Hello Funkey Friends! It's been a long time since I've posted anything, and I'm glad to see there are still visitors. I just received a message from Daniel101 that the official UB Funkey website is still "live" in Spanish. Check this out: www.es.ubfunkeys.com

I've also received messages over the past few months that the server is still working so that you can play games against each other. I don't know about that first hand because we can't run the Funkeys game anymore because we only have Windows 7, and we haven't tried to make it work yet.
Has anyone played lately?

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

Happy Holidays and a Funkey New Year!

This is a "blast from the past", a Holiday Card to my blog readers from a couple of years ago. The end of it doesn't seem to be working right anymore, but I hope you enjoy the first part!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Another Chance to Get Dot....maybe at a reasonable price?

If you bid on this Dot (or anything else), you can go through this ebates link first and you'll earn cash back on your purchase. You'll also get $5.00 on your account just for signing up. www.ebates.com
Just remember to go through your ebates account link to get to ebay so you get credit for your shopping.

Cash back when you buy UB Funkeys on Ebay through EBATES!

Does anyone plan to buy any Funkeys through Ebay? I have some left in my inventory, including a full set of Speed Racer. Please let me know what you're looking for and I can put them up for sale on ebay.

Here's a great deal I want to share with you, and you can use it for any purchase through ebay or just about anywhere you buy on-line. You get a $5 bonus for signing up, and 2.0% - 6.0% cash back when you go through Ebates to link to the site where you want to shop.

Check it out and let me know what you think:

www.ebates.com

The UB Funkey Speakeasy Babble Forum is Now Closed

Sad news that Augiewan closed the UBFunkeys Babble Forum. At least one of the members from there registered at the Funkey Fan Forum in hope of reconnecting with others from the Babble Forum. You are welcome to join as well. We haven't been very active either, but I'm not ready to give up yet! I plan to organize a UB Funkey playing party again soon while we're home for the Holidays. Please keep in touch, everyone, and we'll join up soon for some playing fun. We have a little while longer to hold on! Although I have to admit, that we haven't tried to use the tricks to install Funkeys are on our new Windows 7 PC. So we haven't been playing lately either.
Here's the notice from Augiewan that most of you probably have seen by now:

Hello all, It pains me to do this, but the UBFunkeys Babble Forum is being shut down.There are too many security holes in the old version of this software and I don't feel that it will be worth the time and effort to upgrade when so few people still come to visit.It was fun while it lasted, too bad our Funkeys are no more...

Augiewan

Funkey poll - please verify your vote

Just a follow up to the previous poll about voting to save the Funkeys - I want to share this helpful reminder from Bryan:

Please remember to verify your vote by checking your email message and verifying it.
Your vote won't count until you do.

Thanks!

Help Save The Funkeys! Please sign petition

The only information I have directly from Mattel about the future of UB Funkeys is that they are no longer going to make new ones, but they will provide technical support to the current players for at least 2 more years. The last I heard, and it has been a couple of months, they were working on making the game compatible with Windows 7. But after that, they'd stop with the updates. Maybe someone has better, or more current information to add to that?

Bryan1598 posted this to the Funkeyfanforum:

As you guys heard, that Funkeys is possibly being discontinued all because of some issues Mattel is having. If you are a person who really enjoys this game and don't want it to stop, then this petition is for you! The more Signatures we get, the more likely Mattel will know that we mean serious business when it comes to Funkeys and that we don't want it to stop!

Please click on this link to sign the petition:
Save UB!

Scam to be aware of - Financial Recovery Tools

I'm going off topic in this blog for this post. This blog should come up fairly high in search results, so I want to use that to help people for a moment here.

I'm looking for others who might be a victim to deceitful sales practices. My cousin was "conned" out of $75 in my opinion. That might not be a lot to most people, but it is to her because she's been sick and out of work without a pay check for a very long time.

She doesn't recall ever signing up for anything with the company, nor did she receive any email about it as the company claims. Her credit card was charged for $3 from a merchant called Seller Power, then $75 from Big Daddy Bids, then $75 for the following 2 months from 4 Champion Trading. She was credited the last 2 charges, but the company will not credit the first one from Big Daddy Bids because it was beyond 90 days when she discovered the charges. Of course they make it hard to figure out where the charges are coming from because they use so many different names.

I've done research and found that the same company is going by the names of: 4 Champion Trading, Financial Recovery Tools, Freedom Financial Guide, and most likely many more. They have many different web sites, and at least 2 different toll free numbers that go to the same Customer Support Center. This sounds very shady to me.

They claim the service is for access to a website that helps to find Government Grant Funding and to help with personal budgeting goals. Please, do not fall for this...the information they offer is available for free anyway.

If you have had any trouble with those companies, please contact me so we can do something about them and stop them from taking money from vulnerable people in a deceitful way.

Can anyone help to answer questions from other UB Funkey players?

If anyone would like to answer or comment on the following questions that are posted on the Funkey Fan Forum, you are welcome to answer on the forums or you can leave a comment here. Thanks!

Posted by Funkatron6000:
Anyone notice the weird, possibly French, message near the funkeystown portal in daydream oasis ? btw it is under a pic of U.B.
click here to answer funkatron6000's question


Posted by Mizlindymay:
I want to get stuff for my treasure chest and when I go to do it it tells me Registration is required, where do I find to register??
click here to answer mizlindymay's question

Posted by padawham:
Something I just realized was that there are rares for hidden realm, but no shop! So what are the bonuses for getting a rare? Besides extra coins.
Click here to answer padawham's question


If you have an outstanding question from the forum that I missed, you are welcome to send me an email: ubfunkeysarefun@gmail.com

We were tardy for the party!

Sorry if we missed anyone, we were about 15 minutes late getting on today. We still found enough friends in Funkeystown to keep us busy playing and "partying" for a couple hours!

I now realize there are limitations to the party plan of meeting up in the chat room and then inviting Funkeys to your crib. Then everyone leaves the chat room and we're not there for any new arrivals. I apologize if you got there and we weren't there, but we popped back in every once in a while.

If anyone was left out and disappointed they didn't have anyone to play against, please leave a comment with your Funkey name, and also if any of the other times later today or tomorrow work for you to try again (listed in the poll on the side bar). We'll make every effort to come back.