A Neopets History of 800

    A Neopets History of 800

    If you’re reading this, it is now 6th day in the month of Collecting in Y19 and the 800th issue of the Neopian Times is here (and only a week later than we anticipated!!) Yay!

In celebration of this amazing 800th issue of the Neopian Times, I took a long stroll down memory lane seeking out important 800 milestones of both the NT and Neopets. These are commemorated here for you along with some other fun 800 facts - enjoy!

    Let’s start with the Times!

First up was the 800th regular Article which appeared in Issue 43, So You Want to Become a Good Writer: Part One by scriptfox. This contained some great tips for storytelling, but unfortunately nothing that really helped me here…

Next up in Issue 49 appeared the 800th Comic, a hilarious depiction titled Dysfunctional Petpets by gromit51:

    Subsequently in Issue 51, the 800th writing as part of a Series was the introductory piece of NeoRenegades by gryphonsong, which presented some interesting wild characters.

    Following that, the 800th Editorial entry appeared in Issue 52, in the form of the question: Will we be able to get rare item codes when the Neopets merchandise is released in England? To which you must answer with your pinky out: “But of course!”

Wrapping up with the NT, Issue 69 housed the 800th Short Story, Revenge is Sour by meggiemufin, a tale of family rivalry in a race to get published in the Neopian Times.

    Contests

Announced on the 6th of October, 2006 (Y8) was the 800th page of the Art Gallery which featured lovely works such as Simple Carnie Folk by lil_bity_dedede

    The creative wordsmiths honored on the 800th page of the Poetry Contest received their glory on the 22nd of February in 2007 (Y9). Here is an excerpt of Pirates by Peanut02395:

"We pillage and loot, and store gold to boot,

And swash-buckle-buckle all day,

We're an army of Pirates,

Hard-tack eating Pirates,

Are you listening to what I say?"

The 800th Caption Contest launched on the 20th of April in 2007 (Y9) and featured this caption gem by snowykitten623:

Warf: I told you! This circle can't be erased!

Meepit: Why'd you draw it on your face, then?

On the 15th of April, 2008 (Y10) the 800th Pet Spotlight highlighted OlimFabula, the Lutari, owned and beautifully depicted by silent_snow.

    Mystery Pic #800 was introduced on the 22nd of April in 2009 (Y11) Mystery Pic and was a snippet of the Petpet Cannonball Background. A whopping 559 smarties guessed it correctly earning a meager 3,578 NP each. I know, I didn’t get it right either…

    The 800th Site Spotlight announced on September 27th in 2012 (Y14) featured the Lazy Skeith directory by bittersweet52. I swear I saw Slychi hiding out in there!

On April 15th 2016 (Y18), the 800th Beauty Contest top winner was declared as a gorgeous Aisha named Rocketship.

    The 800th Better Than You competition should launch in about 2 weeks (or we’ll just say “later this month” to be safe.) Best of luck to be in the first 500 to beat the challenger!

The 800th rendition of the Storytelling Competition should end approximately at the beginning of December this year (but don’t quote me on that! I can only count okay-ish…)

What is probably my most favorite contest is the Gallery Spotlight, and lucky winner #800 should be picked in December 2018 (Y20). Pretty please pick my gallery before then!! *hands out cookies and brownies and pizza*

Gazing into my crystal ball that is a little cloudy and possibly cracked, I foresee the following 800th contest winners being announced at the approximate dates:

Petpet Spotlight in February 2020 (Y22)

Petpet Protection League (PPL) in February 2021 (Y23)

User Lookup Spotlight in April 2021 (Y23)

    And wow, we sure do have a lot of contests and tons of talented Neopians!

     News

The 800th News update was on the 15th of November in 2002 (Y4), which coincidentally was the 3rd birthday of Neopets!!

It was also the introduction of Escape from Meridell Castle, the 3rd Birthday Cupcakes, Cakes and Goodie Bags, and when we first saw the Fire Mynci!

    On July 19th, 2000 (Y2), the long ago relic of NeoCircles hit the 800 count and thus a Search Engine was added to make it easier to find them. Don’t fret – it is good they’re gone!

Later that year on the 2nd of November a critical fix was made to the Safety Deposit Box where it had broken if you had over 800 objects in it (and let’s be real, most of us still do long after obtaining the Pack Rat avatar!) and also increased the view to 50 objects at a time. Yes that’s not a typo, we do only see 30 items now…but at least your SDB isn’t broken!

On May 24th in 2001 (Y3) it was revealed that scoring 800 or more in Chomby and the Fungus Balls would reward you with a Magical Chomby Plushie that would turn your pet into a Chomby! Unfortunately after retiring to the Games Graveyard this isn’t still a thing.

In October 2001 (Y3), the Chia police starting cracking down on people creating fake accounts to play dailies more than once, and had frozen over 800 million NP in assets in a single week. By the end of April the following year, Donna alone froze over 800 million (while Adam had 5 BILLION NP frozen from cheaters.) Just a friendly reminder, you are only allowed to play the Tombola, Shrine and other similar games on your main account!

It feels so long ago now even when the Trading Post amount was increased to 2 million NP, but it was raised to 800,000 NP all the way back on the 23rd of July in 2003 (Y5). And here’s a friendly nudge for another increase. Thank you!

To win at Better Than You in the first week of August in 2004 (Y6), you had to beat Gorix’s score of 800. In which game? It wasn’t pictured in the news…your guess is as good as mine!

Revealed in the news on November 12th, 2009 (Y11) was that the previous week’s Lenny Conundrum 2502 winners each earned 800 NP for the correct answer. Better than that though was the 5 winners of the LC ending on the 19th of July in 2012 (Y14) who earned 800,000 NP each!

     More Fun

If you've been playing neo for 800 weeks, this is your shield:

The 800th item introduced is the now-retired Neo Baseball Cap.

    The Gypsys Curse was the 800th TCG and was part of the Curse of Maraqua set.

    The NC Mall started pumping out items and quickly released its 800th item in December 2008 (Y10) – the Sparkling Snowflake Garland, originally costing 25 NC and was also included in part of the Holiday Decorating Pack.

    The 800th Neogreeting was released on 12 May 2006 (Y8) in celebration of Tyrannian Victory Day.

    And last but not least, a relic of ancient history – the 800th AIM buddy icon featuring a poor Gangee that got in the way at a Deserted Fairgrounds game came at you on the 28th of October in 2009 (Y11).

    And thus concludes the excitement of the history of 800 on Neopets! Enjoy the rest of the 800th issue of the Neopian Times!! And please hope for me I don’t have to do this again for 900…