The Viva Piñata community are a dedicated bunch. During the game’s four years in the wild, they’ve explored every possible nook and cranny, wringing from it all the Easter Eggs we’d so carefully tucked away. They’ve decoded Piñata Vision Cards and figured out how to mature a Dragonache, but it is their willingness to help others that has always made me so proud of them. In a world of obnoxious potty-mouths who’d rather tea-bag you than exchange pleasantries, Viva Piñata: Trouble in Paradise is an island of blessed relief.

Never was this more so than with last Tuesday’s Family Game Night, a joint initiative run by Xbox.com and pinataisland.info in a bid to get reclusive gardeners collaborating online. Due to the time difference between Twycross and our transatlantic friends, it was a midnight start, but tweaked up on a well-known energy drink I plunged online, spade in hand, bidding to visit as many gardens as possible.

The first garden I arrived in couldn’t have been more fitting; it contained only Goobaas. A merry time was spent increasing his flock by a number of wildcards before leaving to another random garden, again suspiciously filled with Goobaas. Was there a lamb-based theme to the evening that I was unaware of?

That was the last sheep I’d see that evening, however. My next stop saw me visit a damsel in distress who had seen her garden ravaged by Ruffians. Cue some time spent reversing the devastation before focusing on happier things by maturing a rather pink Choclodocus.

And so I continued, roaming from garden to garden, sharing rare Piñatas here, tending plants there, and doing a great amount of romance dancing. I healed Bispottis stranded in vast deserts, placed bunny slippers on Custaceans to cheer them up, diverted trains to prevent nasty incidents with Bunnycombs, and discovered many allotments dedicated to their gardener’s favourite Piñata.

In many you could see the effect the wider community has had on individual gardens, as anti-Pester walls, jet-black Piñatas and other notable glitches (read: features) were prominent.

Too quickly the night drew to a close, but rather fittingly in a garden where I shared some pleasant conversation with two young fellows from either side of the US. Chewing the fat surrounding online etiquette, the state of the industry today, and, most importantly, the best way to attract a Rashberry.

James Thomas is a Principal Engineer at Rare and has worked on titles including Grabbed by the Ghoulies and the Viva Piñata series. He can often be found online hiding behind the pseudonym BIGsheep.