Shopping Therapy

Superpoke Pets will go offline next March, leaving thousands of bereft players. Our family is part of that group. It is a unique game that combines social interaction, creativity and a lot of shopping therapy.

The first two elements can be replaced. Already members are gathering on Facebook. SPP is holding out the promise of having your pet’s possessions available for download. There are no details, however, and we are not waiting around to see what happens. We have already saved all our habitats and a fair number of our pets’ items. Clothes, furniture, flowers, food and “plushy” friends have been saved to our computers. Since we all have graphics programs, we can use them to create an endless variety of furnished habitats for our pets.


That leaves shopping therapy. I don’t miss the already discontinued shopping nights, where players raced around the Pet Shop trying to acquire items before they sold out. Picture the mall on the day after Thanksgiving. SPP shopping night was the virtual equivalent. I preferred to shop on the off hours, where items don’t disappear while you try to catch a breath. Whatever a person’s preference might be, we no longer have the opportunity to spend, spend, spend those virtual coins until our shopping carts overflow.

As a girl, I spent hours looking through catalogs and making lists of things that I would like. I learned that you don’t have to buy everything to enjoy the thrill of a shopping trip. We don’t have many catalogs lying around, since we are a techie household, but there are certainly plenty of shopping opportunities to be found online. We decided to try it.

My daughter fell in love with a secretary desk cabinet. Even she acknowledged that we don’t need one, since we have an antique one, inherited from my grandparents. The ones she found were very reminiscent of that one, although priced much more reasonably. My granddaughter went next and announced that she would like a purple comforter set. Purple? We shook our heads. While our girl loves color, we favor neutrals. I have to admit the one she showed us wasn’t bad at all. Not too bright with touches of white and coordinating shams that were mostly white with a light purple embroidery. Okay, we could live with that. Could live with the price too, less than eighty dollars for a seven piece set. Now it was my turn. Those who have heard me complaining about our cold ceramic tiles won’t be surprised to find that I looked for something to cover them. Seagrass rugs 8 x 10 seemed perfect for my bedroom, though I’d have to measure to be sure. They have a variety of trims. My preference was for a matching trim, rather than black or other dark colors.

We all enjoyed our round of shopping therapy and will undoubtedly try it again. I’m beginning to believe that there is life after SPP.