When Adopt Me announced its 2026 Summer Camp update, I was honestly so excited. On paper, it sounded like one of the biggest events we've had in a long time. A whole new camp area, adorable pets, fishing, skydiving, new currencies, and a bunch of activities to keep everyone busy.
But after playing through the entire event... I think a lot of us ended up feeling the same way.
The update looked amazing, but the grind became exhausting.
Journey to Summer Camp (May 29 to June 19)
Before Summer Camp officially opened, we had the three-week Journey to Summer Camp event where we earned Compass Coins by helping Beaver Bob travel to camp.
Each week had a different travel theme:
🚚 Week 1: Truck Tour around Adoption Island
🚤 Week 2: Boat Tour and underwater Current Diving
✈️ Week 3: Airship Surfers
Every week also introduced a new pet and themed cosmetics, which made the event feel fresh enough to keep logging in.
The only downside? Compass Coins completely disappeared once Summer Camp started. If you forgot to spend them, they were gone forever.
Summer Camp (June 20 to July 20)
Once we reached camp, Compass Coins were replaced with Acorns.
You could earn Acorns by completing pet needs, fishing, pet needs, and activities like Skydiving, Water Balloon Fights, and finding Bones in a Bottle that wash up on the beach.
The Pets
There were honestly some really cute pets this event. The Aestus and Solaris dragons were easily some of my favorites, especially because of their paired animation.
These are all the Summer Camp Pets we got in 2026: Clubtail Dragonfly, Rainbow Trout, Tealwood Monster, Irish Setter, Stygian Owl, River Otter, Burger Bear, S'mores Raccoon, Storm Condor, Ruddy Duck, Forest Sprite, and the Oakee Pets - Oakee Wizard, Oakee Knight, Oakee.
There were definitely some great designs this update.
Fishing Was... A Lot
Fishing quickly became the biggest part of Summer Camp. The problem wasn't that fishing existed. It was that some of the most desirable pets were locked behind a pretty long grind.
For the Tealwood Monster, you first had to collect specific Karp, upgrade your fishing rod, trade the karp for expensive bait, and then finally catch it.
Rainbow Trout wasn't much easier since you had to wait for a Rainbow Karp to randomly spawn. This is actually where our Discord community came in clutch.
Whenever someone spotted a Rainbow Karp, we would ping the server so people had time to join before it disappeared. Without those callouts, I probably would've missed mine too.
The Camp Looked Beautiful
I don't think anyone can deny how pretty the map was. It felt cozy, peaceful, and really well designed. The funny thing is... some players felt like it was giving more fall camping vibes than summer vacation vibes. Lots of warm colors, trees, and cabins. It almost felt like an autumn event. Still gorgeous though.
The Biggest Problem: Too Much Repetition
This is where I think the update struggled.
Most of the event became: Fish. Complete pet needs. Do Skydiving. Repeat.
There weren't enough mini-games to break up the grind. Previous Adopt Me events usually have several different activities that make earning currency feel fun. Summer Camp mostly kept sending players back to the same few tasks over and over.
After a few weeks, it started feeling less like playing a game and more like doing chores.
There Were Also A LOT of Robux Pets
Another thing many players pointed out was how many pets required Robux.
Between Ranger Beaver, Aestus, Solaris, Burger Bear, S'mores Raccoon, and several others, it sometimes felt like the coolest pets weren't actually earnable through gameplay.
For an event that expected players to grind for weeks, seeing so many premium pets left a lot of people feeling disappointed.
How Grind Servers Helped So Much
Honestly... this event reminded me exactly why grind servers exist.
Because Acorns came from pet needs, players could leave their pets in active grind servers while they were sleeping, working, or at school and still make progress.
That's exactly what so many people in Coco Grind Club did.
Instead of spending hours glued to the fishing pond every day, everyone worked together by taking care of each other's pets. The best part is that when you complete someone else's pet need, you'll continue earning bucks from that pet's future needs too, even if you don't complete them yourself. That's what makes one big family grind server so powerful compared to grinding alone or with multiple accounts.
For an event this grind-heavy, it honestly made a huge difference.
Final Thoughts
Overall, I don't think Summer Camp was a bad update. The pets were adorable, the map looked immaculate - the theme had so much potential.
I just wish there had been more mini-games and less repetitive grinding. By the last couple of weeks, I think a lot of players were feeling burned out instead of excited.
Hopefully the next seasonal event brings back more variety because that's always been one of the things that makes Adopt Me events so much fun.
- Coco