Beta Days

Animal Jam was released on July 27th, 2010, for beta testing.  Beta testing is the second testing of a game - the first being Alpha Testing, which no players attended. Curious kids made an account and played, giving AJHQ feedback and warning them about any bugs or glitches appearing in the game. Unfortunately, beta cannot come back because beta means, quoting from the Animal Jam Graphic Central, a computer or software program near completion. We do have some items and animals from beta testing though - and beta is what made the Animal Jam we have today possible.

About Beta

As you have read above, Animal Jam was released for beta on July 27th, 2010. Most things looked different during beta. Animal Jam has gone through a lot of homepage changes, and the art looked different then what we are used to now. This is the homepage of beta:

From The Animal Jam Graphic Central

 Crystal Sands was different, too. The land went through many changes over the years of Animal Jam. Here is a background of how it looked in the beta days. There were no pets, no slides, no Mt Shiveer, because there was no Mt. Shiveer in beta.

Sarepia Forest had giant mushrooms where a full path lay today. This is what Sarepia Forest looked like in beta. FUN FACT: In beta, Sarepia Forest was called Sarepia.

Jamaa Township had no Pillow Room, no Sol Arcade, or no Diamond Shop. Since there was no Kimbara Outback, the Medical Center was in place of the Pillow Room. It was smaller in beta.

From The Animal Jam Wiki

In beta, there were no memberships, so everything was for everyone. After beta, all beta testers got a free membership to Animal Jam.

As you can see, Jamaa Township looked different than today. The beta testing also had unreleased colors of items, which you can view here. The map looked different, too.

There was no Kimbara Outback, Appondale, Mt. Shiveer, Coral Canyons, or any underwater lands. There were no underwater animals, either. The layout of the map was different, too. There were no epic dens, or adventures. In those icons' places stood a big den button. There were game icons where all of the minigames were.

In Jamaa Township, there was a big drum where Jammer Central stands today. The bottom player interface stayed the same, with everything staying in it's place. There were only six animals you could choose from in beta, showing five in the picture above. The wolf is not in the picture, though. The beta day animals can still be playable, and they are a choice when creating a new account on Animal Jam. The Lost Temple Of Zios had a monkey statue in place of the Zios statue. The monkey is the same Monkey Statue that you can buy in the Beta Party, coming every year and letting you buy "beta" items.

The dens have changed widely. This den is the same den as the setting of the Beta Party, as explained in the text above. The beta dens were like a wooden mansion, and it was the only den in beta. Each had three floors, and a bridge at the entryway leading to Jamaa Township if you happened to walk through it, while our dens cannot do that feature anymore.

The Jam-A-Grams looked different, as well. I think AJHQ revived an old Jam-A-Gram by adding it in with the Jam-A-Gram stockpile update with the new Jam-A-Gram layout (I think.). Here is an example of a beta Jam-A-Gram:

Most items in beta moved onto the actual Animal Jam. The Skullies, though, didn't. They were removed because of how they looked on pandas.

The play was affecting it though. There were only two shops in beta - Jam Mart Clothing and Jam Mart Furniture. All the clothing items were piled into Jam Mart Clothing, all the den items in Jam Mart Furniture.  The items all had different item icons, you can see them here.

Wallpaper and flooring didn't just look like a sheet of paper like it looks today.

The walls and floors all looked like they had a realistic feel, all pricing at 150 Gems. Instead of a big "NEW" sign on the item, a "NEW ITEM" banner was placed where the membership banner is placed today. The Jamaa Journals had a different layout - having a caption, as well - "The Newspaper You Can Sink Your Teeth Into."

The Claw also had a very realistic feel.

That panda facing upside down looks pretty cute, don't ya say? The plushies are also mounted in a bed of sand, as well.

You can watch the beta trailer down below:

*Images from the Animal Jam Graphic Central, the Animal Jam Wiki, or Google Images.