Are Skylanders the Next UB Funkeys?

Skylanders comes out today on Wii and the other gaming systems. It sure looks a lot like the UB Funkeys but for Wii, XBox, etc.

It's True! UB Funkeys are back up and running!

OMG! It's true! Thanks Amy & Sharon. Amy left a comment back on April 19th that her son's progress was saved and they can interact again on UB Funkeys. I saw the comment come through and didn't realize it was from Amy, who can be trusted! Sometimes people just like to get hopes up for the fun of it, so I didn't pay close enough attention. But then Sharon left a message too, so I finally checked it out.

UB FUNKEYS are back up!

Now my question is what on earth is going on with Mattel after they tell us on the phone, and even sent a letter to someone that the on-line capabilities were no longer available. Hmmm.
Let's enjoy it while we can!

UB Funkey Server is Officially Gone!

Newsflash: You can play UB Funkeys again! http://ubfunkeysarefun.blogspot.com/2011/04/its-true-ub-funkeys-are-back-up-and.html


That's right, it's official. Can I tell you how disappointed I am in Mattel for leading us on for the past month, letting us believe that they were fixing a problem? And then when I called just now for an update since I have heard from so many people asking about it, only to find out that it is officially done/gone/disfunctional/nada/run it's course/over....
When I expressed my disappointment to the Mattel Customer Service Rep. in the way this was handled, after he said it's been gone for a month, he said they only got the notice this morning at 9am.

You can still play the game on your computer, you just won't be able to anything in Angus's lab, or chat with other Funkeys, save data to the server (it should save to your hard drive, though), or play multiplayer games.

Are you still having problems with UB Funkeys?

If you are still having problems, I encourage you to post a comment about it or write something on the Funkey Fan Forum. I will call Mattel's customer service today, but meanwhile, let's hear from you! The last time I called, I saw that Mattel visited this blog and the forum. Perhaps they were looking for more detail about the problems to help them fix it. Or maybe they wanted to get an idea of how many people are affected by the problem.

Some of the problems I've hear about & experienced myself are: Not able to chat with other players, can't get to Angus's lab, unable to create or sign in with Unique Funkey Name, the server isn't saving data.
What are the problems you're having?

1994: "What is the Internet, Anyway?"

This is just for fun, and I know the readers of this blog like fun! Back in 1994, which really wasn't all that long ago, the internet wasn't as big as it is today. Katie Couric & Bryant Gumbel had a discussion about it on the Today Show. It's funny to look back now and see what they said....

UB Funkey Server Problem

Just want to report that Mattel has confirmed there is trouble with the server and the engineers are working on it. I'll post again when we find out it's working again.



Thanks so much to Amy & April for posting comments here on the blog & on the Funkey Fan Forum. That helped me to have more confidence when I called them back today. Last week I was told that the server was working fine & it was my computer that had the problem. So glad we have this communication so we know it's a wider problem. You saved me the time, grief, and hassle of having to uninstall & reinstall AGAIN!

We haven't played Funkeys since last March or so just before our computer's hard drive died. We finally installed the Funkey software on our new hard drive the end of last week and we are ready to get back into it.
Once we are back on, we should share Unique Funkey Names of those who are still playing.
We have: BB2 and FunkeysRFun

UB Funkey Coloring Page

Now that the UB Funkey website is no longer available, I thought I'd put up a copy of this coloring page that I had saved.

If you double click on the image, you can then either print it (be sure to change the size to Landscape), or you can save it in MS Paint or something similar. Have fun!

UBFunkeys.com web site no longer supported

If you haven't noticed yet, the UB Funkey's official web site is no longer supported by Mattel. That is yet another sad sign to the UB Funkey fans. The Funkeys are no longer sold in stores...although I have seen starter kits still for sale at Toys R Us and Best Buy (the last Mattel customer service rep I spoke with said they are only still sold in discount stores. Not true)

Mattel says they are still supporting the server for a while longer, perhaps another year or so is what I was told earlier this year. However, the current answer is they have no date available to give us. ** (see note below)
We've had trouble connecting with the server even though Mattel tells me that it is working. Is anyone else having trouble?

** You will still be able to play games after Mattel discontinues support to the server, but you will not be able to chat or play multiplayer games. You won't be able to download the updates, nor have your data saved on the server. I will call Mattel to verify all this & to ask if they will give us a warner. But, from what I know, as long as you continue to use Microsoft Vista or XP (or 2000, ME, 98) as your operating system, you can continue to play the game from your hard drive. Some people have found a way to make the game work on Windows 7, and perhaps if future versions of MS operating systems allow to work in XP mode, then you can continue to play in the future. (disclaimer: I do not claim to be an expert of any kind, just sharing what I've learned from others & through trial and error. Please, if anyone has a correction to this, I will gladly publish an update/correction. You can either post a comment, or send an email to ubfunkeysarefun@gmail.com Thanks!)

UB Funkey Pictures by Bryan

Here are some pictures posted by Bryan12589 on the Funkey Fan Forum. I liked them so much that I just had to share them with you all!

Trying to get UB Funkeys working with Windows 7?

I hear from many UB Funkey fans that they want to play the Funkeys on Windows 7 operating system. Mattel is not going to make a patch for that, but there are some players who have figured out how to make it work.

I haven't tried to install the game yet on our new PC with Windows 7, but I found a comment written on Augiewan's blog that looks like something good to try:
[Edit written on 1/16/11: I went to the microsoft website to try this for myself and discovered that we cannot use XP mode on ours because it is the Personal version. Only Professional & Ultimate versions of Windows 7 can use the XP mode]

Download XP Mode from Microsoft and install it as per Microsoft's instructions. Once installed (3 parts) open the XP mode window
and install the UB Funkeys from the CD. Follow instructions as usual. In this mode you have to tell XP mode to attch to a USB device - in the menu bar for the program there is a header "USB" with a drop down box - select the MEGABYTE hub and click Attach....voila it will load no problem....Lee

Link to Mattel's 4.8 download: http://service.mattel.com/us/technicalproductdetail.aspx?prodno=L7288&siteid=27


Here are some other reliable sources to view:

Please see the comments on the following blog post
http://ubfunkeys.thespeakeasy.com/2009/05/vista-64-bit-patch-finally-available.shtml

http://rufunkey.forumotion.com/t218-e-using-windows-7-to-run-ub-funkeys