What's soft, cute and harder to find than a non-government vending machine that accepts dollar coins?

Webkinz!

	Rebecca Droke, Post-Gazette Samantha Linder, 11, of Squirrel Hill has a collection of 25 Webkinz. She plays with them everyday for about 20 minutes. Click photo for larger image.

Those plush toy pets that come with a secret code that gives their owners entree to the Internet playground -- a kind of kiddie Vegas -- that is Webkinz World, at www.webkinz.com.

There, members can register and name their pet, answer trivia questions and play dozens of online games to earn KinzCash, which can be used to buy rooms, furnishings, food, clothing, medicine and toys for the virtual version of their plush toy pet.

"I like being able to take care of a pet online, and I like being able to play games and earn money and being able to buy food for it, kind of like its mom," says Dane Bluestone, 11, of Point Breeze.

Her Lion Webkinz has a four-room home, and her favorite way to earn KinzCash is to play Webkinz SuperModelz and Webkinz Chef Challenge.

"You get to make food for the judges and they try your foods and give you a score," Dane says. "If you win, you get points and money."

Other online virtual worlds exist, including www.clubpenguin.com, www.stardoll.com and barbiegirls.com. However, Webkinz, manufactured by Woodbridge, Ontario-based Ganz Inc., have become all the rage within the past six months, although they've been around since 2005. More than 1 million Webkinz have been registered at the Web site, and retailers can't keep the plush toys in stock.

"We've been sold out since Easter," says Jeanine Stone, assistant manager of American Greetings at The Mall at Robinson. "Ganz can't keep up with the demand."

Michael Ferraro started carrying Webkinz in his Squirrel Hill shop, A Pleasant Present, almost two years ago although they've been extremely popular only since November. He was receiving steady shipments of Webkinz until Ganz sold out.

"Parents were buying 10, 11, 12 at a time," he says. "We actually put a limit on how many people could buy."

The limit is one per style per day.

People used to call the store every day to see whether he had received a new shipment. When demand really started getting out of control, he started telling customers he would call them when a shipment came in. He has a waiting list of more than 200 people, and whenever he makes the calls, it's first come, first served.

One day last week, he made 75 phone calls to let some customers know he had received 36 Webkinz. They were gone in hours. Two weeks ago, he had eight dozen Webkinz and they were gone in one day.

"Older people are coming in to buy more than one, and they're going to secondary-market them," he says.

In stationery, gift, toy and other specialty stores, Webkinz cost about $10 to $12 and the smaller Lil'Kinz, $8 to $10. However, on Internet auction sites, an individual Webkinz plush toy can cost six, seven or eight times that amount. This week on eBay, the asking price for a collection of 102 Webkinz started at $3,999.99 plus $100 shipping and on Amazon.com, a rare, Cheeky Dog Webkinz was listed at $799.

One woman even used her American Express Platinum Card's concierge service to track down some Webkinz. She wanted Lion and Tree Frog Webkinz, but the service could find only two Tree Frogs, which she gladly took for $60, including the expedited shipping.

"The entire business is focused right now on producing and supplying more Webkinz pets to meet the demand," says Ganz Communications Manager Susan McVeigh. "We anticipated a surge in demand post-holidays, and thought we were prepared, but the enormity of the response from children simply exceeded all our expectations.

"We believe that more pets are going to start appearing soon, and availability should continue to improve through the early summer."

Samantha Linder, who has 25 Webkinz and has been collecting them for almost two years, is on Webkinz waiting lists at a couple of stores. She doesn't just collect them for herself. She has turned friends and family onto Webkinz by giving them as gifts.

"I even ended up getting my mom a Webkinz because she went on my account too much," says Samantha, 11, of Squirrel Hill.

The virtual Webkinz need a certain amount of care and feeding. Members have to play with their Webkinz every so often and earn money to provide for them or they start to look a little scruffy and sad. Samantha spends 10 to 20 minutes a day online in Webkinz World.

"I only see each Webkinz about once a month," she says. "That's enough time to keep them happy.

"Whenever you do a game or play lots of trivia, it makes them happy and they'll say something to you like. 'Congratulations on your score.' "

Youngsters can play by themselves or interact with other Webkinz members in a controlled, online setting.

"It's a safe environment on a computer, and there is some educational component to it, daily trivia they need to answer," says Samantha's mom, Carolyn Linder, 45, of Squirrel Hill. She has Elephant and Cocker Spaniel Webkinz. "It teaches some responsibility because if you don't care for the animal, it gets hungry or sick."

Webkinz received a 2007 Toy of the Year Award from the Toy Industry Association, and last year Webkinz won an iParenting Media Award and a Canadian Toy Testing Council Children's Choice Award.

"It's the only Web site where you get to talk to your pet and not just be your pet," says Brett Rogalsky, 11, of Oakmont.

His favorite way to earn KinzCash is spinning the Wheel of Wow. He also likes to buy items on sale in Webkinz World, then resell the items to get even more KinzCash.

His 8-year-old sister, Madison, has Sherbet Bunny, Tree Frog and Hippo Webkinz, and Brett has a Googles Webkinz that he's had since Easter.

"I just picked that one out," he says. "I thought it looked the coolest, and I heard they'd be hard to find."

Dane's father, James Bluestone, doesn't have a problem with the plush toys, but he worries about the amount of time Dane and her 9-year-old sister, Elyse, spend on the computer.

"It's just too much time online, probably 45 minutes to an hour, and they play each other and it's like, enough already," says Mr. Bluestone, 44, of Point Breeze.

John Fellers' daughters -- Sissy, 8 and Hannah, 9 -- also are huge Webkinz fans.

"It is interesting, as a parent, to watch one child hoard all the KinzCash she can get while the other one spends hers as quickly as she gets it, building an amazing mansion for her pet," says Mr. Fellers, 38, of Warrendale. "No discipline tactic has worked in this family as well as the threat to be grounded from Webkinz."

And he admits even he has become a Webkinz fan.

"I became hooked on the silly games after trying them out after the girls went to bed."