News: Pogo pitches in to support Japan.

Pogo is doing two things to help Japan. One of them is great, the other is kinda… pointless. You’ll see. ^_^

The Great: Pogo, along with EA & The Sims, will donate up to $50,000 to the American Red Cross. It’s one of those deals where they match what you donate, which is always really neat.

You do not have to be a Pogo member to get in on this! Click on the American Red Cross link above and donate away!

Now, the second thing that they’re doing is offering free items for minis to show support for Japan. I took a look at the items and they’re t-shirts.

 Lookie me! I’m socially aware!

Aaaaaaand I totally don’t get the point of them. It’s on par with changing your Facebook avatar to a cartoon to take a stand against pedophilia. (Yes, that was a real thing that went around Facebook. Useless? Uh-huh.)

I think it would be REALLY cool if they made items that you could only get by donating. But maybe their system isn’t set up for that. *Shrugs*

What do you think of companies that match donations? Is it generous, or just clever marketing scheme? How about the “support” items? ^_^

Word Whomp – I could gopher a drink.

If you’re a fan of word games, then you should definitely try Word Whomp. It’s one of Pogo’s most popular word games!

Spell me a story!

Each round you’re faced with six innocent gophers, each helpfully holding up a letter. Click on the gopher or type the letter to “whomp” it down the gopher hole. It’ll pop back up in the background. This is how you spell words!

It’s also a good way to vent frustration, I suppose.

Now if you’ve noticed, near the top of the screen there are blank spots for words. Each word you find will fill one of those spots! (Note: Word Whomp only lists the most common English words, and does not count abbreviations or proper names.)

The word spots are arranged first by the number of letters in the word, and then alphabetically. The alphabetically part is really important! If you get stuck and can’t figure out what word is next, look at the gaps between what you’ve figured out. It’s a great clue!

Also, one of the word blanks is golden. If you find that word then you get 15 seconds added to the timer and 10 tokens added to your score!

At the end of the round you’ll get to see ALL of the words, so pay attention to whatever you missed!

Ewe…. Wee…. EWWIE!!!! :D

There are three difficulty levels, but the words don’t get any tougher. Oh no, it gets tougher in a different way. ^_^ On higher levels you have less time for each puzzle! But on the upside, the bonus for finding all of the words increases!

• Level 1 = 2 minutes 30 seconds. Last word bonus is 50 tokens.
• Level 2 = 2 minutes 15 seconds. Last word bonus is 75 tokens.
• Level 3 = 2 minutes. Last word bonus is 100 tokens.

It’s amazing what a difference those 15-30 seconds make. o_O

Your overall score also increases on harder levels, which in turn boosts how many tokens you’ll receive. Woohoo!!!

 

Tips & Tricks

Confession: I’m yoinking many of these tips from the Text Twist guide, because it’s basically the same game. *^_^* Don’t kill me!

1. Remember learning about suffixes in elementary school? They are VERY handy! Look for these combinations: -ly, -ed, -s, -es, and -y. Technically there are many more suffixes, but these are the most common ones for short words.

2. I often miss a lot of words that start with vowels. If you miss out on those too, just make a mental note to look for them.

3. Use the Mix Up button whenever you get stuck! You can click it or hit the spacebar, and all of the letters will shift around.

4. Look for compound words. For example, if you spell "peanut" you can also spell "pea" and "nut" as extra words.

5. There are no penalties for spelling a non-word! If you’re totally clueless just start stringing letters together. You might be stumble on a new word! (Today I learned that “bloc” is a word.” I had no clue!)

 

Final Rating

Word Whomp is cute, but I feel bad for the gophers. *^_^* How would you like to get whomped on the head every time someone wanted to spell a word! Tough job..

Anywho, I don’t get super-excited about word games, but I must admit that this one is well made and interesting. I rate it 4.5 stars out of 5.

What would you rate it? What level do you like to play? Better yet, do you have any tips for fellow wordsmiths?

 

Similar Games

If you like word games then you should try some of these out!

• Text Twist at IWON and Gamesville – A simplified version of Word Whomp. Perfect for gopher sympathizers!
• Seekado! at Club Bing – The ever-classic word search game, with a twist!
• Word Noodle at BugleGames – Connect letters in a HUGE puzzle grid to make as many words as you can.

Mahjong Safari – It’s a jungle out there!

I was scanning Pogo game titles, trying to figure out what to pick next. My eyes settled on Mahjong Safari and I thought, “I haven’t played a Mahjong game in ages. I’ll try it!” But as soon as the game loaded, I realized this was not an ordinary Mahjong game. No, this was something better!

Ooooooohhh!!

As with traditional Mahjong, your goal is to find matching tiles and put them together. But unlike regular Mahjong, here you have to connect matching tiles with a path. The path can have up to 2 bends in it, and it can only go through empty spaces!

Cephalopods, unite!

If you try to match pairs that are separated by too many obstacles, the line will turn grey at the point of fail.

Darnit.

Some of the tiles don’t have an exact match. These tiles show just half an animal instead of a whole one. Find the other half and put them together!

Don’t eat me!!

Whenever you match up these tiles, you’ll see an enlarged picture of the animal on your screen, and then a mini-version will shrink down and join the stack on the left.

PENGUIN!!!! *Squeals*

When you collect 10 of these special animals you’ll complete the safari and get a jackpot spin after you finish the game!

Woohoo!

It takes a few games to collect all 10. ^_^

There are three difficulty levels and oodles of patterns in Mahjong Safari. Heck, you can even pick between two different tile sets!

Click the blue & yellow buttons to switch patterns.

I love it when a game provides both challenge and variety! Read on to learn what else you can do.

 

Bonus Features

As you play, keep an eye on the Available Matches number.

Ah-hah!

This number tells you exactly how many matches you can currently make. If all you see is one match and nothing else, take a peek to see if there is only one match left. It’ll prevent a few “Doh!” moments.

Animal Combos

Most animal tiles are just a pair, but some are four of a kind! If you can match both sets one after the other, you’ll pick up an extra 30 tokens! This is called an Animal Combo, and it’s worth the extra effort to get as many as possible!

Regular Combos

Whenever you match any tiles in quick succession, you create a combo. Each match on it’s own is worth 20 points, but for each successive match a multiplier is added. It’s equal to whatever combo number you’re on. A sixth combo match is worth 6x the regular value, so it’s 120 points!

IMPORTANT THING #1: You have a limited amount of time to make the next match and have it count as a combo, so plan out a few matches before you start clicking away.

IMPORTANT THING #2: You get 1 token for every 100 score points. To get the same amount of tokens that you would with one animal combo, you’d need to make a combo that’s seventeen pairs long. Regular combos are great for boosting your score, but if you only want tokens, focus on the animal combos!

Powerups

In every game there are 4 Star blocks. Whenever you match two of them up you’ll get three powerups!

• 1 Shuffle – All of the tiles switch places.
• 1 Long line – Create a long path with multiple bends!
• 1 Hint – Highlights a valid match.

Matching the second pair of star blocks gives you one more of each powerup. Any unused powerups at the end of the game is worth 10 tokens.

Long line is useful for when you see an animal combo (four of a kind) that’s just out of reach.

This is not an example of an animal combo.

Yes, you’ll earn 10 tokens if you don’t use the bonus. But you’ll get 30 if you make an animal combo. It’s worth it!

I like to use hint when Mahjong Safari tells me that I have one available match, but I just can’t see the darn thing!

Oh! There it is!

Sometimes I feel a little silly after I realize what I missed. *^_^* Don’t tell!

I save shuffle as a last resort. If I’m out of matches and have no other bonuses left, I’ll use shuffle to mix up the board. But remember, in order to have any powerups at all, you have to match the star tiles!

Assorted Bonuses

If you finish any puzzle on any difficulty level within three minutes, you’ll get 30 tokens! (Usually I can only get that on the easy difficulty.)

And lastly, you earn more points for matches that are further apart.  I generally don’t worry about that too much when I’m playing, but it’s something to keep in mind.

 

Final Rating

Mahjong Safari isn’t what I expected, but I LOVE it! I’ve had a lot of fun staring at the board, trying to figure out how I can make an animal combo. ^_^ (No time bonus for me. Ah well!)

My one complaint is that the “special matches” are distracting. (Those are the matches where you get both halves of an animal together and the board is covered by a large picture of the animal.) The pictures are lovely and all, but the disruption makes me lose my place, and I pause long enough to lose whatever combo I was building. >_< Not a good thing.

If there was a way to turn that off I’d give this a 5 star review. But it’s annoying enough that I’ll rate this a 4 star game.

Of course, that’s just my opinion! What would you rate it? Do you have any tips to share? (Remember, the best tip of the week gets 100 points in Points4Prizes!)

 

Similar Games

If you like Mahjong Safari, you should definitely try some of these games too!

• Xian-Xiang at KadoKado – Connect & match colorful gems!
• Mah-jongg at Candystand – Traditional Mah-jongg with a tasty tile pattern! (It makes me think of candy. ^_^)
• Mahjongg Dark Dimensions at IWON – Play Mahjongg in 3d, where you twist and turn the puzzle to find matches! VERY tough game! 

Rainy Day Spider Solitaire – Galoshes galore!

Rainy Day Spider Solitaire is a Pogo card game based on Spider Solitaire. I’m sure by the name you were expecting it to be based off of Spades, or Cribbage. ^_~

The itsy bitsy spider..

If you’ve never played Spider Solitaire, well, the rules are pretty simple. You have two decks of cards (104 cards total) and the first 54 cards are dealt into 10 piles at the top. These piles are called the foundation. The remaining 50 cards form the draw pile.

Whenever you have 13 cards of the same suit in descending order, all 13 cards go poof. (Descending order is King-Queen-Jack-10 and so on. Aces are the very last cards.) To win the game you must remove ALL of the cards.

With me so far? Good. ^_^

Unlike regular Solitaire, there aren’t any piles to put Aces and everything else. So in order to get cards in the same suit AND descending order, you have to move the cards around on the foundation.

This is where it gets tricky. You can stack cards in descending order, regardless of suit. (Example: A 5 of hearts could go on top of any 6 and nothing else.) BUT you can only move cards at the end of the stack if they’re sequential AND are the same suit.

If I have a 7 of hearts with a 6 & 5 of clubs on top of it, the only cards I can move are the 6 & 5. If I really need that 7 I’ll have to move the other cards before I can reach it.

Take a look at the picture below. The neon-green boxes highlight which cards can be moved around. Everything else is stuck for right now.

 I guess that’s not too bad.

Now remember the 50 cards in the draw pile? You have to get rid of those cards too. Not just one card at a time either, oh no. Whenever you draw cards it’s 10 at a time; one card for each stack in the foundation. So now you have a new mess on top of whatever you managed to organize.

Fudge. >_<

Empty stacks are good things because it gives you a little more freedom to move things around. But you have to have something in every stack before you can draw more cards. Boo. :(

That covers the basics of Spider Solitaire. It can be a brutal game, but luckily Rainy Day Spider Solitaire includes a few options to make things a little easier for us.

 

Why Rainy Day Spider Solitaire is Unique

First off, Rainy Day Spider Solitaire has 3 different modes.

• Easy – All of the cards are the same suit. Winning is pretty simple.
• Normal – All of the cards are divided into two suits. Winning the game is tougher, but not too bad.
• Hard – The cards are divided into four suits now. Winning is a challenge.

To be honest, I stay away from hard mode. I get really anxious when there’s a lot of chaos and disorder around me.

Ack!!

Normal mode is a lot more fun in my book. ^_^ But try each mode for yourself and see what you like best.

Rainy Day Spider Solitaire also includes six extra cards, bringing the total to 110 cards. Two of the cards are “free cells.”

Ooooh!

Free cells will temporarily hold one card for you. If you get in a tight spot a free cell can help you get things untangled. The downside is that each free cell is a 1-time use only thing. Also, they’re in the deck like regular cards, so you have to wait until you’re dealt a free cell before you can use it.

In other words, don’t count on a free cell being there when you need it. Keep it strictly an emergency use thing. You’ll also get a small token bonus for any free cells left at the end!

The other four extra cards are “scratchers.”

Big money! Big money!

As you can see, each one is divided into 4 squares. Pick a square to scratch and you get whatever prize is under it. (Always tokens.)

Woohoo!

The scratchers vanish as soon as you scratch them. They’re just a nice little bonus. ^_^

Rainy Day Spider Solitaire also includes an 11th “free” column.

Bonus!

You can put whatever you want in this column, as long as it’s a legal move. (Like putting a 10 on top of a Jack. You couldn’t put an Ace on top of a 4 though.)

If you manage to win without using the free column you get a bonus. It’s 5 tokens on easy, 25 in normal, and uh… more than 25 tokens in hard mode. I didn’t win a hard game, okay? *^_^*

Also, in the bottom right corner you’ll see 5 piles that say “Draw” on them. The card on top of each pile will land on the leftmost stack. You won’t know what the other 9 cards are in each pile until you click, but it’s still nice to at least know what one card is. ^_^

Still, I think the best feature in Rainy Day Spider Solitaire is the Undo button. There is no penalty for using it!! Whenever you have multiple choices you can use the Undo button to figure out the best option. For example, let’s say you have two 6s of diamonds and one 7 of diamonds. Which six should you move? Many times moving even just one card frees you to make other moves. You can follow the trail as far as you want, then use Undo to back up ‘til you have to pick a 6 of diamonds again.

It’s wonderful, but it has limits. You can’t undo a draw or clearing a set of 13. Look carefully before you commit!

 

Tips & Tricks

Start with the highest value same-suited cards and work your way down. Not sure wha tI mean? Let’s try a normal mode game together. ^_^

 Now what?

We have a few options here, but we’ll start with the easiest things first. We’ll click on the free cell card, move the 9 of diamonds to the 10 of diamonds, and the 6 of diamonds to a 7 of diamonds.

Hmmm.

Fewer options this time. We have two 3s of clubs and only one 4 of clubs. We’ll use the Undo button to try both options and figure out which one is best.

 Wait wait! I blinked and missed it!

Sorry, I didn’t want to show every single step along the way. *^_^* If you’ll notice, right now everything is still in suited groups. If we want to get to some of the cards buried at the top (and we do), then we’ll have to make some mix-suited stacks.

 Are you sure that’s safe?

Be very careful when making mix-suit stacks! Remember that you’ll eventually have to draw more cards, and they can throw your perfectly orchestrated hand into chaos.

Looking at the top card on the draw piles, I’m going to pick the one with the 8 of diamonds on top, since we already have three 9s of diamonds.

The aftermath.

Things are a little messy, but not too bad. You can probably see several new moves. ^_^ Just keep working with the suits as best you can. Try to “clear” a stack as soon as you can. You can put anything you want in an empty stack, so long as it’s a legal move. Use empty stacks to move card groups around.

If you’d like more help with Rainy Day Spider Solitaire, check out the Badge Hunters forum or these articles on BadgeHungry!

 

Final Rating

I’m not a huge fan of Spider Solitaire games in general. But I have to admit, Rainy Day Spider Solitaire is the cutest one that I’ve played. For every complete suit (13 cards) you remove, a ray of light appears. If you win the game the sun comes out and the spider is all happy.

Awww!

Come on! That stuff is CUTE! ^_^

I like that there are 3 difficulty levels and the bonus features (free cells and the free column) are quite nice, but… I still don’t love this game. I rate it 3.5 stars out of 5.

What would you rate it? Do you have any Spider Solitaire tips to share?

 

Similar Games

If you’re looking for fun card games, give some of these a try.

• Pyramid Solitaire at iWon – Remove cards by finding pairs that add up to 13. Can you beat the pyramid?
• Treasure Hunter at Spigo – An amazing cross between Tri-Peaks solitaire and Bejeweled!
• Kenoka at Slingo – Combining Keno + Poker = Brilliant

Sweet Tooth 2 - A dentist's nightmare.

Sweet Tooth 2 is a match 3 game available at Pogo. There are two ways to play it: classic and caramel. Both are pretty fun, but they're quite different! By default you start out in caramel mode. If you want to play classic, click on the Classic Rooms tab first!

Ooh! Thanks!

Classic Mode

In classic mode you need to work through three boards to earn a jackpot spin. Switch candies around vertically or horizontally to create a line of three or more of the same type candy. It must create a match 3 or it won't work! The game will say "nuh-uh!" and switch the pieces back.

Switcharoo!

Every time you make a match of 3 candies or more, the candies fly over to Toothy and the remaining candies fill the gap.

CANDY!!!

The health bar (at the bottom) slowly drains as you play. But every time you make a match, the health bar fills up a little bit. Think of it like running up an escalator. ^_^ In order to get anywhere you have to move up faster than the escalator moves down.

In classic Sweet Tooth 2 you complete a board by getting the health bar to full! If you do this three boards in a row, you'll earn a jackpot spin. It's a progressive jackpot with a max prize of $4999, but you'll most likely win Pogo tokens.

There are three different difficulty levels in classic Sweet Tooth 2. The boards are same, but the health bar goes down a bit quicker. I've played this type of game a lot, and level 3 wasn't a problem for me. *Shrugs*


Caramel Mode

Oh no! The factory exploded and got caramel all over the floor! The only way to get it off is to match 3 pieces of candy together, and then the caramel will vanish. Oh, and this time you can switch pieces diagonally too!

Yes. Mmhmm. I see. Tell me more!

Caramel mode has 5 difficulty levels and several board shapes.

Oooohhh!

The only way to complete a level is to clear off all of the caramel!

A work in progress.

Clear the caramel off of three boards in a row to earn a jackpot spin! It's a progressive jackpot with a max value of $4,999. Again, you'll most likely get Pogo tokens. ^_^

Each match you make adds a little bit of health (time) to the health bar. If it runs out before the caramel is gone, you lose! :(


Special Pieces

Caramel mode in Sweet Tooth 2 has eight different special pieces. Whenever you make a match 5 you'll get a wild candy! This candy can be matched with anything.

Yum!

I've earned a wild several times, but I've never had a chance to use it. I always end up setting off a chain reaction and it makes a match on its own. Ah well.

Next, the five powerups!

1. The lightning bolt will remove all of one type of candy. You pick which one!

Ka-POW!!

2. The slightly radioactive chocolate chip cookie (SRC3) removes random candies across the board. It might also take out other powerups too, so save this one for last!

It's great with radioactive milk!

3. The square meal takes out all of the candies in a 3x3 area.

This many.

4. An event horizon will take out all of the candies in its row.

Woohoo!

5. Lastly, the vertical limit removes all of the candies in its column. And yes, I made up the names for all of the powerups. ^_^

You must be *this* tall to ride.

The next two special pieces appear only on levels 4 and 5 in caramel mode. Iced candies have a layer of icing around them, or so I've been told.

Extra sugar? I'm game!

To completely remove them you have to use them in two matches. Until the layer of icing is gone, you can't switch them with another piece. However, considering that they fall like regular pieces, and the first match you make with them will remove the caramel background, I don't see what the big deal is. *Shrugs*

The last special piece is also available only on levels 4 and 5. It's a chocolate coin!

Wow. That thing is creepy.

If you match three coins together you'll earn 150 points! (Each additional coin in the match adds 50 points.) Every ten points equals 1 Pogo token, so that means 15 tokens. Doesn't sound like much, but it's better than the 5 points per candy that you usually get.


Tips & Tricks

In classic mode, work from the bottom to maximize the number of chains you'll set off. You'll score more points and fill the health bar faster!

There isn't really a set method for caramel mode, as your actions will depend on what's on the board. Here are a few things to consider.

• Are there any immediately visible moves at the top? Although you probably won't set off chains, clearing the top row of caramel isn't something you want to save for last. It's much easier to move pieces down instead of up.
• What powerups do you have? I usually set them off as soon as possible. Powerups can and will clear other powerups if they're in the line of fire. Figure out the best order before you set them off!
• Don't forget that you can move pieces diagonally!

If you're a Pogo Club member and are working toward a badge, wait to finish the game. If you have one caramel piece left, make matches away from that piece to keep your health bar up and prolong the game.


Final Rating (and a tiny gripe)

The two different modes of Sweet Tooth 2 honestly make it two games in one. I prefer classic mode. Try both and see what you like!

But there is one thing that's in both modes and I really dislike it. It's Toothy the tooth. He starts freaking out before I'm even at half health, which in turn freaks ME out and I get distracted.

Think I'm exaggerating? Take a look.

Wait, what?

If you can't read that, he's telling me that I'm running out of time. And as you can see, I have more than half health left. I'm fine!

As the bar decreases he gets more dramatic and whiny. It's totally unnecessary!

There's no crying in baseball!

I rate this one 3 out of 5 stars. Yes, I dislike Toothy that much. But that's my opinion. ^_^ What would you rate it?


Similar Games

If you like Sweet Tooth 2, you might like some of these games too!

• Diamonds at Spigo - A match 3 game without a time limit. Yay!!
• Treasure Hunter at Spigo - This is a great mix of a card game and match 3 puzzles. Try it!
• Merry Poppings at Slingo - Work your way through 10 levels and 9 types of balloons! (Harder than it sounds.)

Poppit! - Popular for a reason!

Happy cactus is happy.

Poppit! is Pogo's most popular game, and for good reason! Since there's no timer you can play at your leisure. ^_^

BALLOOOOOOOOOOOOONS!!!!!!!

Your goal is to "free" all of the prizes inside the balloons. This is trickier than it sounds!

Unlike Diamonds or Merry Poppings, you don't switch balloons around to make matches. Instead you look for two (or more) balloons that are the same color AND are either in the same column or row. When you click on a match the balloons will vanish, and the balloons below will float up! No new balloons will replace them.

I see!

The prizes are stuck to the sky, so they don't move with the balloons. A prize is "free" when there isn't a balloon on it anymore.

It sounds weird, but once you click on the balloons you'll understand what I mean. ^_^

Clear all of the prizes to earn a jackpot spin. It's a progressive jackpot with a max prize of $4,999! Most likely you'll just get tokens, but that's better than nothing. ^_^


Levels

On level 1 difficulty most of the prizes are in the middle, so it's easier to complete the game. In levels 2 and 3, more prizes are near the top of the board. It's a lot harder to win on 2 and 3, but you get more tokens for your effort!

After you free the prizes, you should keep playing to clear as many balloons as possible. There's a BIG bonus if you leave 5 or less balloons on the board!

Nice!

One time (and only one time) I managed to clear the entire board, and I got a 750 token bonus!! ^_^


Super Pop

Pop 8+ balloons in one go and you'll get a Super Pop!

It's super!

In addition to looking cool, making a Super Pop also earns tokens!

• 8 balloons = 5 tokens
• 9 balloons = 10 tokens
• 10 balloons = 15 tokens
• 12+ balloons = 20 tokens
  

Powerups

A powerup looks like a star inside a balloon.

I see one!

Powerups are VERY rare and there are only two kinds. You can't tell what you'll get until it falls!

• Pin - Pops one balloon. You pick which one!
• Weight - Moves one column of balloons down one space.

Any unused powerup is worth 25 tokens, so hang on to them if you can! But if using a powerup would get you to the 5-or-less balloons bracket, then you should definitely use it. ^_^


Tips & Tricks

1. The UNDO button is incredibly useful and you can use it over and over! Since there's no penalty for using it, don't be afraid to back up if you made a mistake. ^_^

2. Work from the bottom up. Specifically you want to look for horizontal matches.

Three balloons from school are we!

If you aren't careful you'll lose horizontal matches when balloons float up. Keep an eye on them! Now, vertical matches you don't have to worry about.

Aww. They need smiley faces.

Since the balloons float up and not across, you will never lose a vertical match. Use them to match with singles, or connect other balloons for a Super Pop!

3. Remember that there is NO timer. You can leave Poppit! open and come back to it later!


Final Rating

I like Poppit!! It's a great game, and I definitely like the slower pace and the ability to undo moves. More puzzles should have an undo option! ^_^

4.5 stars out of 5!


Similar Games

If you're already a fan of Poppit!, you might like some of these games too!

• Merry Poppings at Slingo - It's a longer game with a lot of challenges!
• MegaSpheres at BugleGames - New marbles fall to the *side* instead of up!
• Collapse at iWon - You have to be fast with this one!