Petz

Petz
Some of the breeds as featured in the games.
Genres	Virtual pets
Developers	PF Magic, Mindscape, Ubisoft
Publishers	PF Magic, Mindscape, Ubisoft, Virgin Interactive
Platform of origin	Microsoft Windows
First release	Dogz and Catz 1995
Latest release	Petz Beach Petz Countryside October 14, 2014

Petz (Dogz and Catz) is a series of video games dating back to 1995, in which the player can adopt, raise, care for and breed their own virtual pets. The original Petz has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide and the brand has grown to over 22 million copies since coming under Ubisoft.

The player starts at the Adoption Center, where they may choose a Dogz or Catz to adopt of a Breedz and gender of their choice. Once the player has found a Petz, they can adopt and name their new Puppyz or Kittenz. After around three days (real time) the Petz become adults. Adult Petz can then breed and have Kittenz or Puppyz of their own in Petz 3, Petz 4, and Petz 5. Cross-breeding can create different types of petz, called 'Mixed Breeds'.

There are a number of Toyz, food and water bowls, and Treatz available. Petz can learn tricks with positive rewards such as petting and Treatz, or trained not to do something using the punishment (water) spray bottle. Petz must be looked after properly; abused or neglected Petz may run away.

Players may share their Petz with others who have the game via an email. Each version allows the importing of Petz from all earlier versions. There is also a camera feature, permitting snapshots of petz to be taken and saved as .bmp files.

Other animals include Pigz and Bunnyz. Later versions of the games included a Petz Web Fun Pack, Petz Publisher and a Petz Player web browser plug-in, allowing players to publish their Petz online in playable webpages. The Petz Publisher does not work anymore, due to the fact that the website has been remodeled with the newer Petz games by Ubisoft.

Users learned how to reverse-engineer the system, and began producing additional Breedz, Toyz, playscenes, clothes, and developer tools for the games, as permitted by PF Magic, Mindscape, and Ubisoft Entertainment.

Each Petz breedz has its own body shape and colour variations.

Catz and Dogz 1 began with 5 Breedz per game. Petz 2, 3 and 4 contain 10 Breedz per game, referred to as the Original PF Magic Breedz.

Petz in the game can become attracted to one another and breed to produce offspring. This feature was introduced in Petz 3 and has also appeared in Petz 4 and Petz 5. In Petz 3 and Petz 4, a petz couple could only produce one Kittenz/Puppyz per breeding, but in Petz 5 a mother can bear up to four offspring per litter.

The user can encourage Petz to fall in love by squirting them with love potions and perfumes and giving them food with aphrodisiac-like qualities, as well as using other means. When Petz have mated, a heart will appear on the screen informing the user of the female's pregnancy (which generally lasts 3 – 5 days). In that time, females will become noticeably rounder and will require extra food and attention.