Plushie Tycoon: The Method Behind the Madness

Part One: The Beginning

As my quest for avatars begins to narrow, there is one I find myself still constantly skipping over: the smug Skeith representing the harrowing game of Plushie Tycoon. Thousands hold their heads high at the beginning of every month only to have their dreams dashed over a couple hundred neopoints. Do I feel ready this time? Can I make it as the head of a corporation and make millions overnight? Honestly, the answer right now is a big, fat no. However, I have several weeks to gain any and all knowledge on how to flip 50,000 neopoints into 50,000 plus. I’m going to record my trials and error here once I dive into the game. Maybe you can learn from my mistakes, and maybe I’ll gain an avatar in the process.

Right now, I’m literally clueless when it comes to Plushie Tycoon. 1) I know it’s hard. 2) It involves making plushies. 3) You earn not only a spiffy avatar, but an elusive one at that (only 4% of Neopians reportedly have it). 4) Did I mention that it’s hard? Thankfully in this day and age there are dozens of guides available on the internet. I have read quite a few, and I will attempt to summarize the basics in part one before I go on to chart my experience.

1. Money is the Motivation

Plushie Tycoon runs from the beginning of the month to the last day of the month; however, you are able to start the game whenever you want in that month, not necessarily the first day. To win the avatar, you must end the game with more than 50,000 neopoints in your pocket (note: the neopoints used in the game are ‘fictional’ and have nothing to do with the neopoints in your personal account). Sounds easy right? Wrong. The principles of PT can be compared to the principles of restocking. You buy items at a low price and then proceed to make a profit by ending up with more cash than you started out with. But you must factor in the cost of renting your factory, upgrading it to make it more cost-effective, hiring workers to produce your product, and luring customers into your store through advertising.

2. Set Your Time-zone Accordingly

Like a real-world business, your factory and store will operate only during business hours from 9a.m. to 5p.m. PT gives you the advantage of choosing the time-zone in which your game will operate in. You need to choose the time-zone based on being able to be online for the majority of updates (see more on that below). Although I live on the east coast of the United States, I personally am at work during the day. So it wouldn’t make sense to set my time-zone to Eastern Standard Time because I wouldn’t be home in order to play. It would be like being blindfolded and hoping everything would just run smoothly. PT requires at least a couple of hours of active game time every day. With that in mind, I set my time-zone to the time where I would be able to keep tabs on my game and review the hourly updates. Speaking of updates, let’s focus on that next.

3. Follow the Updates Very Closely

Updates and how you respond to them will pretty much determine how your neopoints are spent. This is a crucial component of how PT runs. The game is updated hourly to show a player’s progress. These usually happen a few minutes past the hour, starting at 10a.m. in your specified time-zone and ending shortly after 5p.m. Several other important tasks coincide with updates. Employees are paid every hour during operating hours, the numbers of plushies made and/or sold are updated, and the prices of raw materials fluctuate from low to high. Raw materials are very important – you cannot build a plushie without these items.

4. Building Your Plushies

Before you open your factory and begin hiring workers, it is a smart idea to obtain the raw materials necessary to produce the plushies. It would be a waste of money to open your factory without setting up a game plan. This includes deciding what type of plushie you are going to manufacture, figuring out the types of materials needed, and how many plushies you want to produce. Not all plushies are made the same: some are very simple, others not so much. The most simple of plushies require only one roll of cloth and no accessories, while the most complex can use up to six rolls of cloth and accessories. Remember: saving money by creating cheaper plushies may seem like a good idea, but the higher the quality, the higher the profit you will make. A plushie made with a rare gem will cost more than one that doesn’t.

There are four different materials you will need to invest in when it comes to building your plushies. These consist of cloth, stuffing, packaging, and accessories. All plushies will need at least one packaging and one stuffing. The options are listed from cheapest to most expensive.

Stuffing: Neopian Times, tree floss, neofoam, and neocotton

Packaging: paper bags, cardboard boxes, and velvet bags

Not all plushies will require accessories, but a plushie made with a rare gem will have a higher price tag on it than one that doesn’t. Accessories are available as used junk (so that’s where all my shiny obsidian goes!), molded plastic, and rare gems. Last but not least, you have four different colors of cloth to choose from: green, yellow, blue and read. Plushies can be divided up by how many rolls of cloth they will need. This can be from one roll of cloth up to six rolls. Make sure to do your research before deciding what time of plushie you want to produce so that you have the right amount of materials on hand. Like in real life, the prices of these items change every hour. You don’t want to go broke splurging on supplies before you even start the game. Several interesting pieces of information have appeared over and over in my online readings.

1. Never buy raw materials when the price of rare gems are over 2,000 neopoints. Because of supply and demand, when the price of gems are high, so is everything else. You won’t make a profit on your plushies if it costs a fortune just to produce them.

2. Check the prices hourly. Jot down the prices and add up the prices to find the amount of neopoints needed to make one job (one job=100 plushies). Example: to make a job of four-cloth plushies, add up the cost of 4 rolls of green cloth, one packaging, one accessory, and one stuffing. If the amount of producing one job exceeds 3,900 neopoints, WAIT. Just as the prices go up, the prices will eventually come down.

Before beginning PT, you must do your research. Unless you’re a genius or hold a degree in business, you cannot just waltz into the middle of the game and expect to win. It definitely requires a player to invest several hours in the game every day with a concrete plan of how they plan to make a profit. Yes, I know this may be a lot of information to ingest right now. However, you’re already ahead of the game when you make cautious decisions. As you start researching the prices of materials and what plushies you want to make, I will begin working on the second installment of part one. In part two, we will take a look at the initial opening of your factory, the costs included, and hiring the labor that are going to put two and two together. Till next time, happy plushing!