KingsIsle Takes a Field Trip to the Library!

Recently the New Braunfels Public Library hosted a very special event for their youth: some Pirate101 playtime for around 16 children and young adults. This event was a partial finale to their full month of reading spotlights focused on Pirates and Pirate-themed reading material.  Young readers were encouraged to “Dig up a good read!” Yarr!  There be a treasure trove of knowledge awaiting ye’ in books, mates!

We’ve always had a very healthy relationship with Kit, our favorite librarian from the New Braunfels Public Library.  If you read the Pirate101 or Wizard101 newsletters, you will recognize Kit’s reading suggestions as she is the main source of the books we share.  When Kit told us about the Pirate event, we knew it would be well received when we decided to drive the extra hour from Austin to New Braunfels to crash the party with posters, codes, and fun! Besides bringing goodies, our ultimate goal for the day was to help out these players where we could and answer any questions that might crop up.

First things first, we handed out a few of our rare and coveted Treasure map puzzles that award a free Ninja Pig companion.  Not many of these maps are left, so these kids were very lucky!  The second thing we did was hand out a number of free crown codes (woohoo)! Finally we held a raffle for two amazing Pirate101 posters and another handful of crowns prizes for a couple of lucky kids. Best . . . library . . . event . . . ever! Right?!

Although the mass of computers all running Pirate101 at the same time put a bit of a strain on the event (for anyone else doing this event at your own library – we recommend preloading the game and signing in on each machine with a slightly leveled Pirate character), some of the extra download-time allowed us to answer a few great questions. Much to our surprise, we found a few players didn’t know that pressing the “New” button at the start screen could get you another character to play with. We were happy to share that you can create up to six Pirates (or wizards as the case may be) per account.

We were asked a lot of other great questions like, “How do I train a companion beyond my own level?” and “What do the questions I answer at the beginning of the game do for my character?”  Of course you can’t train a companion beyond your level, but we shared a little hint about keeping your companions slightly under your own level if you’re short on gold, and we’ve already led on as to what your origin story questions do for your Pirate. Everyone seemed to benefit from this Q&A session . . . including us!

This library trip was another great opportunity for us to simply watch players play the game!  We noticed it was far too easy to toggle off the Quest Helper (which led to some changes!) and we even helped a mom or two sign up for the game with their own accounts.

Thank you so much to the New Braunfel’s Public Library and Kit for allowing us to join in the fun. It was a great event, and one we hope will leave a lasting impression.

One-Eyed Jack
Community Manager