{{Short description|Toontown Online fan server}} {{italic title}} {{Infobox online service | title = ''Toontown Rewritten'' | name = Toontown Rewritten | logo = Toontown Rewritten logo.png | developer = Toons of the World Foundation<ref name="totw">{{Cite web|url=https://toonsoftheworld.org/|title=Toons of the World Foundation|access-date=2025-08-30}}</ref> | type = Massively multiplayer online role-playing game | launched = {{plainlist| * {{Start date|2013|10|28}} (Closed alpha) * {{Start date|2014|05|17}} (Closed beta) * {{Start date|2014|06|02}} (Semi-open beta) * {{Start date|2014|09|19}} (Open beta) * {{Start date|2017|09|01}} (Official release) }} | version = {{wikidata|property|preferred|edit|P348}} | version release date = {{wikidata|qualifier|preferred|mdy|P348|P577}}<ref name="releasenotes">{{Cite web|url=https://toontownrewritten.com/news/release-notes/|title=Release notes|website=Toontown Rewritten}}</ref> | platform = Microsoft Windows, MacOS and Linux | status = Active | pricing = Free | members = >2,000,000<ref name="members">{{Cite web|url=https://toontownrewritten.com/help/faq/about-toontown|title=About Toontown FAQ|website=Toontown Rewritten|access-date=2025-08-30}}</ref> | website = {{URL|https://toontownrewritten.com/}} | key_people = }}
'''''Toontown Rewritten''''' is a free-to-play fan recreation of the now-defunct ''Toontown Online.'' It is currently maintained by the Toons of the World Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the game's preservation. It released to the public in open beta on September 19, 2014, and officially on September 1, 2017. As of 2024, it has over 2 million registered users.<ref name="members">{{Cite web|url=https://toontownrewritten.com/help/faq/about-toontown|title=About Toontown FAQ|website=Toontown Rewritten|access-date=2025-08-30}}</ref>
== History and development == Development of ''Toontown Rewritten'' began immediately after the announcement of ''Toontown Online''{{'}}s closure in 2013.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Taylor |first=Mollie |date=2023-09-26 |title=10 years after it died, Toontown Online is more alive than ever |url=https://www.pcgamer.com/10-years-after-it-died-toontown-online-is-more-alive-than-ever/ |access-date=2025-08-30 |work=PC Gamer |language=en}}</ref> The lead developer, Joey Ziolkowski, was only 15 at the time, creating the game from his parents' home in Princess Anne, Maryland, and the team was not sure how successful they'd be,<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last=Palmeri |first=Christopher |date=2014-06-17 |title=Disney's Defunct Toontown Remade by Unsanctioned Teen |url=http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-06-17/disney-s-defunct-toontown-remade-by-unsanctioned-teen |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150129150132/http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-06-17/disney-s-defunct-toontown-remade-by-unsanctioned-teen |archive-date=2015-01-29 |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Bloomberg News}}</ref> with Ziolkowski telling ''Wired'' that at the time the team thought it would be "a fun little experiment."<ref name=":0" /> The project originally had the codename of "Toonpulse", and was meant to be a standard private server of the original game. Upon the team's realization of the outdated state of the game, the project was rebooted with a focus on "refurbishing" the game to last.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-10-28 |title=A Big Surprise All 'Fa You! |url=https://www.toontownrewritten.com/news/item/3/a-big-surprise-all-fa-you |access-date=2025-09-16 |website=Toontown Rewritten |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-01-15 |title=Daily Alpha Update: A Quick Q&A |url=https://www.toontownrewritten.com/news/item/77/daily-alpha-update-a-quick-qa |access-date=2025-09-16 |website=Toontown Rewritten |language=en}}</ref> The project was completely reverse engineered from publicly available materials,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Olivetti |first=Justin |date=2014-06-19 |title=Toontown Online 'homage' illustrates emulator quandary |url=https://www.engadget.com/2014-06-18-toontown-online-homage-illustrates-emulator-quandry.html |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Engadget |language=en-US}}</ref> and ''Toontown Rewritten'' first opened for alpha testing in October 2013.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |last=Olivetti |first=Justin |date=2017-11-05 |title=The Game Archaeologist: Disney's Toontown Online |url=https://massivelyop.com/2017/11/05/the-game-archaeologist-disneys-toontown-online/ |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Massively Overpowered |language=en-US}}</ref>
The game released open beta on September 19, 2014, and officially on September 1, 2017.<ref name=":0">{{Cite magazine |last=Chan |first=J. Clara |date=2024-12-24 |title=Disney Pulled the Plug on This Game in 2013. A Group of Teens Kept It Alive |url=https://www.wired.com/story/toontown-online-kept-alive-11-years-toontown-rewritten/ |access-date=2025-08-31 |magazine=Wired |language=en-US |issn=1059-1028}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last=Kuhnke |first=Oisin |date=2021-12-02 |title=Fan-led MMO Toontown Rewritten gets first major expansion tomorrow |url=https://www.nme.com/news/fan-led-mmo-toontown-rewritten-gets-first-major-expansion-tomorrow-3109839 |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=NME |language=en-GB}}</ref> Since its launch, the team has added new updates to ''Rewritten'' to breathe new life into an old game, such as new Toon species, new boss battles,<ref name=":5">{{Cite web |last=Ford |first=Daphne |date=2024-06-24 |title=Toontown Online Continues Living in the Modern Era of the Internet |url=https://www.trillmag.com/entertainment/toontown-online-continues-living-in-the-modern-era-of-the-internet/ |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Trill |language=en-US}}</ref> a planned map expansion,<ref name=":1" /> and plenty of quality of life updates.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |last=Fahey |first=Mike |date=2018-11-30 |title=Five Years After Disney Shut It Down, Toontown Online Gets Keybinding And Walking |url=https://kotaku.com/five-years-after-disney-shut-it-down-toontown-online-g-1830772458 |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Kotaku |language=en-US}}</ref> ''Rewritten'' received its first major expansion, "Sellbot Task Force", in December 2021. The update incorporates Sellbot Field Offices, where the Cogs take over a street's Toon HQ building. Players are tasked with making their way through the Sellbot Field Offices while at a disadvantage.<ref name=":3" /> The expansion's storyline would conclude in 2022 with an interactive story mission.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Perrault |first=Patrick |date=2022-06-01 |title=Toontown Rewritten Update The Last Laff Adds Interactive Story Mission |url=https://techraptor.net/gaming/news/toontown-rewritten-last-laff-major-update-launched |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=TechRaptor |language=en}}</ref>
In 2022, the ''Rewritten'' team unknowingly helped discover a string of fraudulent disclosure requests from an individual claiming to represent the CT-Cyber Crime Investigation, Dhaka Metropolitan Police.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Turton |first=William |date=2022-04-28 |title=It 'Felt Fishy': Kids' Game Operator Rebuffed Fake Data Request |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-28/it-felt-fishy-kids-game-operator-rebuffed-fake-data-request |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220428205225/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-28/it-felt-fishy-kids-game-operator-rebuffed-fake-data-request |archive-date=2022-04-28 |access-date=2025-08-31 |work=Bloomberg News |language=en}}</ref>
=== Legality and relationships with original developers === The team takes careful measures to avoid legal conflict with Disney – refusing to accept external donations for server costs, forgoing advertisements, and removing Disney characters from their version of the game.<ref name=":0" /> In contrast to the original, the game is completely free to play.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |last=Rodriguez |first=Nick |date=2021-06-04 |title=Disney's Toontown Is Being Preserved By Fans For Its 18th Birthday |url=https://screenrant.com/disney-toontown-preserved-fans-18th-birthday/ |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Screen Rant |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |last=Parlock |first=Joe |date=2015-06-15 |title=Toontown Rewritten brings back my first MMO |url=https://www.destructoid.com/toontown-rewritten-brings-back-my-first-mmo/ |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Destructoid |language=en-US}}</ref> The team distances themselves from the company;<ref name=":4" /> a user accessing the ''Toontown Rewritten'' website is prompted to verify that they understand the project is unaffiliated with Disney.<ref name=":2" /> In the words of the team's creative media lead, they "try not to poke the bear."<ref name=":0" /> Every time a Disney representative has been asked about the project by the press, they choose to decline commenting,<ref name=":2" /> and they have done little to stop the project.<ref name=":7" />
Jesse Schell, who played a significant role in ''Toontown Online''{{'}}s development, is fond of the project,<ref name=":2" /> saying in an article for ''Wired'' that the message behind ''Toontown'' was, "don't let the corporation grind you [down]." He goes on to add, "I look at the ''Toontown Rewritten'' crowd, and what do they do? They're violating copyrights all over the place. Why? Because the corporation tore Toontown down." Joey Ziolkowski currently works for Schell Games after impressing Schell with his work on the project.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":5" /> Another original ''Toontown Online'' developer, Ron Weaver, described the project as "a huge gift" to him for allowing him to play the game again with his children.<ref name=":0" />
== Community == A special event is held in-game annually, known as the Cartoonival, in order to celebrate the anniversary of the original game's launch. Mollie Taylor of ''PC Gamer'' writes that she was taken aback by the sheer number of people who attended the 2023 Cartoonival, saying that she had not been expecting "1700 cartoon animals slowing down my 2023 rig to a slideshow and servers buckling because of how many people were swarming to a single zone."<ref name=":1" />
In addition to the in-game Cartoonival, the real-life fan convention event ToonFest (named after Disney's own 2006 event) has been held every year from 2015 to 2025,<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=ToonFest Hub |url=https://toontownrewritten.com/toonfest |access-date=2025-08-30 |website=Toontown Rewritten}}</ref> funded by Toons of the World volunteers.<ref name=":0" /> At ToonFest: Birthday Bash in 2023, the ''Rewritten'' team held a panel with original ''Toontown'' development team members, including Jesse Schell and former Disney Online VP Mike Goslin, in order to celebrate the 20th anniversary of ''Toontown''.<ref>{{Cite press release |title=Original Development Team to Join Toontown Online 20th Anniversary Panel |date=2023-05-12 |publisher=Toontown Rewritten |url=https://toontown.notion.site/Original-Development-Team-to-Join-Toontown-Online-20th-Anniversary-Panel-69d472b88470434b85d3abb1b6062955 |access-date=2025-08-30}}</ref>
In 2020, people took to the game to host virtual Black Lives Matter protests during the COVID-19 pandemic. Initially, some players were mistakenly warned for using the phrase, but the staff quickly updated the game to allow the messages.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Beck |first=Kellen |date=2020-06-05 |title=Gamers take to 'Toontown' to stand with Black Lives Matter protesters |url=https://mashable.com/article/toontown-black-lives-matter-protests |access-date=2025-08-31 |website=Mashable |language=en}}</ref>
== Reception == The initial reveal of ''Toontown Rewritten'' was met with skepticism; while fans of the original game were excited and optimistic, many also wondered if it could really happen and how long the project could last.<ref name=":1" /> After the server's launch, some fans felt that technological aspects made it that ''Rewritten'' could not fully capture the spirit of the original game. Others said that regardless of the technological aspects, the experience would always be different because of the original playerbase having grown up, and players from different time periods having different experiences with the game.<ref>{{Citation |last=Buccitelli |first=Anthony Bak |title=Parsing (Digital) Vernacular Heritage: The Case of Toontown |date=2022-09-01 |work=Digitalization of Culture Through Technology |pages=290–302 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781003332183/chapters/10.4324/9781003332183-52 |access-date=2025-08-31 |edition=1 |place=London |publisher=Routledge |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781003332183-52 |isbn=978-1-003-33218-3|url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Reception in mainstream outlets has been primarily positive. Taylor describes feeling "a spark of joy in seeing something so dead feel so alive."<ref name=":1" /> Writing for ''Kotaku'', Mike Fahey says "it's good to see an older MMO growing and improving under fan care years after the original creators left it for dead."<ref name=":6" /> Daphne Ford of ''Trill'' refers to the server's community as "especially compelling", and says the game's updates improve on its quality, calling the revamp of Sellbot Field Offices "a refreshing twist."<ref name=":5" /> ''Screen Rant''{{'}}s Nick Rodriguez says that the ''Rewritten'' team's efforts have "allowed the game to flourish into the 2020s."<ref name=":7" /> In a 2015 ''Destructoid'' article, Joe Parlock praises the project, adding "here's hoping it survives."<ref name=":8" />
== See also == * {{annotated link|Club Penguin Rewritten|''Club Penguin Rewritten''}}
== References ==
{{reflist}}
Category:Massively multiplayer online role-playing games Category:MacOS games Category:Video games about talking animals Category:Windows games Category:Video games about robots Category:Video games developed in the United States Category:Fan games Category:Linux games Category:2017 video games Category:Disney fandom