I think there might have been some puzzles based on that order... but digging around for that may be tough.

I actually did a puzzle based on it, but my notes are incomplete, since I was going by the Leaderboards, and there weren't many users with the higher levels. This is what I have:

Cherry (Tanga Virgin) - 0
Lemon (Tanga Initiate) - 1
Strawberry (Tanga Tenderfoot) - 2
Peach (Tanga Cadet) - 3
Orange (Super Tanga User) - 4
Apple (Tanga Hero) - 5
Banana (Tanga Star) - 6
.
.
.
Horn (Tanga Chief) - 12

In Tanga.com/blog930 on Saturday, June 30, 2007, TangaJoe announced a new Tanga point program and indicated that there would be 16 levels but the icons would be a secret until they were earned.

I've found one user at level 17 with a yellow lemon (not the gold one).

I also found a level 9 user but I can't tell what kind of fruit that is (looks more like a gold colored mint).

Level 7 has what looks like half of a gold watermelon.

I also remember that one of the levels is a Tanga Shark, and one of the fruits is a pineapple - have not found those level numbers though.

Level 13 is a key (what kind of fruit is that!?!). LOL!

[2] Yeah, there was a Watermelon in there, but I couldn't remember which level it was.

They made all of the fruit images "gold" when they preserved them as Tanga Badges.

A horn isn't a fruit either... I think they got a little more creative with the icons in the upper levels.

I even tried looking on the Internet Archive, and couldn't find anything there.

Maybe someone should ask TangaJoe?

Too bad there isn't a search option on Tanga. For this and old puzzle discussions. Those of us that are trying to do all the puzzles ever posted on Tanga would like to find the discussions related to the puzzles.

I joined after the fruit levels stopped. Why were they stopped? Interested in some of these older activities.

Found a little bit more on the Internet Archive... so together with what I have and must67 found:

Level 0 = Cherry (Tanga Virgin)
Level 1 = Lemon (Tanga Initiate)
Level 2 = Strawberry (Tanga Tenderfoot)
Level 3 = Peach (Tanga Cadet)
Level 4 = Orange (Super Tanga User)
Level 5 = Apple (Tanga Hero)
Level 6 = Banana (Tanga Star)
Level 7 = Watermelon (Tanga Shark)
Level 8 = Pineapple (Tanga Master)
Level 9 = Pumpkin (?)
Level 10 = ? (?)
Level 11 = Bell (Tanga Guru)
Level 12 = Horn (Tanga Chief)
Level 13 = Key (?)

EDIT: Just added a little more... found a lot of info on this page (takes a long time to load, but the HTML page source has all of the details):

http://web.archive.org/web/20070702192329/www.tanga.com/leaderboard

Found that scoutmom is level 17. looks like a lemon.

[6] That is the lemon from level 1. The Tanga Badges on the profile show what level the person was at when the site changed and the "fruit" levels were abandoned. Scoutmom would be at level 17 now, but she wasn't back then.

By the way, it looks like all of the original images are still in place on the Tanga web site, in the directory:

http://www.tanga.com/images/levels/

Unfortunately, you can't view the contents of the directory, but you can look at the individual files if you know what they are called, such as:

http://www.tanga.com/images/levels/strawberry.gif
http://www.tanga.com/images/levels/orange.gif
http://www.tanga.com/images/levels/banana.gif
http://www.tanga.com/images/levels/horn.gif
http://www.tanga.com/images/levels/key.gif
...etc.

Level nine appears to be a pumpkin

[7]Scoutmom's lemon fruit badge shows a level 17. It is also not gold.

[9] Yes, I updated my list in [5] as such.

[10] You're right. The lemon looks the same as the original level 1 lemon, though...

http://www.tanga.com/images/levels/lemon.gif

Maybe since there were only originally supposed to be 16 levels, level 17 "wrapped" back around to the icon for level 1?

I believe I was only a level 1 lemon when the fruit was abandoned.

Is it reasonable to assume that these "fruit levels" explain both Murdoctor's and dsmeyer's avatar?

[13] No problem! If you look at the HTML page source for that old Leaderboard, you'll see that the image icons have the names of the fruit, as well as the alternative text with the level number and name of the level.

[14] Yes. In the "Tanga fruit days", we didn't have avatars on here -- the only differentiation we had were our names and the fruit we had earned. I'd worked so hard to get to the banana level, I was sad to see it go away when the Tanga software changed... and since I had to pick an avatar on the "new" Tanga (or be relegated to the innumerable faceless), I chose to continue to use my hard-earned produce. And dsmeyer followed fruit suit.

To compound the indignity of losing the fruit, those of us that were Tanga Cadets (Level 3) when Tanga 2.0 began have our badge that looks like a baby's butt.

[16] LOL! That's the "gold" version of the original peach icon (which actually looks like oranges to me).

http://www.tanga.com/images/levels/peach.gif

Wow, I'm late to the fruit naming party.

I did some research some time back when this question came up before and found all of the levels (there was at least one that was never awarded to anyone!)

I'll see if I can find and link to that thread.

And I found it. Here's the link to a previous discussion, and the full hierarchy (including the never awarded Level 10!)

http://www.tanga.com/forum/blogs/1555-What_happened_to_the_badges_

Also see comment 18 on that list for links to some of the icons.

I miss those days...

Points Level Name
0 Level 0 Cherry "Tanga Virgin"
100 Level 1 Lemon "Tanga Initiate"
500 Level 2 Strawberry "Tanga Tenderfoot"
1000 Level 3 Peaches "Tanga Cadet"
2000 Level 4 Super Tanga User (Orange)
3000 Level 5 Apple "Tanga Hero"
4000 Level 6 Banana "Tanga Star"
6000 Level 7 Watermelon "Tanga Shark"
8000 Level 8 Pineapple "Tanga Master"
10000 Level 9 Jack-o-lantern "Tanga Sage"
15000 Level 10 Rocket "Tanga Ace"
20000 Level 11 Bell "Tanga Guru"
30000 Level 12 Horn "Tanga Chief"
40000 Level 13 Key "Tanga Titan"
50000 Level 14 Castle* "Tanga Knight"
75000 Level 15 Wizard's Hat* "Tanga Wizard"
100000 Level 16 Meeple* "Tanga Freak"

* = These three were mentioned in a post by Arnott on May 17, 2010 (http://www.tanga.com/forum/blogs/let-s-talk-about-fruit)

Here's what troyer compiles for links:

*************************************************
For a little walk down memory lane, here are some URLs I dug up some time ago:

http://tanga.com/images/levels/cherry.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/lemon.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/strawberry.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/peach.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/orange.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/apple.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/banana.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/melon.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/pineapple.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/pumpkin.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/bell.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/horn.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/key.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/meeple.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/meepleblue.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/meeplepink.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/super_tanga_user...

The meeple icons were also used by the various Tanga staff members.

Also note that there are URLs like this:
http://tanga.com/images/awards/level_1.jpg

*********************************************************

UPDATE (5/18/10)
http://tanga.com/images/levels/rocket.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/castle.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/wizard_hat.gif
http://tanga.com/images/levels/meeplegreen.gif

BRING BACK THE FRUIT!!!

[19]Great work

BRING BACK THE FRUIT!!!!!

BRING BACK THE FRUIT!!!!!!

[19] Woah... did you say "Rocket"?

http://tanga.com/images/levels/rocket.gif

Thanks for filling in that gap!

BRING BACK THE FRUIT!!!!!!!

If I may promote my own impassioned plea for the return of the fruit:

"And lo there were neither apples, nor peaches, nor any produce in all of Tanga"

Oh, and hey everybody, what's been going on?

[22] Yeah, I had been tempted back then to use the rocket as my avatar, but was too lazy, and didn't feel right about it since I hadn't reached that level (unlike you and your nice banana).

[23] Nice to see you around again Rob! Perhaps we can start tangagramming TangaMonkey once a day until our fruit is returned!

Shouldn't it be about time for someone to ask about the Picathon again?

[23] Welcome back, Rob! Does this mean I can start bugging you again about that puzzle that's been sitting in the queue forever? LOL!

Ahhh... now I see the use of having a profile picture!

[26] Very nice!

I am all for bringing back the fruit (and Picathon!), but we'll need more categories for the higher levels - maybe use salt, butter, loafer, FMHG, . . .

[28] I think the "loom" puzzle (from one of the puzzlethons) should be added to the list.

They just don't make them like that anymore (likely for good reason).

[28] Since points are earned much more readily now, they should just redefine the levels with broader ranges: 0, 500, 1000, 2500, 5000, 10000, 25000, 50000, 100000, 250000, 500000, etc... something like that.

[30] either that or change the levels to be rewards for rankings instead of total number of points since the total number of points will keep rising as time goes on

I still believe that there should be a "BigRob Award" (was that the capitalization he used, I recall it mattered...) given when you reach the points he had when they switched to the new point scheme.

Of course, I don't recall exactly what that number was now (4x,xxx).

Maybe a BTU (BigRob Tanga User?) I think this award would 'energize' all the Tanganites.

who's bigrob?

Gee, the fruit system sounds really cool. An STU badge by itself is kind of lame. I've only been here 2 months and if it wasn't for Lent, I'd have already blown past the 5,000 mark. There'd be little distinction between me and someone with 5 times my points.

Why'd they do away with the fruit?

Oh, and thanks - glad to know what the little icons are on some folks' profiles now.

[33] BigRob was a Tanga user who had so many points from purchases (before puzzles were worth as much as they are now), he was a couple of levels higher than the next highest user ever got (before the site change). He had over 20,000 points while the 2nd-place person was still under 7,000.

[36] Working on bringing back the fruit? Really? That'd be cool.

Don't toy with our emotions Arnott, we've been told this before!

http://tanga.com/forum/blogs/1579-missing_point_total_?comments_page=1#comment_186933

BRING BACK THE FRUIT!!!

[38]hey! at least he[36] didn't say soon.

BRING BACK THE FRUIT!!!!

[38] Consider the fact that Arnott started up this thread in the first place. I'm taking that as an indication that this information may be desired for the reinstatement of the fruit levels... so maybe they actually ARE "working on it"!

[40] That was my thinking as well. I wanted to see whether with some prodding Arnott could be goaded into giving out more information.

I'm happy to see anyone discuss the return of the fruit after so long.

Hmm... "Return of the Fruit", I wonder if Mark Morrison could be convinced to update his 1996 "hit" for us.

BRING BACK THE FRUIT!!!

BRING BACK THE FRUIT!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the new badge.

I see the new Beatles badge, but what happened to the fruit badges? My golden banana is gone now!

My golden fruit has also disappeared (without earning a new badge to replace it).

[46] It looks like all of the golden fruit badges have disappeared. I hope the adding of the new badge didn't somehow erase those.

BRING BACK THE FRUIT! (or at least the steenkin' golden fruit badges)

[47] I was hoping the disappearance of the fruit badges was a precurser to them unveiling the new fruit system... although if I had one of the golden fruit badges, I would have hoped to keep it as I earned my way through the new system too.

BRING BACK THE FRUIT!

I miss my gold "baby's butt"!

soon.

[50] Does that mean fruit may be forthcoming, even for those of us who joined post-fruit? Oh, let it be so!!

[51] Soon? Isn't that when Picathon is coming back? :P

[50] True... even with my suggested level-shift in [30], I'd be up to a pineapple already. However, I think it's nice to keep the "Tanga 1.0" golden fruit badges, for us old-timers.

In any case, I don't think I'll ever get rid of my banana avatar. It's become too iconic (if you'll pardon the pun).

[50] I'd like to second Murdoctor's desire to keep the golden fruit badges. I remember how long it took to get 1000 points in the old system, and would be sad to see everyone's old awards gone. They're a good reminder of Tanga's old days.

Is the fruit returning gonna be "soon" just like the picathon will be returning "soon"?

ie:

"Soon" does not imply any particular date, time, decade, century, or millennia in the past, present, and certainly not the future. "Soon" shall make no contract or warranty between Tanga and the end user. "Soon" will arrive some day, Tanga does guarantee that "soon" will be here before the end of time. Maybe. Do not make plans based on "soon" as Tanga will not be liable for any misuse, use, or even casual glancing at "soon."

"Very Soon" is guaranteed to arrive between now and the end of time with a higher chance of arriving on the "now" half of the time table. Although this means closer to now than "soon" there is no guarantee that you will live long enough to see the anything. Finally.

"Soon-ish" with regards to the release of information pertaining to anything Tanga. Current speculation believes "Soon-ish" to exist between "Soon" and "End of Time."

RSN. "Real Soon Now" describes something to be available "real soon now", but the speaker is quite skeptical. Frequently used to mean "Whenever", "Soon, possibly never" or "don't hold your freaking breath".

Hey! I just noticed that the oldtimers' fruit badges are back but they don't look golden anymore. I haven't hunted down a peach yet but maybe it doesn't look like a baby's butt anymore!

Oh, I can't wait for the changes coming... "soon"... :)

[58] Yeah!! This must have just changed, since I checked and lamented about this late last night.
And it's now a "fresh" peach instead of the "bronzed" version. The baby's butt effect is less since the leaves at the top of the peach are a different color.

[59] They look like the golden versions to me... *shrug*

Thanks to whomever for restoring the golden fruit badges!

Here's another thank you for the restoration of the golden fruit!

Thanks for the return of the golden fruit. Now let's see if we can get a new fruit badge. Maybe we don't use fruit????

Anyone else read all the way to the bottom of the May Tanga newsletter about the second coming of the fruit?

Yummmmmm, it smells like fruit! BRING BACK THE FRUIT!!!!

[64] Hmmm... I don't know that I've ever received a Tanga Newsletter. I found I have the box checked to have it e-mailed to me. When was it delivered?

Would you send the comments about the fruit my way?

I'm much looking forward to enjoying the FRUITS of Arnott (and friend's) labor.

[64] Yeah, I saw that; I also saw that it said "Coming soon..."
j15bell provided a Tanga definition for "soon" here: http://www.tanga.com/forum/blogs/what-does-one-do-with-tanga-points
But I'm eternally hopeful ;)

[65] Tanga newsletter received via e-mail on May 12. Here is the quote at the bottom of the newsletter page:

"Listen! Do you smell something?

I don't know about all the rest of you, but I think I smell something in the air. Maybe the smell of strawberries, cherries and other fruit? If you are an old Tanganite you know what I'm talking about. Coming soon..."

[66] Yeah, I too have experienced the "coming soon" Tanga definition, but hope springs eternal.

YES AWSOME!!!!! TANGA FRUIT IS BACK!!!!

How exciting to have fruit!!!! ... and a picture of a very strange looking man!!! Thanks for the fruit!!!!!

THEY BROUGHT BACK THE FRUIT!!!

Awesome!

Woo hoo! Is there a chart somewhere to tell us when we get to the various levels?

[72] I just finished spending far too much time putting one together (a few other people also worked at it here as well!)

http://www.tanga.com/forum/blogs/new-fruit?comments_page=1#comment_389806

Old fruit, old friend - oh boohoo I never befriended him whilst I had the chance. Oh, woe is me, woe is tanga, where is Arnott?

I thought there was a badge for solving 15 puzzles in 24 hours but I did and i didn't get a badge, did I make that up?

[75] You must be thinking of the puzzlethon that is coming up next weekend. It'll be a specific set of puzzles though, not just any 15. Here's the link to the thread that mentioned it:

http://www.tanga.com/forum/blogs/puzzle-event-thon-ish-next-weekend-september-9th-11th
or
http://www.tanga.com/forum/blogs/puzzle-event-thon-ish-next-weekend-september-9th-11th--2

Watch the blog or threads and Arnott will tell you how to get to it.