faces, and feeling like the SW team just grew a whole lot bigger. We create this game, but it very much belongs to the community. In voting for SmallWorlds, you were voting for 'your place', one of your homes on the web. Keep reading to find out how to get your very own Crystal Star trophy - our way of saying thanks!

Ted Tagami - Our man on the ground at the awards

VP of Business Development for SmallWorlds, Ted Tagami, was on location in Los Angeles to accept the award on behalf of us all. He's spent the past two days at the Adobe Max event, representing SmallWorlds, seeing (and being seen by!) some of the top apps currently in the web space. Here's a photo of Ted accepting the award, on stage with none other than Mark Hamill of Star Wars / Luke Skywalker fame!  You can see Ted receiving the award - he did a triumphant fist punch in the air and shouted out "SmallWorlds!"

Here's a short message from Ted:

"A big shout out to all artists, engineers, and SmallWorlds citizens! I felt so proud to have represented SmallWorlds at the Adobe MAX awards ceremony. It became crystal clear from our first night at the show that we have developed a truly unique and engaging rich application that our industry peers both admire and adore. SmallWorlds was competing against some great applications, but in the end it was the SmallWorlds community who came through for us. 

Chatting with other Flash and Flex developers I have begun to realize that the 'everywhere-ness' of the Adobe suite of tools enables SmallWorlds to easily collaborate with other developers, agencies, brands, and media companies. Our future looks bright. An exciting time indeed!"

Here's another shot from the event - look at that huge audience!

A few words from co-founder Mitch Olson

I managed to catch up with SmallWorlds co-founder Mitch Olson to get his reaction to the news. (Darren Green is currently away on a well deserved holiday but we heard that the mile wide smile has found its way to his face also!)

I'm absolutely thrilled for SmallWorlds to have been selected as a winner in the Social Computing category of the Adobe MAX awards against such stiff competition.

The words "Social" and "Computing" encapsulate the elements that make up our success. First of all a world-class team of Computing professionals who together create magic each and every day in the creative expression of their expertise. A big thank you to our fabulous team of artists, developers, operations personnel, journalists, support staff, producers, accountants, business development execs and the awesome crew of Moderators and Helpers.

And to our community of super SmallWorlds citizens who put the "Social" in "Social Computing"; a great big "thank you" to you all. This award would not have been possible without you. Thank you so much for coming and hanging out with us in SmallWorlds and for your passion and creativity and generosity - and of course votes :) - all of which are an integral part of our shared success today. SmallWorlds FTW!

Reactions from the SW Community

After news of the win came through I got right to work on this story. My excitement all got a bit much for me and so I had to put the story down for a while; I went off to Rachels Tea rooms to relax and cool my head a little! I had a simply lovely time in there chatting with lots of SmallWorlds citizens about our exciting win. Of course, I had my trusty notebook with me and took down a few comments to share with you:

Chalk Dust: "Wow, that's really good news! We won because SmallWorlds is amazing. The community really enjoys the game and likes supporting it!"

Tigerz Stripes:"SmallWorlds won cos it is by far the best game out there and I am so very excited for the team for achieving this huge milestone."

Count Big Bob the 5th: "I think its a great achievement for the whole of SmallWorlds! Lots of hard work well rewarded"

Blane Black: "I think this Adobe win is is the most exciting thing that's happened to SmallWorlds!"

Yes, there's a lot of excitement out there from the SmallWorlds community.  Its a real time to celebrate for us all!

Get your very own Crystal Star Trophy!

Well citizens, there we have it. A true achievement for SmallWorlds as a business, and one which says something really important about SmallWorlds as a community - a community that knows how to band together and achieve something great!

Because we believe that this trophy belongs to us all, we've got a special item we'd like to gift to you all! If you make a visit to the Max Award Winner! space, you'll find a really easy mission in there called "WINNER of Adobe MAX Award". Complete it, and you'll receive your very own Crystal Star Award trophy - a crystal award for excellence. Its our way of saying thanks so much! One trophy per SmallWorlds account.

We look forward to continuing on this journey with you all on board. We just love continually improving SmallWorlds, making it better and better so that you want to keep on playing.

I'm off to give a little shine to my trophy once again. Thanks to you all!

~ Kent Kronkite

Hey There SmallWorlds citizens! I've just got back from a short holiday, and do you know what? I just couldn't wait to head straight back into my favorite virtual world and level up my gamer XP a little more! Addicted? Heck yeah!

Anyway, while I was playing, I got to thinking that it was high time we did a story on gaming and gamers. I also realized (after I got a sideways look from Kent) that I really did need to get back to work! It dawned on me that this would actually be a great introduction back in to work... a story on gamers! So I've been doing a little research, hanging out with a few pro's, "getting the lowdown" I guess you could say - ha ha!

Ever wanted to meet some of the pro-gamers here on Smallworlds? Hear just how they got to be so good? What they think are the best games to play? Hear a few funny stories about their experiences in the PVP gaming arenas? Well read on my friends, I've got all the info you want right here! Also, at the bottom of the story you'll find a list of all the gaming fun you have have here on SmallWorlds, with links to take you right there to all of em.

Meet The Pro-Gamers

Name: Shark Killer - Tennessee, USA

Gamer XP Level: 68

Shark loves the new gaming arenas "I'm loving the brand new capture the flag! if I'm not doing missions or hanging with my friends, I'm playing capture the flag."

He also likes the classics like pool and space invaders, "thinking on it, SmallWorlds sure does offer quite a variety of gaming...but it's the quality of the games which makes me enjoy them the most" Sharks fave public space? "its got to be Mysterio's - I mean who doesn't enjoy a good magic brawl? I also enjoy The SmallWorlds Help Center - seeing the "boys in gold" (what i like to call the helpers and moderators) help a new player, brings a smile to my face". Awww - looks like the ol' Killer is a bit of a softie at heart there ladies and gents! (hey, no offense meant Shark - I'm right there with you when it comes to team gold). I asked Shark if he had any tips for gamers. He was short and sweet: "Play hard and play to have fun. It's always nice to be prepared as well ie: weapons!!!!"

Name: Snow White - Oregon, USA

Gamer XP Level:70

Snow is a true Space Jump junkie, she says that its "become another great reason to log in and enjoy Smallworlds. I have several close friends that I play with; we often play a few and then need to rest up for more, it is a running joke!" She also loves pool and pool tournaments. Snow says she finds Space Jump really thrilling and Pool really relaxing.

Snow reckons that the best way to level up quickly is to get in a groove and just do missions. "They are really fun and they provide plenty of XP and tokens. It won't take long and you will notice your levels going right up, especially if you throw in some VIP and Citizenship Points"

"My friends and I enjoying pushing each others buttons while waiting for the game. We either join on the same team and have a blast working together, or we compete against each other and use the scream emote when we die! We like to talk back & forth with silly comments to try to throw each other off a bit. I find when I play against my close friends I really play hard. We always pick on each other if we are on opposite teams and I wouldn't have it any other way. It brings out the fighting spirit in me, but mostly it just makes me laugh."

Snow wants to encourage everyone to try the new games. "There are all levels and everyone is welcome. I find the games really positive for the most part and I think the experienced players generally understand that it takes time to get the games down".

She strongly suggests reading the rules first and to bring some weapons before you go in. "Don't get in the game and then ask how to play or to borrow things. You just won't survive. :) You will however meet new people and make new friends. Warning though, you may become addicted, but you most likely already are to SmallWorlds. See you in the games!" Thanks Snow, count me in!

Name: Timmy Tanks, Pennsylvania, USA

Gamer XP Level: 63

I caught up with Timmy and we had an awesome talk about our common love of the gaming arenas. "Yeah the PVP gaming is so fun...you never know who will win. I am very competitive and these games make it fun! I wish people knew how many great people you can meet in the game arenas. The GG's ('good game') shared after playing and the speed of upping my XP and tokens is excellent. I play a lot but already leveled up twice in gamer over two days and had a lot of fun doing it."

Timmy has a great laugh seeing the competitive nature of what he calls the other "sweet innocent players - people getting so into it and getting so mad about losing or getting killed. Really makes ya laugh!" There is one player he loves to play against - Equinox Requim. Timmy told me that Equinox walks around whistling while knocking people off "... *shoot* *whistle* *shoot* *whistle*. Just keeps me laughing, Idk why but it does!""

I learned that the best protection against Timmy is to formulate yourself a nice long interesting motto to distract him with! "When aiming to shoot I often find myself reading their motto's ... I go to shoot and instead i click on the avi.. then I have to scramble to close it and I often end up dying or something! haha." Timmys last words to me? "I'm competitive. No mercy!" Timmy...I relate my friend, I relate - ha!

Name: Nota Notherone - lives In SmallWorlds(!)

Gamer XP Level:61

Nota is yet another Space Jump devotee...(are you getting the message citizens, these PVP games are seriously fun!). "I'm pretty competitive so when an evenly divided game is in play I love the adrenaline rush it gives. Pool would have to be my next game of choice. After an intense game of Space Jump it's nice to go to a close friends place and listen to some good tunes and calm down with a nice mellow game of pool. If a wager is made even better!"

Nota's advice on levelling up quick? "My advice would be to get a year or more subscription of VIP and start doing missions. Those bonus XP and tokens are quite helpful with leveling up faster"

I asked Nota if she would share any funny stories from the PVP gaming arenas. "I have a few really close friends I enjoy playing with and sometimes it's just fun to go stand directly in front of one of those friends who is on the opposite team and shoot as many times as you can to see who gets sent back to the base first. Most of the time I am the one being sent back but I know it is all in good fun!"

As I well know, it doesn't take long to get addicted to these PVP games, and it seems that a friend of Notas found that one out in a hurry! "One afternoon one of our friends came to join us for his first game of Space Jump, we all laugh now cause just about every day that friend logs on around the same time for a quick game or two of Space Jump. He enters the lobby and we all laugh cause we know he is here for his Space Jump fix."

If you're new to it all, Nota recommends trying Space Jump and Tombstone as she feels they are the easiest to get a feel for the new games. She wouldn't recommend jumping right into Magma when first trying out the PVP games "there are some REALLY SKILLFUL players there. Enjoy and have fun. There are some pretty neat people in-world to meet no matter what game you decide to play." Thanks Nota, great chatting with you!

Well Citizens, I hope this convinces a few of you to give it all a try! Remember its a good idea to come prepared. Before you take off to one of the arenas, go make a quick visit to Sovereign Plaza and start creating your arsenal!

Now that this story has been published I've noticed that Kent has been giving me a few more approving looks; I'm hoping that means that I've earned the right to to go play a little more! Oh yeah, I just realized that I've got a 'hot' date with a fireball bazooka - woohoo! See you in the arenas.

~ Johnny Wilde

Hey BTW citizens, There are a ton of other gaming spaces to go to, other than the PVP gaming arenas. Here's a list of all the stuff you can do:

Gaming Lounges. Arcade Games, Pool, Fast Draw

Kaspers Game Lounge: A Gaming Lounge for the intellectually gifted. Chinese Checkers, Chess, Checkers. Refined decor. Nice!

Spacies Fun Zone:  All the best video games from around the world are in Spacies Arcade. Come check em out!

Fun Spot: Home of our famous and really fun Fast Draw game! Sharpen that virtual pencil and get ready for a lot of laughs.

Cue Club: A comtemporary basement level pool bar and club. Come shoot pool till you can't shoot straight no more!

Game Planet: The best place on Moon Base Charlie to talk, play and live games!

PVP Game Arenas

Arena Central The place to find players and information about Arena Games. Get a pea shooter for free by completing the Gamer mission in the Landing Pad

Tombstone: Return all your Teams Skulls to the pedestal in yrou base before time runs out or the other team beats you to it!

Space Jump Rookie: A great first stop-off if you're new to Arena Games. Try and steal the oppositions flag and return it to your base!

Space Jump - Magic Mayhem: Get on down to Mysterios and stock up my friends, this is the place for truly letting your hair down with all things magic - no rules, just blast em!

Magma Core Competitive: Another capture the flag style game, set amongst flaming rivers of Lava. Once you've got some gaming experience under your belt, give this competitive level game a try first. Weapons to CP10, and Wearables to Level 50.

Magma Core Professional:  This ones is for the pro's. Weapons to CP40, and Wearables to Level 90.

Buying Weapons and Magic

To stock up on Weapons or Magic, make a visit to Sovereign Plaza (for weapons) or Mysterios (for magic). Arena Central also has a few weapons available for sale.

If you need more CP's so you can purchase weapons, invite some more friends into SmallWorlds to come have fun with you and you'll get fantastic CP rewards!

If you look carefully at the flames which burn true and bright from the bowl of the goblet, you'll see something remarkable: the flames are made of feathers! Or then again, is it that the feathers are made of flames? This is a conundrum that we are all still pondering here at SWHQ, and so far we cannot quite make up our minds. And just what kind of bird could these amazing feathers have come from?

The flaming feathers seem to emerge from a glowing yellow liquid. Kent and I have been wondering if you can actually drink it? What on earth might happen if you did? Would it bestow the gift of flight?

Pink is one of my favorite colors and so I think this goblet looks just gorgeous, with its gorgeous pink gemstones - which are of a particularly fine quality - encrusted upon its golden form.

It's a handsome goblet indeed, so make sure you complete your weekly challenge tasks so that you can ensure that you win your very own Bird of Paradise Goblet this month!

Tell me more about the Loyalty Challenge

To win the Bird of Paradise Goblet you'll need to complete four weekly challenges before the end of October.

What's the Weekly Challenge?

The weekly challenge is to complete one Featured Mission, Gambit task, or Peanut Labs task each day for three days in a row.

The first weekly challenge you complete, you'll win 1000 tokens and move up to Emerald level.

The second weekly challenge you complete, you'll win 1500 tokens and move up to Sapphire level.

The third weekly challenge you complete, you'll win 2000 tokens and move up to Ruby level.

The fourth weekly challenge you complete, you'll win 3000 tokens and move up to Diamond level

As you complete each weekly challenge, you'll see your gems 'fill up' in your gem holder on the right side of your screen. The lines underneath show how many daily missions you have completed for the week.

Like to know more?

Once you've completed a weekly challenge, you won't lose that challenge if you skip a week or if a new month starts. When you complete the Diamond level you get the collectible for the current month. To get all three Loyalty Challenge items, you need to complete four weekly challenges before the end of September, four by the end of Ocober, and four by the end of November.

To read information about the Loyalty Challenge inworld, just click on your gem holders which are located at the top right of your screen.

Farewell for now Citizens, I hope you have lots of fun earning your gems in the month of October. When I win my Bird of Paradise Goblet, I'm going to try and work up the courage to take a small sip of that flaming yellow liquid and see what happens!

~Honesty Blaize

SmallWorlds has been selected once again as a finalist in the Adobe Max Awards - a global awards programme that recognizes the best use of Adobe software for creating engaging experiences. It's a great honor, and gives some well-deserved industry recognition to the hardworking team here at SmallWorlds who create this great game for you all.

Finalist - Social Computing Category

Judges have selected us as one of three finalists in the Social Computing category, and we think we're in with a great chance of scooping a win this year!

Now that the Judges have made their selection, it's over to a public vote to determine the winners in each of the six categories, as well as the winner of the coveted People's Choice award. This leads me to my next very important point...

We need YOUR help to win!

Voting begins today, September 28, and the winners will be announced on October 6th. To vote for SmallWorlds, go to the voting page on the Adobe Max Awards site, and register your vote for SmallWorlds.

Whats more - you can cast as many votes as you like! Far be it from us to encourage you to spend hours voting for us, but Honesty, Johnny and I have set up a rotating shift.

So - just to make it 100% clear, once you've gone to the Adobe Max Awards finalists page, scroll down to the Social Computing category, and click "Vote" which is underneath our name.

Our developers have created a great platform for you all to play in, but SmallWorlds is the great game it is today because of the people who play it - thats you!

SmallWorlds = a Great Game and a Great Community

Help us give both the game and the community the recognition they deserve!

We shall need the support of a whole crowd of citizens to help us swing the vote our way - so please stop by the Adobe Max website and place your vote for SmallWorlds. 

I'm feeling rather confident that we're in with a great chance to win. So much so that I confess that I've already made a small start on the story announcing such an exciting outcome... usually I'm much too cautious to even consider doing such a thing, but I do have such a positive feeling about it all!!

From all of us at SmallWorlds - Thanks for your support!

Well its farewell from me - I'm off to visit some of my colleagues and friends in-world and encourage them to visit the Adobe Max virtual ballot box today. The winners will be announced on the 6th of October, and you can rely on me to bring you the news as soon as it breaks!

I've never been any kind of a campaigner before, but I've noticed that it's certainly put quite a spring in my step!

Vote for SmallWorlds! (and remember you can vote more than once so we can really make our votes count)

~Kent Kronkite

Miro, Picasso, Monet, Da Vinci, Lichtenstein, Dali, Warhol, not to mention all the artists I had never even heard of.... my head is simply swimming with art!  Then there's also the sheer amount of wonderful talent that this competition has brought forward for us all to see, I'm just overwhelmed with it all!

The SemiFinalists have been chosen!

I've just returned from my final run-through of all the entries submitted and I must confess that I'm feeling rather breathless. I've spent hours looking through them all, admiring the skills of all their talented creators. I had two main predictions for this competition, and I must say that I have been spot on with both of them:

1) there is no shortage of artistic talent in the SmallWorlds community, and

2) that the task of choosing 15 semi-finalists was going to be extremely difficult!

In fact, it was so difficult that I just HAD to add one extra semi-finalist into each category giving a total of 18 semi-finalists in all.  I only wish I could have chosen more! Some very deserving entries just couldn't be squeezed onto the short-list. And I am very, very relieved that I do not have to pick out the top three.

As you will recall from when I announced the competition, I said that once I had chosen the semifinalists in each of the three categories, these would then be put to a public vote. The three polls you can use to cast your vote are below. Voting closes at midnight SWT on Sunday 27th of September. The prizes to be awarded are as follows:

Judges Choice Awards:

2000 Gold will be awarded to each of the 18 semi-finalists - Congratulations to you all!

Citizens Choice Awards:

5000 Gold will be awarded to the winners within each of the three categories, based on the number of citizen votes received!

Citizens Choice Supreme Award

A further 8000 Gold will be awarded to the forgery receiving the highest number of votes from the three award categories!

Now lets add that up - 2000 Gold for a semi-fnalist pick, a further 5000 Gold for winning one of the three category places... and the chance to walk away with another 8000 Gold if you are awarded the Citizens Choice Supreme Award - one lucky winner could be awarded a total of 15,000 Gold!

Thanks to you all!

Before I announce the 18 semi-finalists I would like to sincerely express my thanks to all who entered the Art Forgery competition. I've enjoyed myself so much - it's been better than a visit to the Louvre, and at a fraction of the cost! I've been reading the forum comments surrounding the competitions, and it's been heartwarming to see how complimentary so many are about the work that has been submitted - it seems like everyone who has participated has had a great time.

Under each category title, you will find images of each semi-finalist forgery, with a picture of the original painting. Click on the image to bring up a bigger version, and check the forum thread too... it often has an even bigger version, as well as the location you can go to see the art inworld. Semifinalists are listed in no particular order.

The Semi-Finalists: Face/Portrait Category

The Semi-Finalists: Landscape Category

The Semi-Finalists: Abstract / Modern Category

Voting Closes - Sunday 27th September

I'm so looking forward to announcing the winners to you next week! Voting is open for a almost a week, closing at midnight, Sunday 27th of September. As I mentioned in the story announcing the competition, in order to keep things honest and prevent citizens voting multiple times, we have had to strictly set the poll parameters and can only allow One Vote per IP Address. My sincere apologies to you if you share a network with multiple SmallWorlds citizens, as only one vote will be allowed from your address. Unfortunately this is the only method that is available so that we may discourage cheating and ensure fairness for all competitors.

Report on the Winners...Coming soon!

Thank you once again to all of you who entered the SmallWorlds Art Forgery competition. Judging it has been a fantastic experience for me and I know that you've all had a lot of fun creating your forgeries. I am just so excited to see the results of the public vote - and I'll be bringing you the full report, complete with interviews with our three talented winners.

Don't forget that voting closes at midnight, Sunday 27th September.  Cast your vote now!

~Honesty Blaize

Art Forgery - Copycat Crimes!

Art forgery has a very interesting history. One of the greatest Art forgers of recent times (a Hungarian man named Elmyr de Hory) claimed to have sold over a thousand forgeries to reputable art galleries all over the world! In fact, his forgeries became so famous on their own merits, that forgeries of his forgeries have now appeared on the art market.

I'm absolutely delighted to announce the Smallworlds Art Forgery Competition - of extra special interest to all the current and budding artists in the SmallWorlds community. Do you remember our recent celebrity lookalike competition? This one is a variation on that theme. The difference is that for this competition we'd like you to use your creative skills to paint a lookalike of a famous painting on your virtual canvas. There's so many well-known paintings to choose from.

Competition Entry Example

As you can see from Wheezy Bee's painting above (thanks so much Wheezy for letting me use your brilliant forgery!) she has taken a screen capture of her painting, pasted the original painting above it, and then taken a screen capture of the two images together. This gives you one image which contains both pictures.  But if you don't feel you can create a single image, don't worry, you can just post two images into the same forum post you create. 

Which painting will you forge?

Would you like to look through some paintings? Here is just one site to get you started in choosing which artwork you'd like to forge, but there are plenty of similar sites for you to choose from.

This time the competition judging honors go to me, something I am really looking forward to! Whenever I get a little time out from my busy reporting schedule, one of my favorite things to do is to go on an Art Tour...the talent of our SmallWorlds artists is simply breathtaking. I truly enjoy all artwork I come across. There are of course plenty of citizens like myself who are somewhat less artistically gifted but whose efforts are still wonderful to witness! I enjoy seeing people experimenting and playing with the blank canvases. Yes, creativity is good for you! Now onto the competition details...

Prize Categories

There will be three different prize categories:

• Landscape
• Portrait/Face
• Abstract

I shall pick what I consider to be the top 5 Art Forgeries out from within each category.

These 15 placegetters will each receive a 2000 Gold "Judges Choice" award. I will then put these 15 forgeries out to a Citizens Choice vote, and the final awards will be made based on the forgery with the most citizen votes in each category. There will be one entry which is awarded the Supreme Award as best of the competition, based on citizens' votes.

Citizens Choice Award Prizes

• Best Landscape - 5000 Gold
• Best Portrait / Face - 5000 Gold
• Best Abstract / Modern Art - 5000 Gold
• Citizen's Choice Supreme Award - 8000 Gold

The Supreme Award winner will be the entry that receives the most votes overall.  One lucky artist will walk away with a total of 15,000 Gold - that's 2000 for the Judges Choice award, 5000 Gold for winning their category, and 8000 Gold for the Supreme Award!

The competition will close at midight on Monday 21st September, so get your entry in now! 

Only One Vote per IP Address

A recent poll run by Harris Pilton exposed a problem with some unscrupulous citizens cheating by voting multiple times. The only way to avoid this problem is to set the poll parameters to restrict votes more strictly. This means one vote per IP address. My apologies to you if you share a network with multiple SmallWorlds citizens, as only one vote will be allowed from your address. Unfortunately this is the only method we can use to try to discourage cheating and ensure fairness for all competitors.

Which artwork can I choose to forge?

In order for your entry to be valid, we need you to choose a picture which was originally painted on a real canvas, not something that was originally created on a computer. In your entry, you will need to post the artists name and name of the painting, along with a picture of the original painting alongside your Forgery of the picture.

You'll also need to specify which category you are entering into: 1 - Landscape, 2 - Portrait/Face or 3 - Abstract. Only one entry per SmallWorlds account.

1 - Select a photo of a painting you would like to forge. Something that was originally painted on a real canvas, preferably by a reasonably famous painter. We'll be judging your forgery/entry against the picture of the painting that you choose, so keep a copy of the photo of the painting you choose, you'll need it for your entry. You may want to print out a copy so you can keep it next to your monitor while you create your forgery.

2 - Go to Modern Living and buy yourself a blank Graffiti Board. Go back to your home space, put on your artists beret and get out your virtual pallet - it's time for the launch of your art forgery career! (if you need some spare cash to purchase a board, remember it's easy to earn some gold to buy one, or you might like to invite a few friends into SmallWorlds to enter into the competition also - and get your gold reward for doing so!)

3 - Once you feel your forgery is finished, take a snapshot of it using your usual screen capture software (details below)
4 - Submit the TWO photos together onto THIS FORUM THREAD only, before 11.59pm, Sunday 20th September SWT/ EST. See the competition entry example above to see what your final entry should look like when submitted to the forum thread. For instructions on adding an image to a forum thread, please read to the end of this article. Note that we need your forgery photo and the photo of the original painting, within the same forum thread entry in order for your competition entry to be valid.

Entry Conditions

• Only one entry per person / SmallWorlds account
• The competition closes at 11.59pm SWT (EST) Monday 21st September. Only entries that include both a picture of your forgery and one of the original painting submitted via the forum thread given above will be eligible for judging.
• The competition will be judged by Honesty Blaize, who will choose the top 5 entries in each of the three categories. These 15 semifinalists will then be put forward for a citizen's vote to determine the three category prizes and the Supreme Award. All judging decisions will be final. The 5 semi-finalists in each of the three categories will be awarded 2000 gold. The Citizens Choice Award winners within each category will be awarded 5000 gold each.  The entry that receives the most overall votes will win the Citizens Choice Supreme Award, and receive 8000 Gold.

Well citizens, I do hope this inspires you to get painting! The SmallWorlds art scene is a a wonderfully rich and diverse one and I am sure that this competition will only serve to make it all the more so. Speaking of rich, I have a feeling that Art Forgery entries just may end up being worth a little something after the end of the competition. Perhaps Art Forgery might just be a way to earn a decent living here on SmallWorlds!

I'm so looking forward to seeing your entries and (although I am sure it's going to be a very difficult task) picking out and then reporting on my top picks within each category.

~ Honesty Blaize

The Legal Stuff

• The Competition is open to SmallWorlds standard and VIP Club members 13 years of age or older. Employees of Outsmart 2005 Limited and its helpers, moderators, officers, directors, parent companies, subsidiaries, and affiliated companies, advertising agencies, promotional suppliers, or production agencies, and their respective dependents, immediate family members (parent, child, sibling and spouse of each) and individuals residing in the same household, are not eligible to participate. Void where prohibited by law.
• The semi-finalists awarded a Judges Choice Award will be selected based upon the sole and exclusive discretion of the SmallWorlds Competition Judge. The Citizens Choice Awards will be based on the results of a public vote. All submissions are carefully reviewed before determining the prize winners. The judge's decisions are final and no correspondence will be entered into.
• The prize winners will be chosen and notified on or about September 28 2009

How to take a photo of your Forgery and copy it to a forum thread.

1 - Once you have created your picture, take a screen shot of it. (We prefer that you are "Draw" mode when you do this, rather than taking the picture inworld). Do not use the SmallWorlds camera function to take the picture. You can use any screen capture software you have, or simply press the Print Screen button on your keyboard (this saves the screen into memory, so you won't see anything happening when you press it).

2 - Open an image editing program (you can use Paint). Paste the image in by clicking on the Edit menu and choosing Paste.

3 - Crop your image down to size. We only need to see your picture and not the background. If you are using Paint to edit the image, draw a rectangle around your picture with the default selection tool and then click on the Image menu and choose Crop.

4 - If you know how, you can paste the photo of your forgery next to the picture of the original painting you are forging and save the two pictures as a single image. If you don't know how, don't worry - you can upload two separate images into the forum thread.

5 - Save your image as a .JPG file into a directory on your PC.

6 - Upload the image to a photo sharing site such as Flickr, Photobucket,TinyPic, or ImageHosting. Copy the URL of the composite photo (which includes your forgery with the original painting beside it.

7 - Go to the competition entry forum thread. Post a reply. Include the name of the artist and painting, as well as the category you are entering in for. Click on the 'Add Image' icon. Paste in the URL of the image from your photo sharing account.

8 - Repeat steps 5 and 6 for your art forgery image. Make sure you upload your art forgery into the same forum post as the image of the original painting, so they may be viewed together.