Playtopia – Another fantastic and FREE game site!

Playtopia is a hidden gem on the internet. Why do I call it a hidden gem? Well for one, they don’t get a lot of traffic, so not many people know about it. But ladies and gents, this site is fabulous!

There are multiple Playtopia mirror sites for different countries, but Playtopia.com is the official international site.

The company (CEGO) launched its first Playtopia site sometime in 2000, but Playtopia.com went up in 2008. It’s pretty young!

Oooooohhh!!

The games are gorgeous, there are a ton of profile options, it’s easy to connect with friends, there are weekly challenges, and the prizes are interesting!

To put it simply, I’m a fan. ^_^

 

Games

I haven’t played every game on Playtopia, but I’ve been quite impressed with what I’ve seen. A Glorious World is addictively fun (spent over 2 hours playing it last night!), and they have a lot more like it!

Click the picture to visit their game page.

I’m really excited about getting to review Heidi Hunt. It’s a HUGE hidden-object game, something that’s nearly unheard of if free-to-win gaming!

Beyond that there’s a great variety of puzzle and arcade games. Many of the games have achievements and powerups that you can only unlock by completing different tasks.

Each game also has 4 medals/trophies that you earn by reaching score goals. (Medals are completely separate from achievements.) I have all 4 medals in only one game, and that’s Picture Logic. (It’s another one of my faves. ^_^)

Each week there are two new challenges featuring different games. These challenges last only for a week and there are always token rewards for completing them!

 

Profile

To be frank, there are a ton of settings for your profile. But it’s all really easy to navigate, so don’t sweat it.

It’s me!!

You can upload whatever profile pic you want, or you can leave the default pic. What I like most is that you can see what your friends have been up to. It appears that charlies has been making a lot of new friends!

Everyone also has a guestbook, where people can leave pictures or messages for you. I think that’s pretty neat. ^_^

You can also create a photo gallery, send mail, and challenge your friends to different games!

 

Prizes

Right now Playtopia is small, and they must have ninja advertising because I just don’t see it. My guess is that they’re using funds from their global sites to help kick start this one.

Not a bad plan! But for now, there aren’t a whole lot of prizes going out. When traffic builds up I’m sure that will change, so get all of your friends to start playing! ^_~

Currently there are three Jackpots you can enter.

I’d like whatever the monkey is having.

To enter each Jackpot you have to buy the appropriate ticket with Playtopia tokens. Again, it’s really easy to navigate, so don’t stress out!

The Quick Jackpot has a progressive pot that starts at $10 and goes up to $30. The winner can be drawn at any time! Buy blue tickets to enter! (Each ticket is 500 tokens.)

The Extra Jackpot is drawn randomly between $30-$100. Buy red tickets to enter! (Each ticket is 1,000 tokens.)

Lastly, the Super Jackpot doesn’t have a pot limit! Right now (2/18/2011) the pot is over $9,000!! o_O To enter be sure you buy the green tickets! (Each ticket is 2,000 tokens.)

Playtopia also has something pretty unique about their jackpots, and that’s the fact that you can set up automatic ticket purchases! You pick the percentage of tokens you want to use, and it’ll buy the tickets right before the jackpot is drawn! This is a fantastic way to make sure you never miss out a jackpot drawing!

Yeah, you still might not win, but it’s definitely better than forgetting to enter and missing all of the drawings!

 

VIP

Right now Playtopia is completely free to play, but this may change in the future. On the mirror sites VIP is a paid membership option. For the moment we’re all VIPs at Playtopia! ^_^ Once the customer base grows, don’t be surprised to see things change!

I know we all want to play everything for free, and it might be tough to adjust to. But there’s something very important that I’ve learned from observing different free-to-win sites.

In general, sites that have paid membership options give out more prizes. They can afford it! So really, it’s beneficial to everyone. 

 

Final Opinion

Can you tell that I like Playtopia? ^_^ They’re a great site, and if you haven’t tried them yet, give it a shot! You won’t lose anything by trying and you just might find a new favorite game or two!

Club Bing – Search for the answers.

Club Bing has an interesting little history. It was created in 2007, and was originally called “Live Search Club.” Why? Well, it was designed to promote the Windows search engine, Live Search. In 2009 Windows renamed their search engine to “Bing,” and the “Live Search Club” became what we now know as Club Bing!

I love the play on words. ^_^ I wonder how many people go to http://www.clubbing.com and expect to find info on clubs!

Anywho, Club Bing is one of those rare sites where you play games to earn prizes instead of to win them. Here’s a little info on the site!

 

Layout

I dearly love a clean layout, but the Club Bing layout verges on boring. *^_^*

Zzzzz……

On the upside it’s very easy to find your way around the place! But on the downside, I never feel any excitement when I look at the site.

 

Games

Club Bing features only word and trivia games, and all of them tie into the Bing search engine.

It’s bananas!!!

I’m pretty bad at trivia, so I really don’t mind the search engine at the bottom. Although sometimes I get frustrated and open up Google instead. *^_^*

You earn tickets by playing different games, but you’re limited to 1000 tickets a day. ALSO, you’re limited to one account per person, so don’t make another account to get around the rule! It’s fraud and you’ll get in big trouble. :P

 

Prizes

I must admit, Club Bing has an excellent variety of prizes!

Whoa!

The really good prizes take a lot of tickets, of course. But it’s all free! ^_^

They also have something that I haven’t seen on another free-to-earn site, and that’s the option to donate your tickets to charity or a school. I kinda love the idea because it gives people a way to help others even if they don’t have any cash to spare. <3

 

VIP

Club Bing doesn’t have a paid membership option, but they do have a VIP status. VIPs get discounts on a few prizes and access to VIP-only prizes.

Is that… a chicken as a bouncer?!

Becoming a VIP is really easy! You just need to do two things.

1. Download the Bing toolbar. (Only works on Internet Explorer version 7 or higher.)
2. Make Bing your default search engine. (Again, has to be Internet Explorer.)

If you use multiple browsers just remember to switch back to IE before you go to cash in any tickets.

 

Final Opinion

Club Bing isn’t a bad site, it’s just one that doesn’t interest me very much. It’s probably AWESOME for wordsmiths and trivia buffs. ^_^

Have you tried it? What’s your opinion?

GSN Oodles – Oodle your noodle!

GSN Oodles is a daughter site of GSN.com. If you’ve never heard of GSN, just know that it’s the Game Show Network on cable tv. ^_^

I usually love to post founding dates and traffic details, but uh.. I couldn’t find that out! GSN.com on its own gets over 2 million hits a month, but I have no idea how much of that is from regular visitors or from people playing for Oodles.

Missing stats aside, GSN Oodles has a lot to offer! As you probably guessed, “Oodles” are the virtual currency here. You earn Oodles by playing games and answering trivia. In turn you can use those Oodles for lots of things!

 

Layout

I like the layout, but I must confess that I get lost. A lot. *^_^*

Ooooooooooooooooodles!

For some reason account settings and profile settings are in completely different locations, and I’m really not sure why. Now I usually stick to a few games and I don’t bother investigating the rest.

What? I really don’t like getting lost! :P

 

Games

There are a few games where you directly win Oodles, but you’re limited to how many times you can play them each day. To win Oodles in other games, you have to score high enough to land on the leaderboards. They have daily, weekly, and monthly high scores lists, and you’ll win Oodles based on your rank!

• Daily – 75 ranks
• Weekly – 150 ranks
• Monthly – 300 ranks

I suggest playing the direct-win games (like Double Trouble) each day, and play the leaderboard games for fun. Less stress that way. ^_^

IMPORTANT: Many games on GSN Oodles offer a choice to play for Oodles or cash. The cash option is run by WorldWinner, and that part isn’t free!

 

Prizes Prizes Prizes!

I have to admit that I’m pretty impressed with how many options GSN Oodles offers its players. Take a look at the prize center!

Only three things? That’s not very impressive.

Oh no, they offer WAY more than three items! Those are just some of the prize categories! At GSN Oodles you can get prizes in several ways.

1. Spend Oodles to buy sweepstakes entries.
2. Spend Oodles to buy an entry ticket for a specific prize & game. If you’re the top player when the time is up, you get the prize!
3. Use Oodles to buy an entry ticket for an auction. From there you place one bid on the item. (You’re bidding with Oodles, not cash!) If you’re the highest bidder when the time is up, you get the prize!
4. Purchase prizes with Oodles!

The straight-out purchase option is usually more expensive than the other methods, but at least you’re guaranteed to get a prize!

Oh! The auction method works just like regular auctions. If you aren’t the highest bidder then you’ll keep your Oodles.

There’s a HUGE variety in prizes. In the “Buy it Now” category there are books, dvds, games, magazine subscriptions, and a lot more. (I saw a whoopee cushion!) Sweepstakes are generally gift cards or cash. And right now in the auction there’s a 46 inch LCD tv!

I play sporadically, and I still have a neat little pile of Oodles that’s slowly growing. I think I might use them to buy a board game. ^_^

 

Profile

Before I delve into profile settings, I’d like to remind you that GSN Oodles is one of those sites where you’re only allowed to have one account. If you don’t understand why they do that, take a few minutes to read this.

When you sign up you’ll see a link your account settings near the top of the page. This is just the bare-bones information that they need to verify who you are! You may want to take a moment and adjust your email alerts. I was getting email from them everyday until I realized I could turn it off. *^_^* Whoops!

To access your profile you have to click “Community.” From there you can select a small avatar, pick your favorite games, and share a little bit about yourself!

While you’re investigating the Community section, check out their forum! It’s pretty active, and you might find some new friends!

 

Connections

You can find GSN Oodles on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube! They are the most active game site on Twitter that I’ve seen. They occasionally hold trivia contests on Twitter, and yes, you can win Oodles from it!!

 

Final Opinion

I like GSN Oodles, but I wish they were more selective about the ads on their site. Frequently I get those super-annoying “YOU’RE A WINNER” ads that flash incredibly bright colors. >_< It’s hard to play games when that’s right by the board!

Still, there’s a decent variety of games and the prizes are simply amazing. It’s definitely worth taking a few minutes each day to swing by and grab a few Oodles. Try it out and let me know what you think!

KadoKado - Brought to you by the letter, "K."

KadoKado is an amazing, AWESOME international game site. Created by Motion Twin in 2003, KadoKado was originally written in French! They're still in the process of translating everything, so don't be surprised if you catch a random bit of French here and there.

Oh! And there are zero ads on KadoKado! Each day you'll get four green gems. (Gems act like game tokens.) Green gems are good for one day only and any leftovers will vanish. If you want to play more then you can buy orange gems! Orange gems never expire and you can buy them with Kado points, Paypal, or by phone.

You're limited to one account at KadoKado. If you don't understand why they limit you to one account, check out this post. ^_^


Layout

The layout at KadoKado looks great! However, navigating it isn't 100% intuitive. I suggest exploring so you can figure out how everything is connected. There aren't a ton of pages, so once you understand how to reach your destination, it's easy to find it again. ^_^


Games

KadoKado has an extensive library of 70 games. They're divided into two categories: action (39 games) and puzzle (31 games.) A third category, favorites, lets you add your favorite games so they're all in one spot. Very handy!

These are a few of my favorite things..

I prefer puzzles over action, but all are well made.

18 of the games are free, but the rest you'll need to unlock with Kado points or by earning VIP status. Games cost anywhere from 20 Kado points to 10,000!!! (Most are 20.)


Kado Points

You probably figured out that Kado points are the currency in KadoKado. ^_^ There are four ways to earn them.

1. Games
2. Stars
3. Rankings
4. Clans

Each of these parts is a little tricky to explain, so stick with me.

1. Games. Every time you play a game on KadoKado, you're issued a challenge. (They call it a contract, but I think that sounds scary.)

I <3 Cooking Lili!

In the picture above, I need to score 24,000+ points to earn 4 Kado Points. The score you need to beat AND the reward is random.

I really, really <3 Cooking Lili!

This time I need to score 18,000 or higher and I'll earn 42 Kado points! Fascinating!

2. Stars are like trophies. You can win one per game per "Kalendar period," which is 14 days. A green star is worth 10 Kado points. Orange stars are 50 Kado points, and red stars are 100 Kado points.

Once you gain a star, the only way to lose it is by reaching the next star level. So if you have a red star, you're at the top.

At the end of the Kalendar period, KadoKado shuts down for a few hours and the stars are converted into Kado points.


3. It took me a while to understand rankings. Now that I get it I think it's awesome. ^_^

On each game you start out as a Newbie. If you're in the top 3,000 players for that game by the time the Kalendar period ends, you'll go up in rank and earn 100 Kado points. To reach the next rank you need to be in the top 2,000 players.

Impressive!

Here's where I got confused. *^_^* I thought there was one high scores list and the range of qualified players just got smaller and smaller.

Nope! There are a total of nine high score lists for each game! In the first rank you're competing against other Newbies. In the second rank you're competing against only Confirmeds, and so on. And if you're awesome enough to be the top player in Gold ranking, then you enter the Paradise rank, where only the best of the best go.

Since the score needed for the next rank is determined by a range of players, the score you need to beat constantly changes. As the Kalendar period progresses, more people will have higher scores, so keep an eye on your rankings! If it says "OK" then you'll go up in rank at the end of the period.

You have a lot of work to do, missy!

Of course, the challenge isn't over once you reach Paradise level! At the end of the Kalendar period, the best player in each game get a feather. The person with the most feathers gets 100,000 Kado points!


4. Clans are something I haven't tried yet, but they seem fun. ^_^ You can fight other clans or work on group missions. Fighting is done through the games! One clan attacks and picks a game. Whichever clan has the highest score at the end of 12 hours is declared the winner!

At the end of the Championship period (28 days) the top 500 clans get Kado points. The number one clan gets 600,000 Kado points split between their players!


Prizes

At KadoKado you earn prizes with Kado points. The prizes are Amazon gift certificates!

• $6.50 = 30,000 points
• $20 = 80,000 points
• $65 = 250,000 points

And uh.. that covers it. ^_^

VIP

When you buy orange gems for the first time you automatically hit VIP level one. There are a total of three VIP levels, but to reach levels 2 and 3 you have to fill a loyalty card.

Almost there!

You get one stamp for every 30 orange gems that you buy, so you need 300 orange gems to reach level 2. Once you're there you'll get a second loyalty card to complete.

Pretty blue!

This time every 60 orange gems that you buy equals one stamp. This means you need 600 orange gems to reach level 3! But what do you get for being a VIP anyway?

• Level 1: Double Kado points for completed challenges, VIP stats page, stats for previous periods, and a new banner at the top of the page.
• Level 2: All of the bonuses from level 1, five daily green gems instead of 4, access to a VIP 2 game, previews of new games, and a new banner at the top.
• Level 3: All of the bonuses from levels 1 and 2, access to a VIP 3 game, and a new banner at the top.

I usually play free whenever I can, but I uh, convinced myself that a one-time purchase made sense. ^_^ Here's why.

1. You don't get sucked into a recurring monthly fee.
2. Orange gems never expire, so you can play (or wander off) whenever you want.
3. Once you earn a VIP level, the perks never go away.
4. Double Kado points forever? Why yes, thank you!

Additionally, the orange gem system is budget friendly. If you don't have much time to play, a purchase of 120 gems might last you a long time. (120 gems is roughly $6, depending on the exchange rate. That's 5 cents a play!)

If money is really tight, you can trade in 30,000 Kado points for 100 orange gems. That works too. ^_^


Community

KadoKado doesn't have a chat system, but they do have a great forum! For 500 Kado points you can get a Forum Pass so you can make posts. If you're lucky you can get that many points in a week or two of free play.

The forum is very active and there are threads dedicated to each game on the site! I wish I had more spare time because it looks like a fun place. ^_^

The Motion Twin facebook page is partially in French, but they have an English Twitter account, @MotionTwin_en. I found one user-made KadoKado facebook page which is also in French. Who wants to make an English page? Any volunteers?

Ah well. You can share your love of KadoKado by telling your friends! Each player gets a sponsor link. Whenever someone you sponsor buys orange gems, you get gems too! It's 20% of however many they bought. So if someone purchased 120 orange gems, that means you'd get 24 orange gems for free. Not bad at all!


Final Opinion

I absolutely love KadoKado! The games are fun, cute, and quick. ^_^ There are no ads to slow me down, and I love that I can pay for what I'll use instead of getting a monthly contract.

Every day I swing by for my green gems. But most of the time I end up playing a lot longer. *^_^* It's a great site! If you want to friend me my account name is MiraHope. Tell me what your name is so I can add you too!

Any questions?

FreeSlots - True Greats don't need to be fancy.

FreeSlots is run by SimSlots, Inc, and they've been in business since 1999! The site features 14 slot machines and a video poker machine.

And uh... that's all. ^_^ No customizable profile, no avatar, no chat, no Twitter, no Facebook page, nada. Just slots and monthly prizes!


Games

If you like slots, you will LOVE FreeSlots! The slots take up most of the screen which means they're easy to see! They have a few 3-reel games, but most are 5-reel. I haven't tried them all yet, but so far every one has a bonus game. I love bonus games. ^_^

Running out of credits is never a problem. You start with 100 credits, which you can use with any game. If you run out just click "Add more credits" and you'll get 75 credits! (Link only appears if you have 9 or fewer credits.)


Prizes

The banner says it all. Each month there are ten winners from the USA! With five $500 prizes and ten $250 prizes, this means that FreeSlots gives away $5,000 each month!

There are no paid membership options. The only ad you'll see is a small banner above the slot machines. But with an average of 700,000 visitors each month, FreeSlots gets more traffic than Gamesville and Slingo combined. That one banner is more than enough!

Are you surprised? I'm still surprised. o_O


How to Enter

As you play the games you'll earn credits. Every 100 credits counts as one entry. Each day you can submit up to 10 entries. No more!

Every person is limited to 10 entries per day. This means you can have (at most) 280 to 310 entries for each sweeps, depending on the month.

I like limited-entry sweeps. It evens the playing field. ^_^


Making an Account

When you get to 150 credits (or more) you can hit "Cash/Credit." Then you'll see this:

Not exactly rocket surgery.

You're a new user, right? Okay, click on the "Create a new account" button. The grey window will expand and ask for more info.

My personal details? No!!!

Relax. ^_^ This is all standard info asked by just about every free to win site.

IMPORTANT: They will send you an email if you win. Be sure that it's an email account you check often!

If you're worried about spam you can always create an email address specifically for gaming sites. But I've been playing FreeSlots for about two months now, and I haven't had any spam.

From here on out you'll use your email and password to send credits to the server. Whenever you make a deposit it will tell you your total balance and how many entries you have in the sweeps. Simple, and handy!

Oooohhhh!

I like to keep a few thousand "extra" credits in the bank. On days when I don't have much time I just have to reach 150 credits to access my account, then I can enter the banked credits in sweeps. Reaching 150 credits in a day is much easier than reaching 1,000!

Until you deposit the credits in your account, they're stored on your computer in a cookie. If your browser is set to clear cookies automatically then you'll want to deposit credits before you exit the site.

If the only cookie you're familiar with is chocolate chip, just deposit your credits when you're done playing. ^_^


Final Opinion

When I first saw FreeSlots I thought it was a scam. Seriously! I didn't think it was possible for such a plain site to be legit. *^_^* But when I tracked down a winner* I had to admit that it's a safe site and not a scam.

Now I play FreeSlots several times a day! I love that I can pop in and out whenever I want. No commercials to wade through, no chats, just slots.

I can deal with that. ^_^


*They list the winners by first name, first initial of last name, then city and state. It took some digging but yeah, I contacted a winner. Who's got the skillz? Me!! ^_~

Slingo - First in Fun!

Slingo!!

Slingo was the first free-to-play site with prizes that I joined. As such, I'll admit that I have a soft spot for it. *^_^* It's changed a lot over the years, but they're still a fun site!


Games

Slingo games aren't fancy. That isn't a big deal to me, because I view graphics like icing on a cake. If the cake is bad, no amount of icing is going to make it taste better. If the cake is melt-in-your-mouth delicious then it doesn't even need icing.

Games like Kenoka and Slingo Classic are melt-in-your-mouth delicious. ^_^ They're original and addictive!


Slingo Coins & Prizes

When you play Slingo games you earn Slingo coins. These coins are used to buy sweepstakes tickets! 5,000 coins will buy one ticket. Compared to other sites that may sound high, but Slingo gives away more coins in their games too. It balances out. ^_^

Slingo has four kinds of sweeps. A monthly sweeps for $1,000 (3 winners). A weekly sweeps for $200. A daily sweeps for $50 (2 winners). And a second weekly sweeps for Slingo merchandise (2 winners)!

Ready for math? This means that Slingo awards about $6,800 in cash prizes every month! Considering that this site is completely free to play and there are no membership options, that's excellent!

Another thing that Slingo does (which I love!) is limit the number of tickets any one person can buy for sweeps. You can enter up to 1,000 tickets in any one sweeps. This evens the playing field, which is a good thing. I've lost track of the times I've heard someone accuse a site of being rigged because they didn't win a prize, despite entering hundreds of thousands of tickets.

*Steps on soapbox*

Something you always need to remember is that even if you have 99% of the tickets, you're not guaranteed to win! The odds are in your favor, yes. But unless you have 100% of the tickets (which is impossible) there's always a chance that someone else will win.

*Steps off soapbox*

Limiting the tickets also gives new players a better chance at winning, since they won't have billions of coins stockpiled. And yes, it's possible to have billions of coins. In fact, the max amount any player can have is 99,999,999,999,999 coins!


Layout

The main page is colorful and easy on the eyes. But (and this may be the pot calling the kettle black), there's too much text.

Whoa..

I feel like I'm looking at a newspaper instead of a game site. Not good. :( You can minimize the link sections on the left. But as soon as you move to another page they open up again. And frankly, there are a lot of redundant links in that side bar.


Social Connections

The Slingo Joker is the mascot for Slingo, and he has a Facebook page and a Twitter account!


Community & Events

Slingo is the only game site I've found with their own forum. It's not terribly active, but people DO read it and leave comments. Every game has chat too, so you can talk with fellow Slingo addicts. ^_^

Also, twenty-five Slingo games have tournaments! A new round starts every 30 minutes, and it only costs 5,000 coins to enter. For each person in the tournament the pot goes up 10,000 coins! If you win, your rank will also increase by 2 points.

What is rank? Essentially it's a way for players to see how active someone is on Slingo. You earn rank points by playing games, making friends, joining tournaments, and much more! I'm a lowly level 15. Can you beat me? ^_^ (For a complete list of the ranks and how to earn points, go here.)

Another cool event is Happy Hour. Actually, there are four Happy Hours each day! During any Happy Hour, all games have double payouts! Go here to find out when the next Happy Hour starts.

That's not all! Slingo also has Weekly and Monthly featured games. Whoever plays the featured game the most will win a LOT of Slingo coins! (5 million coins for monthly. 1 million coins for weekly.)


Final Opinion

Layout issues aside, there's a LOT to do on Slingo! I hope to see it around for many years to come! And if you want to friend me I'm MiraHopes2Win at Slingo. All friend requests accepted! ^_^

Spigo - Fantastic site!

If you haven't heard of Spigo, well.. don't feel too bad. I hadn't either. *^_^* Now I know that Spigo is an international company with numerous sites worldwide! The North American site has only been open since 2007, so it's still pretty small. (Average of 750 visits per day.)

I have to admit, I'm pretty darn impressed with Spigo. It's polished, the games are great, the admins are helpful, and there are almost no ads!


Games

Spigo currently hosts 35 games and 5 scratchcards. Games are both single and multiplayer, and all include chat. The games are smooth and express an astonishing creativity! For example, I hopped into Mahjong today and counted 994 different layouts! O_O

Hands down, the biggest advantage to playing games at Spigo is that there are no ads before a game loads, and no ad interruptions during game play.

I'll give you a moment to let that sink in. ^_^

Spigo gets most of their money from Gold membership, so there is very little advertising on the site. If you're a free player (like me) you'll find it quite refreshing!


Spigos

Spigos are the currency in Spigo. You earn them by playing games OR by buying them! $9 for 100,000 Spigos, or $25 for 400,000 Spigos.

I was surprised to see that people could buy Spigos, but after I thought about it I realized it wasn't a huge deal. They're basically buying lottery tickets, whereas I'm getting my tickets for free. See, the only thing you can really buy with Spigos are tickets for the Super Jackpot. (100 Spigos = 1 ticket.) The Super Jackpot is shared across ALL of the sites, so it gets pretty big. Right now it's nearly $45,000!

They *do* have a merchandise store where you can spend Spigos, but you need to be a Gold member to buy anything. Sadly, the postage (which you pay for) makes it a little ridiculous. I understand that they're shipping from the UK, but I wanted an inexpensive mousepad, dangit! *^_^*


Cash Prizes

The Super Jackpot is their main attraction, and it IS an impressive prize. The downside is that this is a global jackpot, so you have more competition than you may realize.

However! In the North American site, fifteen games have progressive jackpots with a max pot of $200! Additionally, there are daily scratchcards with cash prizes ranging from $20-$200!

I love scratchcards more than anything else, so this makes me very, very happy. ^_^

Membership

Every new account starts out with 5 days of Gold membership. I think that's absolutely genius! One reason I'm content with playing for free on many sites is because I don't know what I'm missing. *^_^* Starting every player out with a few days of Gold is brilliant!

Of course, you can play Spigo for free after the Gold days expire. But if you want to go back to Gold, here's what you'll get:

• Oodles of profile benefits! Including: Ability to open presents, look at photo albums, view profile pics, open mail, see profile visitors, and read visitors' comments.
• Access to Spigo shop.
• First in line in customer service.
• Undo and redo option in some games. Auto-spin for slots!
• Can change background music in games.
• Play games in full screen!
• Access to Gold-only games.
• Chat customization! You can change the background in chat, use spellcheck, change the layout, chat in a separate window, and draw in chat.
• No ads.

Nothing is crucial, it's all just icing on a lovely cake. ^_^

You can buy Gold days in increments of 10, 30, 60, 90, 180, and 360 days. As with most sites, longer plans are cheaper per day than the shorter plans. (50 cents a day on the 10 day plan versus 17 cents a day on the 360 day plan.)

If you REALLY get into Spigo, you may want to purchase some profile highlights. It's $3 for 2,500 highlights, or $6 for 10,000 highlights!

What does this do? Well, every time you log into Spigo you'll see a line of profiles near the middle of the page. These are people who paid for profile highlights. It's just an extra way to connect with people you might not ordinarily meet!


Profiles

There is a whooooooole lot that you can do with profiles! You can fill out questionnaires that range from silly to serious. You can make a diary to keep people up to date. You can make photo albums. You can even add recipes!

AND the "basic" profile description page has tons of features. You can add backgrounds, pictures, videos, music, just about anything!

The one downside (in my opinion) is that your profile picture has to be a portrait. That is, it has to be a real photo of you. All pictures are approved one at a time before they're put on the site!

I don't put my photos online, so that means I'm blank. :( Ah well.

Community

Spigo is the first site I've reviewed that has chat admins. There usually is at least one on at any time, which is nice. ^_^ They're all volunteers, but so far every one I've talked to has been extremely helpful and knowledgeable!

People all over have been very friendly. When I first joined and said that I was new, I think I got about 5 friend requests right then and there! That's always fun. ^_^

If you like socializing, there are daily tournaments, teams, and clubs to join too! I debated on making a Free2WinGames club, but nah. Maybe later!

Spigo also hosts several events during the week, where they often give away Spigos, Gold days, and merchandise! Hopefully I'll remember to attend some of those. *Knocks on wood*

Twitter users can follow Spigo here, and Facebook fans should head here. Right now neither page is very active, but that may change!


Layout

The site is laid out beautifully, but it's not 100% intuitive. I've been exploring Spigo for several days now and I *still* get lost! (For example, today I spent 30 minutes trying to re-find a banner making page. It was under the "Earn Spigos" section, even though you don't earn anything for having a banner!)

If all you want to do is play games then you don't need to worry. ^_^ But if you start digging into the numerous features on Spigo, expect to get a little lost once in a while.

Final Opinion

The more time I spend on Spigo, the more impressed I am! Spigo definitely has a stronger social aspect than most sites. Yet I can't say that the games are secondary, because they're all really good too!

I wish they had more prizes available, but I understand that the North American site is still small. They just don't have the same resources as larger sites. Hopefully they will continue to grow in popularity!

I've added Spigo to my list of daily sites because of the scratchcards. ^_^ But I know I'll stick around for the games too. They're addictive!

Bugle Games - Where Bingo is #1!

BingoBingoBingo!!!

BugleGames is small gaming company run by BingoBugle. (Say that five times fast!) I'm new to the Bingo world, but it seems that BingoBugle publishes a completely Bingo centered newsletter and even hosts a Bingo cruise!

Of course, BugleGames features more than just Bingo! They have several games, both single and multiplayer. There are no paid membership options, so everyone is on the same level!
 

Layout

I love simple layouts. Give me something organized where I don't spend 5 minutes trying to find the sweepstakes, and I'm pretty happy. ^_^

Here, everything is clear and easy to find! At the moment the forum link isn't working, but hopefully that will be fixed soon. (It will take you to the BugleGames facebook page when it's fixed.)

The one thing that bugs me is the banner. It's constantly flickering and that really bothers my eyes. =( I usually scroll down so I can't see it.


Community

Another benefit of a smaller site is that the community is very close. Whenever I pop in to Bingo everyone is friendly and welcoming. ^_^ It's a lot of fun!

BugleGames is also incredibly active on Twitter, which I love! I strongly suggest following them so you don't miss out on the Special Pots announcements!


Tokens & Prizes

As you play games you'll (hopefully) earn oodles of tokens. ^_^ You use tokens to buy tickets for sweepstakes!

Each month they have 4 sweeps for $25 Amazon.com certificates. One ticket costs 1,000 tokens, and the sweeps are up for a full month. One thing I like is that when you go to enter, you can see how many total entries are in the sweeps. ^_^ This feature highlights one of the MAJOR benefits of playing on a small site.

There aren't many entries.

On large sites you can expect millions (literally) of entries for any sweeps. In comparison, the average number of entries for a BugleGames sweeps is 50,000!

As always, remember that even though the odds are more in your favor here, you're not guaranteed a win! But it's still fun to try. ^_^
 

Final Opinion

I like BugleGames! It's not a top-of-the-line site, but it feels... cozy. *^_^*

I'm sitting here with a big grin on my face, and whenever I think of BugleGames I just feel happy. *Sheepish grin* That sounds extraordinarily corny, but it's true! The players are wonderful, and that makes a HUGE difference.

A good site is more than tons of games and oodles of money. The people in it can really make or break a site. And on BugleGames, they make it. They really do. ^_^

Candystand - The Sweetest Games Online

Candystand has been around since 1997, yet somehow I totally missed it until a couple of months ago. It's a great free-to-play site with many (many) games that you won't find anywhere else!

There are NO membership options, so everyone has access to the same things! I like that. ^_^ If you REALLY want to spend money you can buy a t-shirt, but that's it!


Layout

I really love Candystand's web design. ^_^ They use bright colors and cartoon mascots, yet it doesn't feel like a website for kids. That's not easy to pull off!

Honestly, the entire site is well designed. I'm never lost and can usually get wherever I need to go within 1-2 clicks. 


Games

When it comes to games, Candystand beats the pants off of every other site I've seen so far. They host many different types of games and lots of them. How many games? Oh, just 207. AND a new game is released every Tuesday!

What really drew me to Candystand is that they have games you can't find anywhere else. Hidden-object and racing games are practically unheard of on a free site that has cash prizes. Meanwhile, Candystand has an entire section dedicated to racing games!


Tickets and Prizes

This is where Candystand fails me. And it's disappointing, because I really like so many of their games. :(

You earn 100 tickets every time you submit a score. ANY score. You can earn up to 100 bonus tickets per game with facebook tie-ins, for a max of 200 tickets for any game.

I hate this because there is no incentive to improve your gameplay. You get the same exact number of tickets whether you spend an hour racking up 20 million points, or spend 30 seconds waiting for the game to load and submitting a score of 0. It's still 100 tickets. That sucks.

As for the prizes... Oi.

First off, the prize page is deceptive.

5 prizes this week? Score!!

From the banner you'd think that they have weekly prizes, right?

Wrongo.

Darn.

If you can't read the light print, the entry period for that $25 gift card lasts for 25 days. Believe it or not, out of the 5 prizes featured, 25 days is the shortest entry time! The rest of the prizes have a 2-3 month entry period. Why is this bad? Well, the longer a sweepstakes runs, the more time people have to enter it. (Obvious statement of the day.) Which means that there are more entries in the pot, and you have a smaller chance of actually winning. The BEST sweeps to enter are the ones that last a day to a week.

Also, assuming that they put up another $25 gift card every 25 days, that still means Candystand awards only $620 in prizes every 3 months. (Note: They may add other prizes within those months. But they definitely aren't awarding thousands of dollars in prizes every month, as many other sites do.)

I haven't played Candystand very long, so I have no idea if it's always been like this. But it feels like they started as an ordinary games site and just tacked on the rest. Tickets and prizes certainly aren't the focus.


Community

Although the 207 (and counting) games are awesome, they are all solo games. I'm usually not very chatty when I'm gettin' my game on, so it's not a big deal to me. ^_^ But if you're a social butterfly the absence of chat rooms may bug you. (Pun intended!)

If you really MUST TALK then you could try the OMGPOP section of Candystand. That section features multiplayer games and even customizeable avatars! The downside is that you don't earn tickets from those games, so the whole "playing games to win prizes" thing won't work.

All of this means that the Candystand community is limited to your facebook friends. Don't have any facebook friends who play? Well that sounds like a great reason to go to Candystand's facebook page and meet some people! ^_^

Don't have a facebook page? Set up a fake one and have fun!

And if ya just can't get enough Candystand, you can find them on Twitter and YouTube too!


Final Opinion


Candystand is a top notch game site, but if your main goal is prizes... well... I'd say play Candystand anyway. ^_^ The games are fun and you should enter every free sweeps you can. Although the odds of winning are small, you have NO chance of winning if you don't play at all. (Hah! I rhymed!)

Swing by for fun, but don't expect to win anything. Which is pretty much my advice for every gaming site out there anyway. ^_^

Gamesville - Odds Are Great, You'll Have Fun

It's their motto!

Gamesville is run by Lycos, and has been on the web since 1996. I have NO idea why it took me so long to find them!! The community is great, the games are fun, and best of all, they have oodles of winners every day!

Gamesville offers two methods to win prizes. On all of their games you earn Gamesville Rewards, or GVs. These are basically tokens to buy sweepstakes entries. They have a monthly sweeps (currently a 32 inch LCD HGTV), a weekly sweeps of $100, and a daily sweeps for a $25 Target gift card.

In addition to the sweeps, Gamesville also has nine games that have progressive jackpots.


Winners

Gamesville is the first site I've been to where you can hop into any room, ask people if they've ever won anything, and one (or more) people will say yes. The first time I witnessed this, at least three players said they'd won on Gamesville, and several more players said that they personally knew someone who'd won. And we're talking cash prizes here, not t-shirts, mugs, or virtual items!

How can so many people win? Well, games like Bingo Zone and Quick-Draw Poker are easier to win. Several people win small jackpots in those games every day! The games that are harder to win have higher jackpots and fewer winners.

Think of it this way - A $2,000 pot can go to one person in a hard game, or be doled out to about 200 people in an easy game. Yes, we all want to win $2,000. But your odds are better if you play rooms with smaller pots.

If you want to know when the last person won the JP in your game, just look on the screen. There will be an icon of their avatar along with the date/time they won, and how much they won. I really like this because it's easy to see that yes, real people are winning the games. ^_^

In addition, Gamesville also has a few sections on their site that show some of the previous winners. Note that this is NOT a full list!

What? No MiraHopes2Win? Blast!

If you're lucky and win a cash prize, head to Gamesville.com/wins to collect! It may take up to 24 hours for your win to be posted, and up to 60 days after that for you to get your check. (That's pretty standard.) If you claim a prize that's less than $5 you'll be charged a $1 processing fee. This is to keep their own costs down. You can just wait until you have more prize money and *then* submit a claim, if you wish. ^_^


Community

By and large, Gamesville has a very active and friendly atmosphere, which translates directly to the players! People chat and encourage each other. It's fun!

Gamesville is also very active on facebook and twitter. I'm not a twit (yet) so I can't comment on that, but I love hanging out on their facebook page. ^_^ It's very personal and comfy, not at all a stand-offish company that talks only about its games.


Membership

You can absolutely play Gamesville for free. But if you want to spring for their membership option, here's what you'll get.

• No ads. (Yay!)
• Member only rooms
• Double Jackpots for Catchup Coverall, Magic 21, Super Chef, and Quick-Draw Poker.
• Exclusive items for your avatar.
• Daily instant win games.
• Bonus GV rewards based on your subscription package.

The monthly package is $5.95 and you get 10,000 bonus GVs.
The yearly package is $24.95 and you get 25,000 bonus GVs. You'd save $46.45 over 12 months versus paying monthly.
They also offer a 3 year package for $68.99, which also includes 25,000 bonus GVs. You'd save $145.21 over three years, versus paying the monthly price. But uh, you'd only save $5.86 over three years versus the annual price. (Not a huge incentive there.)

I love instant win games, so that's the real tantalizing bit for me. *^_^* The double jackpots would be nice too. But I'll hold on to my money and keep playing for free. (Sorry, Gamesville!)


Games

The selection of games is a bit smaller than other sites, but so far I like almost everything I play. What really impresses me is how detailed they are in explaining the rules. It's common to have several screenshots or videos showing how to play the game. I happen to like knowing how to play new games, so this is very, very important to me.


Avatars

The avatar creation is fun, but not wildly impressive. You can unlock additional items by playing games, but there isn't any way to find out what you need to *do* in order to unlock items or any notice when you unlock something! Heck, I didn't even realize I had more items to play with until I revisited the avatar page!

I come for Reese's Pieces!

I'm not sure why the unlockable-items aspect isn't highlighted. I love it when sites have items that you can earn by playing the games. Badges, trophies, clothes, I love it all! ^_^

I also like that the avatars are more cartoonish than realistic. It keeps things lighthearted.


Site Layout

For some reason I *love* the background on Gamesville. I could totally see myself using it as real wallpaper, and I don't even like real wallpaper. *^_^*

Also, at the top of the page (any page) is a fun quote. It changes each time the page loads, and I love seeing what it will say next. Right now I have, "'Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.' - Scott Adams" at the top of my screen. Makes me happy. ^_^

Entering the sweeps is a little awkward. You need to click the "My GV" tab and select your sweeps from the list on the top right, or scroll to the bottom of the homepage. It took me a while to find it. *Sheepish grin*


Mascots

Because I know that Gamesville really listens to their players, I'm going to be completely honest here.

I love the penguin! He's cute and fun and totally in the spirit of Gamesville. ^_^

Don't poke the penguin!

I'm not-so-thrilled about the supermodels. They appear in a few places around the site and show up during commercial breaks.

Ta-daaa!

As far as cartoon drawings go, they aren't bad. They look moderately well proportioned and are modestly clothed. It's just the concept of using women as accessories that doesn't sit well with me. (And yes, I'm perfectly aware that it isn't a new concept. But I really like Gamesville and I want them to be better than the norm.)

I would love it if Gamesville switched entirely to penguins. *Hint hint* 


Final Thoughts

I <3 Gamesville. ^_^ It has its flaws, but by and large I feel that they *really* listen to their players. And of course, it's awesome that so many people win prizes every day!

Part of me wishes that they had more games available. But I have to admit, I'm quite happy playing the same handful of games for hours at a time. *^_^*

If you haven't tried Gamesville out yet, give it a shot! Just keep your head and remember that even though they have more winners than most sites, it may take years for you to win anything. Play for fun and keep your fingers crossed!

Winster - Guaranteed prizes. Seriously!

Winster is completely different from the game sites I've been reviewing. When you play Winster games you still earn points. But instead of using the points to buy avatar items or gamble on sweeps tickets, you use the points directly for prizes! Prizes range from $5 certificates for the Winster store up to a $25 certificate for Amazon.com.


IMPORTANT: You cannot win cash on Winster. There are no huge jackpots to hitch your dreams on. What Winster offers is a guaranteed prize of your choice. And honestly, that is probably more than you will get from *most* game sites.


I'm making this sound all dull and dreary, but really it's very fun. ^_^ Although Winster offers a smaller range of games, the games are all played cooperatively. Yahtzee Party! and Boggle Bash are cooperative games, but Winster goes far beyond that.

Each day you'll be given 200 spins. You pick your game and you'll be ushered to a room with up to 4 other players. Whichever game you pick will have a pay table to show you which combinations are valuable. Then you spin to get pieces. Pieces may be cards for poker, numbers for Sudoku, or even a toppings for a burger! (Depends on the game, of course.)

Now, here is the cool part. ^_^ You can trade the pieces on your board for pieces that other people have!! This is the best way to play, because when you help other people out they will help you score better too. Some high scoring combinations are nearly impossible to create on your own. But when everyone works together it's very smooth and simple.

If you help others consistently you may be rewarded with extra spins. I usually get 50-70 extra spins each day just for helping!

So, how long will it take you to earn enough points for a prize? Well..... it will be a while. The cheapest prize takes 1,000,000 points. Playing for free I rarely get more than 10,000 points a day. On the upside, when you make an account they start you off with 700,000 points. That helps!

If you refer a friend and they sign up, you'll get a 10,000 point bonus. 25,000 points if you're a member!

If you feel impatient you can opt for their membership options. On EVERY membership level you get 4x the normal points and access to membership-only rooms.

• Basic ~ $4.99 a month. 300 daily spins.
• Silver ~ $7.49 a month. 500 daily spins and a 100,000 point sign up bonus.
• Gold ~ $9.99 a month. 800 daily spins, Winster mousepad, and a 100,000 pt sign up bonus.

From what I can tell there are no annual passes, which is a shame. In my opinion the membership prices are pretty high for what you get. However, when I play I see a LOT of people as members, so they must enjoy it. ^_^

You can also purchase a day pass for 99 cents. You'll get 300 spins, 4x points, no ads, and access to members only rooms. Or if ads bug you then the ad-free week might be worth the $1.49.

Your avatar consists of a smiley face and you can pay to buy different hats for it. Also you can "decorate" your profile with icons that cost between 99 cents to $1.99.

Personally, I only shell out money if I really LOVE a game. And even then I'm cheap. *Sheepish grin.* For me the 200 spins a day is enough, especially since I play so many other sites too.

The strong cooperative feature in Winster games means that the community is pretty strong. People are very friendly and quite helpful! If you're confused or stuck just ask for advice. Someone will help you out. ^_^

In summary, Winster is a great little game site, and it's nice to know that you *will* get a prize if you keep playing. But the social aspect seems to be the most attractive feature for many players.

Pogo - More fun than a stick on a spring!

Since I've reviewed several Pogo games already, I figure that a site review is in order. ^_^

Pogo is free-to-play, but it has a pay option. If you join Club Pogo you'll get:

• 40+ more games
• Game Badges
• No more ads
• 2x Jackpots (max of $4,999)
• Exclusive avatar items
• 10% discount on all avatar items
• Private chat
• Members-only rooms

Monthly it's $5.99, or $71.88 a year. The yearly package is $39.99, which is a pretty significant decrease. I also see discounts offered a lot, so you can probably get it even cheaper. You can also buy gems which you can use to play member games or buy special avatar items. There are also trial passes which can be anywhere from 3 to 30 days long. You can only apply one to any account, so be picky if you want to try Club Pogo out!

There are a lot of bonuses to becoming a member. I won't deny that. But since my entire goal is to see what I can win while playing FREE games, I won't be joining Club Pogo and I won't be able to review any of their pay-to-play games.

All that aside, is it worth playing the free games?

I say YES. ^_^ There is a lot of variety on Pogo, and the games are very fun to play! The ads are not overwhelming. (Usually about 30 seconds at a time.) Best of all, there is a strong emphasis on community and it really shows. I've been in game rooms at all hours of the day/night and there is always someone up for a chat. I usually get a few comments on my name as well. *Grins*

The Pogo facebook page stays pretty active as well. If you're having trouble finding friends on Pogo you should definitely check the wall. And yes, you can connect your Pogo account to facebook too. ^_^

Another fun aspect of Pogo is the avatar system. They call them "mini's."

Yeah, I'm an earth-lovin' hippie. What of it?

You can customize just about everything about your mini. A *few* items are free, but most things you buy with the Pogo Tokens you earn playing games.

I was incredibly impressed to see mini options include 6 different wheelchairs, 6 pregnancy outfits, and a few plus-sizeish outfits. It's a rare gift to find a site that recognizes that its players have different bodies.

Moving on! ^_^

The only way to earn tokens is by playing the games. You can use the tokens to buy entries into their daily ($50), weekly ($250), and monthly ($1,000) sweepstakes. Previously you could also use the tokens to enter the sweeps, but as of January 2011, Pogo switched to a daily sweeps that doesn't require any tokens!

Nearly every game on Pogo has a Progressive Jackpot as well. (Max pot of $4,999.) With JP games you usually have to achieve a minimum score to earn a spin for the JP. You will always win something! 99.9999999999999% of the time it will just be tokens, but people also win avatar items, Pogo gems, t-shirts, and mugs. And of course, someone eventually wins the cash prize.

Nitpicky things:

• If you click "All Free Games" it includes the Club Pogo games too. But there is NOTHING on that page to tell you what games are Club Pogo only. I find it frustrating to pick a game, and then discover I can't play it.
• Having to enter my password EVERY time I enter a sweeps is annoying. I don't know any other site that does this and I can't find a way to turn it off.
• Pogo does not post the odds of winning Jackpots. I like seeing odds because it really is a reality check for me.

You can expect to see more Pogo games reviewed in the future. The nitpicky things are not enough to keep me from going back. ^_^

Updated January 17th 2011, to reflect the disappointing cancellation of the weekly and monthly sweeps.

iWon ~ Site Overview

iWon games is a pretty typical free-to-win site. You earn iWon coins and then use them to buy entries in sweepstakes. iWon coins are earned in four ways.

~ Play the games. Duh.
~ Invite friends via email. (Ask before spamming!)
~ Use the Ask search engine on the page.
~ Complete sponsor offers.

It's not that hard to earn coins just by playing the games. You don't need to pay real money or annoy your friends just to have a shot at winning! Seriously!

iWon coins can be used to buy entries into sweepstakes. They have daily ($100 prize), weekly ($500), monthly ($1,000), and even a yearly ("up to" 1 mil) sweepstakes. This is the only use for iWon coins so don't be afraid to spend them.

Also, most games have a "Bonus" game that can be triggered during regular play. The prize may be a small item or up to $2,000 cash. (Woot!)

Now, for the games... *Rubs hands together eagerly*

iWon has a neat tiered gaming system. You start at Copper level and the more iWon coins you win, the higher your rank will go. As you increase in rank you get access to more games with (hopefully) better odds of winning $$.

Before you can play a game you first have to watch 15 seconds of ads. After that you can play the game several times before an ad will play again.

All of the games on iWon are single player, but you can challenge your friends on facebook! You also can friend people on iWon and team up with them for competitions. I haven't done this yet so I can't comment on how it works.

MiraHopes2Win is my name on iWon. Friend me, please! ^_^

*Ahem*

You can also earn badges for hitting certain scores in different games. No extra bonus for the badges. It's just something fun. ^_^

There is an option during signup (and in the side bar) to join the iWon insider team. It unlocks all of the games and has a few other bells and whistles. I haven't checked it out because it looks like an add-on to me, and I *like* unlocking the games.

On the front page there also is a large link to WorldWinner games. Be aware that to win any cash on that site you must PAY real cash first. It's a completely different website and format from iWon.

Overall I like the iWon site. It's fairly simple to figure out and the only pop-ups are from the actual games. Individual game reviews will follow later. ^_^