FarmVille Penguin Escapade: Everything you need to know

In anticipation of the launch of Winter Wonderland in FarmVille, Zynga has launched a feature called Penguin Escapade - try not to swoon with cuteness as we go through it! I'll have a hard enough time refraining from it myself! You'll know that this feature has rolled around to you when you receive a pop-up like the one at right, asking you to help these penguins travel to Winter Wonderland, while receiving some great prizes in the meantime.

First things first, this feature is split into stages, with three stages being available in all, the first of which asks you to "distract the ticket inspector," so a group of Emperor Penguins can board the Winter Wonderland train. This train sits on the outskirts of your farm, and by hovering over it, you'll see your progress on the current stage, along with your time remaining to complete it.

For this first stage, you'll need to ask five friends to come help you out. This is done via individual gift requests sent to friends. If you can gather the help of five friends within three days, you'll receive a free Emperor Penguin for your troubles.

On November 25, stage 2 of this feature will open up, giving you a chance to disguise some Chinstrap Penguins so that they too can get on board the train. You'll need to ask friends for six disguises and will then receive a Chinstrap Penguin as a gift here as well.

Finally, on November 28, stage 3 will launch, asking you to construct a crate that can hold some Snares Penguins, which are the last ones to board the train. You'll have 12 days to finish this particular step, as it requires you to collect 30 building materials to actually build the crate. You'll need 10 each of Planks, Nails and Saws, all of which are new items, not to be confused with building parts you may already have in your inventory. By finishing this crate, you'll finish the third and final stage of the Penguin Escapade feature, and will receive - you guessed it - a single Snares Penguin as a reward.

All told, you're looking at an event that will likely be far less time consuming than it may initially sound. If your FarmVille neighbors are as excited about this feature, and the Winter Wonderland farm itself, they'll likely help you with very little delay, allowing you to earn these three penguins just as soon as the game will allow.

Unfortunately, it doesn't look like we'll be traveling on the train with these penguins back to Winter Wonderland, but we'll make sure to let you know when the new farm launches either way.