| “ | That is why it is with enormous pleasure that as the founder of Playtime Co., I announce... Playcare! Our very own on-site orphanage. | ” |
| — Elliot Ludwig, Playcare Introduction | ||
Playcare is a major location seen in Chapter 3: Deep Sleep of Poppy Playtime.
This location was Playtime Co.'s underground on-site orphanage that housed the orphans who were tested in the Game Station. Playcare's main mascots were the Smiling Critters, a group of colorful animals with giant smiles, who were popular when the company was active. Following The Hour of Joy, Playcare became the home and territory for CatNap where he worshipped The Prototype.
Appearance[]
Playcare is an underground location in Playtime Co. accessible through Elliot's Express. When entering, it has a stairway alongside with a red carpet, little trees with red, yellow and blue flowers, red and yellow street lamps with yellow lights on them with red, blue and yellows steamers. On the stairs are some rope poles with broken toys on them, blood stains, and cardboard cutouts of Bron and Bunzo Bunny. Once entering, there is a sidewalk into a circle and on the sidewalk are cutouts of Huggy Wuggy, Mommy Long Legs and PJ Pug-a-Pillar, and a bunch of Bron themed streetlamps.
In the center of Playcare, there is a large low pillar. It is white on the bottom, leaves are overgrown around the top, a white fence is set around it with flower pots. On top are statues of the Smiling Critters holding hands, while the CatNap statue has collapsed onto the floor due to a cloud falling down on it. Around the base of the pillar are podiums with descriptions for each of the Smiling Critters and a button to hear a voice line. At the front is a map of the locations in Playcare. Inside the pillar is a backup generator that needs to be powered by the backup generators in the other locations at Playcare.
At the top of dome is a gigantic artificial skylight, the inside of the vast dome is painted a blue sky with clouds and trees, and when the lights go out, stars can be seen painted on the inside of the dome. Fake clouds hang from the ceiling, and on the grass are stones, flowers, yellow tables, blue chairs and longer trees. On the left side of the cable car, there is also a door to the Gas Production Zone. Playcare has five main locations around the area: a Counselor's Office, a Toy Store, Home Sweet Home, a School, a Playhouse and a Duck Pond. There is also a playground near the schoolhouse.
History[]
In 1976,[9] Elliot Ludwig founded Playcare, Playtime Co.'s on-site orphanage, built by Warrenbach Construction. Sometime during or after 1989, Smiling Critters statues were added to the facility along with information panels about each of the characters. When the Bigger Bodies Initiative was introduced and Ludwig was out of the picture, the orphans started being used as test subjects for the experiments, though it is unknown whether Ludwig initially had malicious intent with creating the orphanage. The Smiling Critters were used as mascots of Playcare, with Miss Delight's sisters and herself created as teachers for the School in the 1990s. Children at Playcare would undergo testing at the Game Station, and kids with particularly good scores would be marked for additional testing.
Playcare would run for many years, with some orphans being adopted by outside parents while others would be chosen for the Bigger Bodies Initiative. The aforementioned Initiative's influence was most prominent in Home Sweet Home. Behind Home Sweet Home's exterior lay hidden rooms; the scientists having utilized two-way mirrors to observe the orphans.
In 1989, a 7-year-old child who lived in Playcare, Theodore "Theo" Grambell, was reported to be repeatedly visited by The Prototype and convinced by him to rummage through Joel Sinclair's office and steal 2 GrabPacks and 2 Green Hands. Soon after, Theodore would get severely injured by one of the Green Hands while trying to open a maintenance door in Playcare with The Prototype's help. Theodore would be turned into CatNap to put the orphans to sleep every night using the Red Smoke. However, this caused horrific nightmares in some of the kids' dreams such as Marie Payne, who saw a "colorless monster".[10]
During The Hour of Joy, all of Playcare's employees were slaughtered by the toys while the children were spared and taken to The Labs.
Locations[]
| Name | Image | Accessible? | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Counselor's Office | 
|
Yes | A group of offices overlooking Playcare. Made to house the counselors for adults and children alike. |
| Toy Store | 
|
No | A decrepit old toy store; the entrance is blocked by debris. |
| Home Sweet Home | 
|
Yes | The place where all the children sleep and play. |
| School | 
|
Yes | A preserved school building inhabited by a famished and insane Miss Delight. |
| Playhouse | 
|
Yes | A circus themed maze-like area overrun with Ruined Critters. Below it are the holding cells, once containing CatNap and now containing DogDay. |
| Gas Production Zone | 
|
Yes |
Trivia[]
- In the prototype version of Chapter 2: Fly in a Web, Poppy Playtime reveals that the train is heading towards Playcare. However, in the final version, she does not tell The Player where they are going.
- The name Playcare is also mentioned in the Rejected Room on some of the signs on the shelves.
- Considering the age of Playcare, it may've been originally built for genuine moral purposes, unless the toy experiments had already been going on.
- In the game files, there's a map of the Smiling Critters homes, which was to be used but was scrapped for Playcare. In the game DogDay's house can be found as it appears in the cartoon.
Gallery[]
Poppy Playtime[]
Concept art[]
Artwork[]
Areas[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Security Camera: Rich + Avery
- ↑ RESTRICTED_relocation_08-08-1995.mp4 (sign), The Story So Far: Chapter 3
- ↑ Transcript Submission (mentioned), Experiment 1188 Bigger Bodies Proposal (mentioned), Internal Memo (mentioned), Cross-Department Report (mentioned)
- ↑ Chapter 3 Teaser Trailer, Chapter 3 Teaser Trailer 2, Chapter 3 Official Game Trailer 1, Chapter 3 Official Game Trailer 2
- ↑ Physically, mentioned in-game, Playcare Introduction (mentioned), Welcome To Playtime (mentioned), Stuart & Rich (indirectly referenced), CatNap Check-In (mentioned), Hartmann Incident (mentioned), The Hour of Joy
- ↑ Sleep Well Music Video, 12 Days of Playtime (mentioned), Character Bios (mentioned), Mommy Integration Follow-Up Report (mentioned), Train A Schedule, Tape #0111 (mentioned)
- ↑ Abridged Testing Notes (tags), 1026 Testing Notes (tags), 1160: Special Projects (tags)
- ↑ Mentioned in-game, The Doctor (mentioned), Construction Plans: The Shelf (mentioned), 1322 Report: Kevin (mentioned), Security Feed: 02.09.01 (mentioned), Secondary Lab Recordings (mentioned)
- ↑ Orientation Notebook, page 112
- ↑ Claire Harper Debrief