Remembering the interactive digital Tricks and Treats of my childhood

As a kid and teen growing on the internet in the 2000's, Halloween themed events were a part of my youth. I always remembered looking forward to them every year. From Toontown Online, to Club Penguin, to various games hosted on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network's websites way back, the internet was a big part of my Halloween festivities and celebrations on the day itself and throughout the month of October.

One of my earliest internet memories was games on Nickelodeon. In the 00s Nickelodeon had a bunch of games you played only by clicking called Clickamajigs. Anyone who played these as a kid would certainly remember this one exact one: Black Licorice.

A content warning before you watch the video, or decide to play the link below to an archived copy of this game: It's a jumpscare game, and has flashing lights.

This game had a simple premise. Do not give the trick-or-treaters at your door black licorice. You give them these caramel candies instead. If you give them a piece of black licorice they get angry, and say with a demonic voice: "I DON'T LIKE BLACK LICORICE!" and turn into a monster. Scary music plays and you cannot just shut the door on them as it will make a screamer happen. (I am glad that this trend from the old web has mostly died down and is nowhere as prominent as it used to be.)

It scared the ever living crap out of me as a kid, and has stuck with me ever since. As I'm sure it did as well for anyone else who played it. I still wonder why they thought this was a good idea, but childrens media was a lot more eager to scare children in the 80s, 90s and some of the early 00s. If you want to see this game for yourself, someone preserved it at the internet archive.

Another fond Halloween Memory online comes from the games I would play back then. Such as Toontown Online and Club Penguin.

The whole world of toontown had various fun cosmetic changes for the season! From spooky trees, to clothes you can buy, seasonal furniture, and of course the fabled abilty to make a black cat on Halloween Day by using a secret set of speedchat words you would say to Flippy. I have countless fond memories of my Halloween seasons spent on Toontown. I fondly remember decorating my house, dressing up my toon in various costumes, wearing the pumpkin head all the time during the season and DESPERATELY trying to crack the code behind getting that elusive black cat on Halloween days for YEARS. Baby me never processed the idea of just googling the answer... but where's the fun in that?(I'm pretty sure I still did that in the end, even if my memory is fuzzy. Knowing my habits with when I get stumped on games.)

(A look at some promotional art that showcased some of the goodies you can get in-game, as well as some of the other in game cosmetic changes to the enviroments, the NPCs, and costumes you can get!)

Does anyone else remember the Cartoon Network Unicef games too? I LOVED these so much as a kid. I played them nonstop every year and I loved them so much I actually did their promotion to get money to raise for unicef in 3rd grade. (I hope someone out there archvied these.)

And club penguin was the place to be on halloween too!! They had killer parties every year as well as a wide array of costumes, furniture, igloos, music, and so much more! And as the years went on they uped their game a lot too. While Classic club penguin I am very nostalgic for like many, I did love many of the later and newer parties and newer styles of old parties too. The team behind these games really made enviroments that can really spark the imagination, and get anyone excited for the spooky season!!

(A look at some of the in-game locations and how they were decorated for various parties, as well as the haunted house which would show up every year!)

And these are just a handful of the memroies I have of Halloween on the web. I looked forward to what goodies and games would appear on my favorite sites, and it made the season even more special to me! I got just as excited for Halloween on the web and to celebrate with games as much as I was excited to go trick or treating and put on a costume. And I will hold these memories dearly and close to my heart forever, they made Halloween even more special for me every year.