Jump on the Stick and Join Club Pogo
Written: Jan 01 '05 (Updated Feb 27 '08)
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I enjoy playing the games on Pogo.com ... especially since they are quality games, fun and free. There are a lot of games to choose from, too. The only drawback is that the games are interrupted by brief advertisements, but I could live with those. Then I saw that Club Pogo offered Canasta and Tri-Peaks Solitaire, games that I love. But in order to play them, I had to pay a membership fee. So after some thought, I plunked down $29.99 for a year’s membership.
The Benefits of Club Pogo
By joining Club Pogo, I gained access to a wider variety of games. Paying the membership fee also eliminated advertising interruptions ... no more pop-up ads! I never dreamed that by joining Club Pogo that I would also enrich my gaming experience.
One fun feature of Club Pogo is the opportunity to join community challenges to earn “Badges”. The web site keeps a Badge Album for each player, and the albums are dated by year. Each week Club Pogo issues new game challenges. The challenges run from Wednesday to Tuesday. For instance, challenges might include: Clear 240 peaks in Tri-Peaks Solitaire (each game has 3 peaks), or win 75 hands of High Stakes Poker (you can play with other people online or robot players), or win 3,000 tokens in Word Whomp. There is also a Personal Challenge ... select a previous challenge that you did not do (example: win 7 card games of Hearts). When a challenge is completed, Pogo awards you a virtual badge in your album. These badges are colorful and fun. There is also the option of choosing an icon associated with a badge to appear beside your name when you play games. (Other players see the icon beside your name.) Pogo also offers Special Achievement Badges to honor player advancement in the games.
A bonus to playing the games is that you win Tokens. These tokens can be traded for online raffle tickets in Pogo prize drawings. The amount of tokens won depends upon the games being played. I have won as few as 2 tokens and as many as 5,000 tokens at a time. Some players let their tokens grow and grow. (I have seen players with over 2 million tokens!)
As a reward for completing games, a Jackpot Spinner appears. The wheel spins amidst noise and fanfare, stopping on either a token amount that you win ... or if you are very lucky, an actual prize (anything from Pogo merchandise such as computer wallpaper, a t-shirt or mug to larger prizes like a Sony Flat Screen Monitor, Deluxe Scrapbooking Kit, a Roomba Robotic Vacuum Cleaner, or a cash reward). Being a Club Pogo member means that you also receive the benefit of having your cash prizes doubled.
There are also daily, weekly and monthly cash prize drawings. You don’t need to be a member of Club Pogo to enter these drawings of $50 to $1000. However, if you are a Club Pogo member, there are other drawings available. For example: a drawing for a 30" Wide Screen TV including Tivo DVR with Lifetime Product Subscription.
Club Pogo Games – Exclusively for Members
These games are only available to members. Pogo occasionally adds new games to the list.
* Aces Up (new) – a solitaire card game with fighter planes
* Canasta – form melds in this card game; play with people or robots
* Dice Derby – a form of Yahtzee where dice rolls power race cars
* Fortune Bingo – play with 3 or 6 bingo cards
* Greenback Bayou – checker game with frogs and flies
* Jungle Gin – card game of gin rummy played in a jungle setting
* Jigsaw Detective (new) – complete jigsaw puzzles to solve mysteries
* Mahjong Garden – remove pairs of tiles in puzzles that are animal shapes
* Perfect Pair Solitaire – play matchmaker, pairing like cards to send on a cruise
* Phlinx – eliminate like-colored stones to advance in rank
* Pinochle – make card melds and play either people or robots
* Pop Fu – solve balloon-popping puzzles and play speed rounds
* Squelchies – arrange color-coded pieces into groups to remove them
* Texas Hold’Em Poker - Poker for up to 6 players, play with people or robots
* Tri-Peaks Solitaire – remove cards in sequence to clear mountain peaks
* World Class Solitaire – traditional solitaire that takes you on trips around the world
* WordJong – remove letter tiles from a puzzle by spelling words
* Word Whomp Whackdown – form words and advance to speed rounds
Free Games Open to Everyone
These games are open to members and non-members. Sometimes new games are added, but not all the games award Jackpot spins or prizes. They are grouped by category on the web site. Due to the length it would take in the review, I am not going to describe these games.
Card & Board Games
Backgammon, Bridge, Checkers, Chess, Cribbage, Dominoes, Euchre, First Class Solitaire, Hearts, Payday Freecell, Rainy Day Solitaire (new), Spades
Puzzle
Alchemy, Animal Ark Mah Jong, Bounce Out!, Collapse, Cubis, Insaniquarium, Poppit!, Rocket Mania, Shape Shifter, Swashbucks, Sweet Tooth, Zuma
Word
Bookworm, Crossword, Tumble Bees, Word Search, Word Whomp
Arcade
C & C Armored Attack (new), C & C Attack Copter, High Stakes Pool, Need For Speed, Quick Shot Hoops, Ricochet Xtreme Online, The Sims Pinball, Tank Hunter
EA Sports
All-Star Football, All-Star Football Challenge, NASCAR Web Racing, Pebble Beach Golf, Pebble Beach 3-Hole, Perfect Passer, PGA Tour Golf, 3-Point Showdown, Top Down Baseball Challenge
Extreme Sports
Freekstyle Crash Pad, It’s Outta Here 2, SSX SnowDreams, Vert Skater
Freebie Casino
Big Shot Roulette, Buckaroo Blackjack, EZ Win Bingo, High Stakes Poker, Keno, Panda Pai Gow Poker, Turbo 21, Ali Baba Slots, Sci-Fi Slots, Showbiz Slots, Showbiz II Slots, Vaults of Atlantis Slots, Double Deuce, Jacks or Better, Jokers Wild
Entering the Rooms & Playing Games
Select the game you wish to play and click on it. The screen changes, offering you two options. You can install the game on your computer hard drive (making playing time faster), or you can play the game without installing it. Since I have a large computer hard drive, I install the games. If Pogo makes improvements or adds features to a game you already installed, it will prompt you to reinstall the game.
Once the game is loaded, the screen changes to show all the rooms available to play in. At the top of the screen are “Member Only Rooms” for Club Pogo members. Beneath this area are game rooms that anyone can enter. Click on a room name to enter that room.
The screen changes depending upon the game you are playing. For instance, if you select a Canasta room, a series of tables appears that you can join. Click on a seat to enter the table of your choice. If you are playing a game of Slots, the screen changes to a slot machine and invites immediate play (by pulling the slot machine lever or clicking a button). Fortune Bingo opens with your bingo cards on the screen and a gypsy named Dottie (an animated figure) selecting the bingo numbers. If playing Dice Derby, you first choose the color racing car for your playing piece and then the dice start rolling.
Most of the games have Option Screens where you can customize the game. The options might be whether to allow other players to enter the game after it starts, to allow watchers to view the game in progress, to choose when the game ends, to select the difficulty level. There are a lot of variables. There are also detailed instructions for each game, and some of the games offer practice sessions with robots.
Most people have games that they enjoy playing over and over again. Pogo provides a list called My Favorites where you can add the games you most enjoy playing.
These Are Superior Games
Pogo.com offers not only an excellent selection of games, but the games are well crafted. The animation is great with fun sound effects, the games flow smoothly, and they offer a depth of playing experience. In many of the games, there are games within the games.
For example, if you choose to play Phlinx, a game where you shoot at like-colored groupings of stones, you can rebound your shots off the side walls and have a choice of three shooting positions. The object is to shoot at like-colored groupings of stones to release them, and there are special stones with unique shooting abilities hidden within the stone clusters. After so many shots, the stones at the top of the screen move down a level. Let the level get too low and the game is lost. If you are lucky and release enough stones, you advance to a special round. An Egyptian symbol is inserted into a grouping of stones, which you have to release in as few shots as possible. Play enough rounds, release four of these symbols, and you earn a spin of the Jackpot Wheel.
Another example is Sci-Fi Slots. Pull the lever to start the three columns of Sci-Fi symbols spinning. Certain combinations of symbols earn tokens. If you spin three “radar” symbols, earn a Spin Till You Win. Roll three “atoms” and win the cash Jackpot, which is always increasing. If you spin three “rockets” then you start a sci-fi story that is displayed in a video screen atop the slot machine. The story graphics are simplistic, but it adds an interesting twist to the game. Each time three “rockets” are spun, another chapter of the story is revealed.
World Class Solitaire combines traditional solitaire with a jaunt around the world. At the beginning of the game, you are offered a selection of destinations such as Paris or Easter Island. Each destination requires winning a certain amount of games to reach it. During game play, Bonus cards are revealed that offer “multipliers” so that the tokens earned during game play are increased. If you get stuck during game play, there are also Grab buttons that can be earned, one for each suit in the card deck. Click the Grab button to pull a card of that suit out of the deck so that it can be played. A map charts your progress. Once the required number of games are completed, your passport is stamped with a special graphic unique to that locale, and you are asked where you would like to travel next. Special badges are awarded for traveling entire continents.
Are There Any Negatives?
If I had to choose one thing to complain about, it is the high volume of traffic that appears on Pogo every Wednesday when the new challenges are announced. Sometimes it is difficult to gain entry into rooms, but this doesn’t happen all the time. When there are too many people logged into Pogo, glitches can occur. One Wednesday I was consistently kicked out of the website. I quit playing and returned an hour later, and the web site was fine ... no problems.
Some players complain that it is too difficult to win prizes. Pogo keeps player interest in the prizes by announcing in the chat area when someone wins a cash prize or gift cards to places like Best Buy. I play the games for the joy of playing, and if I win a prize ... it’s a terrific bonus. I have met a few people online who have won cash prizes. One of the people won $25, and Pogo sent them a form to fill out for income tax purposes.
Each time I play on Pogo.com, I have to turn off my pop-up blocker or the games will not work. This is a minor inconvenience since I have to remember to turn on the pop-up blocker after finishing with Pogo.
Chat Rooms
Along the right side of each game is a Chat Room window. Here you can type text messages with emoticons (such as smiley faces). Friends chat back and forth. Players compare how they are doing in challenges. Generally, people are friendly and not abusive. There are chat rooms that offer “clean” talk as well as rooms for “uncensored” conversation. If you don’t want to watch the chat, turn it off. Chat is always an option.
Pogo also offers a message area where you can send and receive messages from other players. There is also a “Friends” section where you can keep a list of people you would like to play games with. This list keeps track of where your friends are playing on the Pogo web site so that you can locate them. There is the option of setting up a personal profile to tell a bit about yourself.
Pogo Minis
Pogo has added a new gimmick to their website. You can now create a "Pogo Mini", which is like an avatar. This Mini can be a likeness of you, or it can be a fantasy figure. Each person starts with a basic boy or girl image. You can select hair styles, facial features, skin tones, clothes or costumes and accessories. There are even background images and accessories available to personalize your Mini. Some of the outfits are free, but most of them are available for "sale" using the tokens earned during game play. It is fun to create a Mini and to see what others have chosen for themselves.
Joining Club Pogo & Giving It As a Gift
It didn’t take me long to realize how much fun I would have on this web site. A year’s membership only cost $39.99 (pricing updated on February 27, 2008), a great value for the price. Pogo accepts Visa, MasterCard, Discover and American Express. All you have to do is fill out a form, choose a screen name and a password.
I was enjoying Club Pogo so much that I knew my mother would love it as a gift. So I clicked on the link “Give Club Pogo as a Gift”. I bought her a one-year membership. I filled out the form, supplied my credit card number, entered my mother’s e-mail address, typed a short note to accompany the gift and clicked the submit button. It wasn’t long before my mother received the gift in her e-mail. She loves Pogo as much as I do!
Pogo also sells their games as downloads to install on a computer so that logging online isn’t necessary. These games are called Pogo To Go games. As a bonus for purchasing a gift membership, Pogo.com e-mailed me a $5.00 coupon good toward a game download. Since the games the coupon was good for cost around $19.00 to purchase, I opted not to use the coupon. In case you are interested, Pogo offers free “try me” versions to test the games before purchasing.
Pogo & Charity
Pogo.com often aligns itself with charity contributions. Pogo encourages members to donate their tokens toward worthy causes and often matches the contributions. For instance, this autumn I donated all my tokens to a charity for Breast Cancer Awareness. Pogo recently sponsored a charity drive for the Starbright Children’s Foundation where Pogo matched player donations up to $10,000.
No Cheating Allowed
The fun of playing games is the challenge of winning ... the satisfaction, the glory, and maybe a prize. It amazes me when I see people in the chat rooms offering ways to cheat to win games (and thereby a Badge). Some people crave the badges so much that they will cheat to get them. As you can imagine, this is against the rules. Pogo has a strict no-cheating policy.
Pogo states that when Jackpots are won, they audit the account to determine whether cheater programs were used. If such a program is detected, the player’s account is blocked and the prize is forfeited.
Summary
I enjoy playing games at Pogo.com. Actually, I never expected to like it as much as I do. I will definitely renew my membership. Club Pogo offers a fun place to play quality games. This is an excellent way to have fun with long-distance friends and family, too. You can meet and play games with them while you type messages in the chat area. It’s a wonderful experience. So far the only prizes I have won are free wallpaper of popular Pogo games, but I keep hoping that someday I will win something bigger. Meanwhile, I just have fun!
I hope you have found this review useful.
Enjoy your day,
Dawn
http://dlstewart.com
Additional Information
http://www.pogo.com
Pogo.com is part of Electronic Arts (ea.com)
Please read my other reviews:
Puzzle Master Deluxe Suite (jigsaw puzzle software)
Hoyle Table Games (software)
Hoyle Card Games (software)
LCR Dice Game
Dell Sudoku and More! (magazine)
PennyPress Tournament Variety Puzzles
PennyPress Master’s Variety Puzzles
PennyPress Approved Variety Puzzles
Gateway 500X Computer
Belkin Home/Office UPS Emergency Battery Backup
Copyright 2005 Dawn L. Stewart
Recommended:
Yes
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About the Author
Location: Massachusetts -- USA
Reviews written: 1515
Trusted by: 352 members
About Me: Always looking for quality at bargain prices. Author of: Mist-Seer and Harriet's Horrible Hair Day.
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