Happy New Year

It hasn't been a great start for 2007 so far for Marapets, but we would like to let you know what has been happening for the past few weeks. As Laimay was getting married in mid December, we decided that both Laimay and I will have the whole of December off for a break, so that she can get married, have her honeymoon and move into her new apartment and so that I can go on holiday. While we were gone, the site was run by the great team of blue stars staff and I managed to keep the site without any downtime for the whole month.

However, what we didnt know was that our main database server had been installed wrong over 6 months ago, and that the disks on that server were quickly been filled up, not from our data but from server error logs which we not noticable. A few days ago, the server ran out of disk space to save new data. This meant that new items, pets, members and a few other things were acting odd as they couldn't be saved. To stop the server from crashing, we had to quickly shut the whole of the site to try and fix the problem. This was not easy and it has taken a team of us the past few days to fix the problem, which was very close to losing us lots of valuable data, such as items and pets from the December. Luckily enough, we managed to catch the problem in time and fix it, but would like to apologise to you all for the lack of warning and notice for the downtime. It has cost a lot of money to get this fixed, and we hope that you understand how serious this maintenance was. The problem has been fixed and cannot happen again.

We will be continuing with small maintenance this week while the site is open, with much overdue glitch fixing and we will be returning to normal with regular news.

You may also like to know that in a few days, a new and unexpected visitor will be returning to Marada, and she may even be declaring WAR....

You may all be sick of looking at the maintenance error page, but the Burnt Chibs is now avaliable!

• The Lottery has been drawn for this week. Pudgybunny is the winner of the 644,400MP Jackpot with the winning numbers of 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 9! Congratulations!
  
  
• Last Week's Raffle has now ended. mishi8 is the winner of the Red DNA and 100,000MP prize with the winning raffle ticket number 26406! Congratulations! Make sure you buy your tickets for today's raffle - only 10MP per ticket!
  

• The Lottery has been drawn for this week. catken1 is the winner of the 993,900MP Jackpot with the winning numbers of 22, 21, 18, 15, 17 and 14! Congratulations!
  
  
• Last Week's Raffle has now ended. BxXXxXXxXXxJ is the winner of the Red DNA and 100,000MP prize with the winning raffle ticket number 22545! Congratulations! Make sure you buy your tickets for today's raffle - only 10MP per ticket!
  

We'd like to apologise for the advent calendar not working today.
As some of you may have heard on the forums, our Christmas Newths who pack the calendar prizes all went on strike demanding more pay! Ian has been negotiating with them today, and after a promise of paying them in salmon rather than pilchards they have agreed to go back to work. It doesn't seem fair to let it only run for a half day today as some members would miss out, so it will be working from midnight mara-time and continue for an extra day at the end to make up for today.

Marada is looking particularly heavenly today... Maybe it's something to do with these new Angel pets!

Our elves are having a special giveaway for our younger members today... As its been harder for people with an under 13 account to participate in some of the other givaways, 20 random under 13s who our elves spot online today will win either a Christmas costume or one of the enchanted christmas plushies!

Some more stamps are now available for you to buy:


Congratulations to the following members who won a seasonal or christmas tree stamp!
lilaj378, alezma2, CanadasBabe, moka1973, maradev, gota15377, Dangelica, x0Dante, mrkite, and cyberkitty

Finally, has your club got a holiday layout? If so then tell your club leader to send an invite to our Chief Elf! (her username is "Elf" ). Ten of the most festive clubs will be getting a rare seasonal item to use as a club prize! (Please note - clubs must be active to participate in this giveaway and only ONE invite per club should be sent)

• The Lottery has been drawn for this week. snedden11 is the winner of the 1,034,500MP Jackpot with the winning numbers of 8, 12, 10, 21, 25 and 11! Congratulations!
  
  
• Last Week's Raffle has now ended. haywaysay is the winner of the Red DNA and 100,000MP prize with the winning raffle ticket number 34101! Congratulations! Make sure you buy your tickets for today's raffle - only 10MP per ticket!
  

OK, own up - who has been running around Marada shaving the pets?! This poor Fasoro and Sindi were found shivering in the woods. We hope you have central heating in your marahome if you decide to get one!

Today the elves are on the lookout for people who have a seasonal picture in their forum siggy. Perhaps a christmas or other winter festival picture, or something icy or wintery... 10 random people who have one will win a retired seasonal or christmas tree stamp! If you are under 13 and do not have access to the forums then dont worry - there will be a giveaway just for our younger members soon...

Six new stamps are now restocking...


These Enchanted Yakubi Plushies have been added to the plushie machine! We have also found the Enchanted Christmas Newth Plushie that the Newths were hiding and have forced them to add it.

Congratulations to idunnowhy, Aliyah, Dev0na, Firstborndragon, and chickflickgal who are now the lucky owners of their choice of seasonal pet!

After much persuasion (and a promise of free fish sandwiches) the Plushie Machine Newths have agreed to make Enchanted Christmas Addow Plushies much less rare for a while! This will hopefully last until Christmas, but they might end it sooner if we run out of fish sandwiches...

Our elves seem to be slightly confused today and think they're fairies as they are granting wishes! They'll be turning 5 pets on the site into any seasonal pet. If you want to be considered then write on your profile which pet you'd like them to change into what -
for example "I wish the elves would change Fluffykins into a seasonal chibs"

There will also be lots of small Christmas/snow/icy items given away by the elves all week at random to anyone they notice with something festive about their account (maybe christmas items in your gallery or shop, or a festive looking character, or using a christmas av, or a wintery siggy etc)

Meanwhile, (and despite our best efforts) the Plushie Machine Newths are refusing to have anything to do with the holidays, and have added these Enchanted Zetlian Plushies to the machine!

• The Lottery has been drawn for this week. legends92 is the winner of the 1,519,300MP Jackpot with the winning numbers of 5, 8, 15, 19, 24 and 21! Congratulations!
  
  
• Last Week's Raffle has now ended. katzman is the winner of the Red DNA and 100,000MP prize with the winning raffle ticket number 29048! Congratulations! Make sure you buy your tickets for today's raffle - only 10MP per ticket!
  

Congratulations to ronozoro, ShootingSky9, AirForceMomma, goodwrinch, whitemerlin, jessicamz95, freakysuzy, xrosebud, ObviouslyInsane, and LaurenElizabeth who won a Frozen Advent Wreath! Another giveaway will be coming soon...

Two more pets have dressed themselves up for the holidays! The Bolimo and Reese can now be costumed Seasonal.

Today the elves are on the lookout for members whose character is wearing red and/or green clothes... 10 lucky people will win a retired Frozen Advent Wreath!

Looks like certain marapets have been overindulging in the advent goodies! Fat Jessups and Leidos have been spotted in the vicinity of the advent calendar.

Congratulations to kitties555, xiangying, girlflower388, puppiespawz, drew22, Tahu1SuperMission, dannygrunder, magical_sea_faerie, Drag0nCharm, and seababy323 who all won a Seasonal Egg! Look out for the next giveaway in a day or two...

Four new stars are now restocking!

The elves here on Marapets are all getting a little overexcited, and will be giving away rare items over the next couple of weeks to random people who are showing signs of holiday cheer! We'll be warning you in advance in the news of what they're looking out for, so make sure you check...

Tomorrow (6th December) 10 Glowing Seasonal Eggs will be given away randomly to people who are online and have any christmas, snowy, or icy item in their gallery!

It's wintertime, and the temperature in Biala is even lower then normal. This Seasonal Viotto looks like he's nice and warm though...

Maybe this Poera should have thought to wear a nice warm cloak too - he seems to have turned to ice!

Is that reindeer bells I can hear in Biala? No, it's not Blitzen having a tantrum, it's this year's prizes being delivered to the Advent Calendar!

We apologise for the late start, but the advent calendar will continue until the 2nd of January to make up for it so you won't miss out :)
Don't forget to visit every day this month to pick up a special advent item, mp, or other prize. The prize changes every day and they will all retire at the end of December!

Please remember that you are only allowed one account on marapets! Anyone caught using more than one account to do the advent calendar (this includes accounts for 'brothers' that don't really play etc) will have ALL their accounts banned!

• The Lottery has been drawn for this week. originalicebaby is the winner of the 2,566,500MP Jackpot with the winning numbers of 6, 21, 9, 13, 19 and 10! Congratulations!
  
  
• Last Week's Raffle has now ended. Ashleye233 is the winner of the Red DNA and 100,000MP prize with the winning raffle ticket number 44982! Congratulations! Make sure you buy your tickets for today's raffle - only 10MP per ticket!
  

The December Account Upgrades have now been released. They are following a Christmas theme and are now avaliable at the account upgrades page. If you would like to send someone some credit as a gift, email us to arrange it before you purchase the credit. Here are some of the rewards:
There is a new Elf Costume and four pets are already avaliable in this colour!


There are also male and female Santa Character Costumes for you to dress up your character in!

A new minipet, Tinsel is also part of the december upgrades...

A new stamp, book and cd are also part of the upgrade.

There is a new December Checklist for you to complete. You can win an Xbox 360!

The September & October Prize Giveaways have now been drawn! Account Upgrade credit will be with you shortly if you won, but other prizes are not being sent out until January. The lucky winners are:
September Nintendo DS Lite
dooge
1GB Ipod Nano
ck5000
$50 Account Upgrades credit
Gwynnifer, Uniquisis, Uzmutt, karenarp, Sappi, alezma2, busybee, hunnie
$15 Account Upgrades credit
DeviousWoman, sweetpea5253, indygo, falconfan54, asheydawg, grownup, TERESAIS2TALL4U, SSFM, mistressluna, Thissle, whitenymph, grandfraggle, Spektyr, zelda0509, Gwynevere, starfire92545, Katlover4ever, wigglegirl
$5 Account Upgrades credit
KaiTheInvader, mistynana, moflowr, benben1129, _ushundas_rule_everything, dragmom302, Sinder311, UnicornLvrsRus, film, Vandalin, CHARS586, ffrankblu, NaderniuGold, nurselilp, krazykid100, Rottielover62, hazelrah, AngelRain, KevinWP, Foxy37356, TheChevysR4Life, snowflake1089, calin2175, Sidney1, thenoble1, lilysleepingsoundly, Mypets67, jofa, joyeus77, lvlistyeyes
October
2GB Remastered Ipod Nano
sirensong, mafefe727
$50 Amazon Voucher
fire_23
$20 Itunes Music Downloads Voucher
Sparkie
$50 Account Upgrades credit
DaddyRuss, indigomoss, lilmomma, Kimster13, doccat5, punkin61, justincase
$15 Account Upgrades credit
SoulCorruptor, XKIZMET, Scotchies2010, Shaggybear, ShadowNetwork, j101010, I_Like_Kidney_Beans, guildofrock, catcatboots, aquariuslady, ravegirl12345, mafenanda, hawaiian~pearl, tailmon2, kingsy313, beerski, ixney11, wildoaktree, Bandit8294, Watzuke
$5 Account Upgrades credit
brokenheartedmuse, chickibaby611, Abby033, muimui, deadgirl, paddingtonbubbles, southerngaljr61, Pandaisbored, treesaregreenandtall, jeangrey, lightening, dheriot, vicki32, inttelling, Agataaleksandra, LiquidRaver, hawaiianpattie, lovesdragonflies, Zombiegal, shroud98, Kayteebaybie, dadof4girls05, wild_child01, karenfromohio, kaoskat, AmbitiousAmbition, princessana, hubbabubblegum, Grace951, kalarulz02

If you didn't know already, Laimay is getting married next week and will therefore not be around for the next two weeks. As this is very special event for her, something that she has been saving up for months, I have released a Ball Dress Female Costume and Tuxedo Male Costume in the limited edtion account upgrade items, where a percentage of the revenue will go to Laimay for her honeymoon! If you would like to give Laimay a gift from us all, you can purchase one. There is also a new Seasonal Pearl.

The new Renat pet is now avaliable in Royal, Baby and Princess!

• The Lottery has been drawn for this week. Sn0wQu33n06 is the winner of the 992,300MP Jackpot with the winning numbers of 2, 14, 11, 13, 22 and 18! Congratulations!
  
  
• Last Week's Raffle has now ended. BeastlyHeart is the winner of the Red DNA and 100,000MP prize with the winning raffle ticket number 15163! Congratulations! Make sure you buy your tickets for today's raffle - only 10MP per ticket!
  

A brand new pet has just been discovered! The Renat can now be created! And yes, finally, its not a limited edition pet!!


Today's winner of 1,000,000MP is rikku199! Congratulations!

The Account Upgrades are back to normal now. Sorry for any inconvenience caused to you while its been unavaliable. The Pumpkin Ed minipet has been retired and replaced with 'Christmas Treasure Map 6'. You can also buy some more pieces to this new Treasure map for RP at its island shop. When completed, you will gain access to the Biala Cave where you will get pet stats and/or MP every day for free.

The Walee and the Phanty are avaliable as millionaires!

Today's winner of 1,000,000MP is tenshinoyokai! Congratulations!

Continuing the millionaire theme, the Millionaire's Lodge has opened in Jenoa. This shop sells rare items for millions of MP. New items include the Millionaire Costume and the One Thousand Dukka Coin!


Are you Rich enough to find this avatar?

Today's winner of 1,000,000MP is belilo! Congratulations!

Carrying on our party for this week, we have released a Millionaire Costume. You will soon find out how to get one. These four pets are avaliable as millionaires...


Today's winner of 1,000,000MP is steshii! Congratulations!

Can you find this Millionaire Avatar?