Poptropica is primarily the creation of Jeff Kinney, later known as the author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series.

Islands all center on a problem that the player must resolve by going through multiple obstacles, collecting and using items, talking to various characters, and completing goals.

All islands, upon completion, award "credits," which are non-negotiable currency that may be used to buy costumes and special effects in the Poptropica store.

As a result of Poptropica's utilization of varying Flash engines, a number of islands were unable to be ported immediately, and were effectively removed from the game.

[10] In 2024, Poptropica announced that they would be permanently hosted on Coolmath Games while remaining playable on Steam and mobile.

In addition to the available island quests, advertisers contract for temporary mini-games that appear on the site, sometimes targeted to players of a certain age group or gender.

Regular advertisers have included Disney, Kellogg's Froot Loops, Lego toys, and various animated movies and DVD releases.

These include Switch, Sudoku, Hoops, Sky Dive, Paint War, Star Link, Balloons, Soupwords and Pathwise.