This week, Pogo added a new feature to their game windows: bars that appear at the top and bottom of their game screens. These bars contain your token amount, the jackpot amount, and links to mute the game and to turn chat on or off. In games that have them, the bars also link to badges and other game features. For example, in the screenshot of Yahtzee below, the bars also include links to a game feature, such as changing the style. Here’s a screenshot from Pogo themselves:
According to the latest update to the Known Issues page, which was the source of the screenshot above, these bars are supposed to appear “on top and at the bottom of all games” and if you do not see them, you should follow their instructions for what to do if your game window is cropped. With that said, it does not appear the roll-out of these new bars is complete as some games simply do not have the bars (yet?) and that cannot be fixed by allowing your browser to open windows without status bars. For example, take the games from this week’s challenges: the bars have been added to Sweet Tooth 2 but not Hog Heaven Slots. It’s probably safe to expect all games to have the new bars within a few weeks as the developers and designers re-work the game windows to include the new bars.
According to the Pogo News, the bars are a “strange issue” that will be fixed soon:
Well, *that’s* communication at Pogo for you — two entirely different and conflicting messages about the same thing! At this point I’d probably side with customer support’s Known Issues page, as they’ve got a screenshot and everyone knows “screenshot or it didn’t happen”. Nice one, Pogo.
Whether you like them or not, the new bars might be here to stay (and as explained, they’re likely to be soon added to the rest of the games as well). I have received so much email about this and it’s been mentioned in a few comments already across the site, so I figure I’d better open this one up for comments too. What do you think of the bars? Are there any other changes you’d like to see Pogo make to their game windows? Leave your thoughts in a comment below.
Filed under: new
{ 76 comments }
Taylor 02.10.10 at 5:51 pm
I got up early Tuesday morning and saw my friend in Mahjong Safari so I figured I chat with her for a whil.When I got into MahjongSafari I asked my friend about the bars and she said that pogo added them Monday night and she was in the room when they added them she also said for the 1st hour it wouldnt count rank progress in Safari or Yahtzee.
Chelle 02.10.10 at 6:05 pm
I love the bars. I think they look great! :D
tigger 02.10.10 at 6:28 pm
bleh bleh bleh, makes screen seem smaller, i liked it old way, come on pogo at least ask us b4 doin these things, u have sooooooooooo many ppl with eyesight problems and such, hope they dont lose ppl over this..
NLinda 02.10.10 at 6:40 pm
I for one, dont care for the new bars. I dont think they look as rich or professional as the old screens. I also find it more difficult to read. Makes you wonder who comes up with these ideas, I would think there would be a lot of areas in Pogo where the time could be better spent.
psalm233 02.10.10 at 6:50 pm
i ran into the bars yesterday in Trivial Pursuit. I love them there. Then I saw them in Sweet Toothe not sure sometimes my mouse (laptop) goes wild afaid it will hit the wrong button. Otherwise i like the new bars. Thanks Lura
scott 02.10.10 at 6:52 pm
i think its rather cool. i was wondering a few weeks back if there would ever change it.. and there it was.. kind of a bummer it might just be an issue. i hope they keep it, but thats me..
sirb 02.10.10 at 7:37 pm
id like to see them put the flags back on our pages,
seen them 2day n sweet tooth;
also luv your site and congrats on the new youngen
Steph 02.10.10 at 7:49 pm
Im not too sure I understand the point of the bars…… was it just to make a change to the way the game looks or other reasons????
Mar 02.10.10 at 7:54 pm
Well, I like it and thought , the game looked alittle bigger to me, and we can use that for game playing. Keep up the good work Pogo, we need a change dont we.
Kevin B. 02.10.10 at 7:56 pm
While I am not sure of why the change was made, I do know the people who use cheat programs are mighty upset their cheats do not work.
They might have to do a challenge by hand. Gasp!
Personally, I am fine with the change. Just make it uniform across games and I have no objection.
sexyspongebobc 02.10.10 at 8:36 pm
hmmmm i think change is good but this is just strange i was so confused when i saw it.
Randy F. 02.10.10 at 9:13 pm
Does anyone else play Pogo games in a browser tab like I do? If you do, then you are probably as annoyed by the change as I am. Why? The top black bar is aligned to the right of the screen, then the game is aligned to the left of the screen, and then the bottom black bar is aligned to the right of the screen and all the way to the bottom.
This is what it looks like for me: Pogo Screenshot
Pogo, please go back to the old format!
Jess 02.10.10 at 9:24 pm
Randy (#12) –
Yeah, unfortunately thats exactly what my screen looks like too. Someone obviously did not think this one through or test thoroughly enough.
Ill weigh in that I dont like the bars. The previous layouts were totally immersive… all the functional game buttons were skinned to match the games theme. These look generic, jarring, and not well developed at all.
nessa 02.10.10 at 9:59 pm
Hope its just an issue and if not, I hope they dont do same in all the games. I hate it, no special reason for it but I dont like it at all.
MomsBassetHound 02.10.10 at 10:41 pm
Just makes it easier to understand why members cant get a straight answer from customer service……one hand doesnt know what the other hand is doing.
Suz
Gecko 02.11.10 at 12:18 am
My first thought when seeing the bars was, Oh geez, do they really have to be like everyone else now too and make each game the same? My friend, the programmer, likes them because he doesnt need to learn a new system of score and buttons. I dont like them because it makes every game look more the same. One of the main reasons I like Pogo so much is that each game has so much theme going on – the bars really take away from that. (I should also note they are in basic text – perhaps some under coding that Pogo is going to use to link back into IckyBook or something like that? It would be easy javascript to read the bars the way they have them and report to another program. Just sayin… that could be why they are added and maybe supposed to be invisible?)
On the other hand, I was excited to see the news post saying they were glitches. I doubt Im the only one to see it, but Pogo was really unstable after the last update – hopefully they just messed something up and the bars are part of that!
jaybopp 02.11.10 at 12:25 am
I like them, because they make the games more consistent. No more different whacky fonts when looking for the jackpot amount. And you always know where the mute, badges, etc buttons will be when looking for them. And, they look more professional. :)
lisa 02.11.10 at 2:04 am
I like the new bars they have all you need top and bottom. Not all up in the right hand corner I think they should keep them and add them to the rest of the games.
Gecko 02.11.10 at 2:09 am
Just tonight they added more info on the News Page, I dont understand how it is a fix -
Weve had reports of players experiencing a Black Bar across the bottom of the window in several games, including Poppit!, BOGGLE Bash, Mahjong Safari, Bingo Luau, YAHTZEE Party, and several others.
If you are experiencing this, then youll need to adjust your screen resolution. These games have changed to meet certain technological requirements, and in order for them to work as designed, we have to ask some players to increase their screen resolution. We apologize if this is an inconvenience and hope for your understanding.
walla99362 02.11.10 at 3:05 am
12 Randy – check your zoom level. Take it back to 100% or less and yuor game should resize.
Richard K. Imel 02.11.10 at 7:22 am
I hate the new bars, it makes the games look Cheap and standard. The old way was nice and in color and dressed up the game a little. Now it looks like it is ready for a funeral.
Ban 02.11.10 at 7:51 am
The bars are on only Non-Club Games (thank god), they look awful.
Dannie 02.11.10 at 8:35 am
I have problems using my hands and find the new bars land right where I automatically rest my mouse so I keep getting the “are you sure you want to change levels” message interupting my play. I am going to have to change where I put the game on my screen to avoid this so I am not a happy camper. I would rather they change the jackpot spinner. I remember how exciting it was to just get a spin after they did it years ago.
kiki 02.11.10 at 8:36 am
Don’t like ‘em for all the reasons stated before me. I don’t find them attractive and they make the playing field smaller – an unnecessary measure unless something else will be incorporated into them.
The light bulb went on when I read Kevin’s post (#14). I have to wonder if this isn’t some measure to thwart the autos. They do seem to have been added to the games where people complain about the abusers.
Kat8mouse 02.11.10 at 10:09 am
I think it’s harder to find the jackpot amounts, levels, etc. with this bar. It was much better when it was on the side of the game and had the same theme as the rest of the window. Like #12 above, my screen also looks smaller with this layout. I will try to change screen resolution, but really, I shouldn’t have to. It was fine before the change. Not sure what Pogo is trying to do.
Jane 02.11.10 at 11:08 am
I was playing Trivial Pursuit and everything seems so much darker. For those of us who are older, this presents a problem. My eyesight is not too good. There are a lot of us older folks who love playing Pogo and
may have to forego playing some of the games. That is a shame !!!!
Suzanne 02.11.10 at 11:35 am
The bar is ok I have no problem with it. But I wonder if maybe Pogo thought it would get more people into the room . Just was wondering.
Most people I chat with seem to think its ok, but was a surprise to most of us. I thought maybe something was wrong with my pc.
Margie 02.11.10 at 11:40 am
Instead of waking up to a new game this Tuesday, we woke up to these ugly black bars on the game field. I, for one, do not like them. I really hope that pogo does not add them to all the games and takes them away from the games that have them now.
Sue 02.11.10 at 12:22 pm
I like the new bars on the games but alot of people don’t. Everything is there and easy to use and I like change now and then. Good job Pogo.
barbieaddict07 02.11.10 at 12:33 pm
I dont like the bars. In trivial pursuit and crossword cove they make the screen larger and it makes it harder to use 2 browsers to copy the answers. I also think they cheapen the look of the page. Hope they remove them.
Thanks for the great job you do on this site. Keep up the good work!
Kat F. 02.11.10 at 12:44 pm
My opinion in two words: Hate em.
(((Hugs to ALL))),
Kat F.
april.F 02.11.10 at 12:58 pm
what was wrong with the old style,we can see all that in the box bye our names,in stead of making game bars bring out lots more mix and matches and albums for us.
Honey 02.11.10 at 1:01 pm
I dont like the bars either. I first experienced them in Pogo Bowl a couple of days ago. To me they make the game window feel even smaller because they give it that widescreen effect. I hope they decide to abandon that project and work on something members want like giving us the option to change our screen names.
Sharlita 02.11.10 at 1:16 pm
I think it pretty cool. At first I thought it was something I down loaded to my computer. It just take some time to get use to the change. It is a little darker but easier to read. I like it. Thanks
tcfox 02.11.10 at 1:52 pm
I’m not fond of the new look at all – quite unimaginative – might go well with the upcoming new home page though. Unfortunately complaining about something Pogo has already done after the fact serves no purpose. I do wish they would give members a heads up BEFORE these types of changes were implemented.
JJ 02.11.10 at 2:54 pm
Im not a fan of the black bars they look generic…..also I cant move the game windows around with the ones that have black bars they are locked down…anyone else having same problem?
adeliegerbers 02.11.10 at 2:54 pm
Hi All,
I was in Poppit and went to click in the chat box and hit the new game button instead….wish Pogo didn’t put the new game button in that spot. – Ugh – and I was about to pop all the balloons – man I hate when that happens. Guess I won’t be chatting in Poppit anymore (some might say that’s a good thing!! – LOL).
I hope everyone has a great weekend and PLEASE NO MORE SNOW.
rockfan 02.11.10 at 5:49 pm
I don’t care for the new bars for the games in Pog either, I think Pogo could have left well enough alone, who’s to say what they will do next,
cpurnellt 02.11.10 at 5:51 pm
This is Pogo_Tahd’s answer to the black bars:
Editor: Thanks for your letter. We have made some changes to a few of our games for which we have special plans. Unfortunately this means we have to ask some players to increase the size of their screen resolution… or accept the black bar as part of the game.
So, the bars are a prelude to upcoming changes in the games themselves. I can’t wait.
for the person with the browser problem, you can size your window to remove the excess screen. Pogo helped me adjust mine. Go to their help live chat if you are unable to find the solution on your own in their help section.
Shelly 02.11.10 at 6:00 pm
Whilst I don’t really mind the black bars I preferred the old style of the buttons being in the style of the game.
As far as I can tell though they have made difference at all to the way the games play so I don’t mind them.
barbieaddict07 #30. I didn’t find the screen size changed at all when playing Crossword Cove. I can still double browse comfortably. I have always cropped down the answer page though so maybe I’m not noticing a difference.
JJ # 36 The few games I have tried with black bars I can still move the window around as normal.
I’m using IE7 if that makes a difference :0)
Brenda 02.11.10 at 6:23 pm
So far the bars havent been bothering me at all. It doesnt matter to me bars or not.
Frank 02.11.10 at 6:35 pm
I like the bars because there are far too many times I forget what game Im playing and need to be reminded. Thanks to these new bars, I can readily tell what game Im in.
Seriously, though, I dont mind them. They do look sleek and, hopefully, they will be consistent with the embedded icons (e.g. sound, badges, tokens, etc.).
Earlene 02.11.10 at 7:26 pm
Reminds me of politics, this isnt broken but lets fix it anyway. LOL
Rick 02.11.10 at 9:22 pm
unfortunately in such large a community youre going to have people who like different things, different games, different styles, different perspectives. Some people like the variety of different looks and themes. Some people like the fact that one game is different than another and those are legitimate feelings and likes.
One thing I have noticed that Im not overly keen of is in every game, the jackpot total is in different places. Some games my token count is on the left and others its in the top right.
I tend to be the type that things are in the same place. But thats just me.
Someone previously did make an interesting point-it does make it look widescreen. If indeed there are changes to these games coming, could it be that they are going to a filled screen format? I know Thousand Island Solitaire can be maximized to fill the screen. With so many people having widescreen screens, could it be that Pogo is going to be making their games in widescreen format? I do wish that the game screen could be bigger without having to change your screen resolution.
Mrs. Mike Brown 02.11.10 at 10:50 pm
I think the change is ugly. I wish they would just leave things alone and spend their time adding ranks and badges to games. When are they gonna have a new course for a badge in mini golf?
memmie30 02.12.10 at 1:05 am
Hate the black bars, why cant Pogo leave the games as they were or at least give us an option of choice, rebooted twice before I realised it was not my computer but Pogo.
Kevin S. 02.12.10 at 4:02 am
I have mixed feelings with the new bars added into our games. I think it looks cool and neat with the bars added, but my gripe is that with some games like Mini Golf Madness and some of the other games is you CANT chat! :( Because the same black bar thats on top and the bottom of some of the games blocks the bottom of the chat. I think Pogo needs to fix that, cause Im surely disappointed!
Carol 02.12.10 at 9:34 am
On Sweettooth2, I dont mind the game, but Ive gotta turn my volume off and put a piece of paper over the sweet tooth in the lower left corner, That is THE most irrating in all of the pogo games, to me. LOL!
Again, gla n GB.
Carol
booboo 02.12.10 at 10:37 am
I think it was unnecessary and does not add anything to the site. I wish pogo would put effort into fixing old games like the freezing issue in Monopoly (ok seems to be fixed now) or how about the 4 year old problem of battle Phlinx which is why no one plays hardly. Better yet convert old games to flash and get rid of java which is a terrible technology and all the other game sites are going away from it.
Kay 02.12.10 at 10:49 am
I dont like the bars i agree with what someone ekse already fix the problems and add more ranks to games like spades,canasta,gin it makes more senses than the dumb bars !
beth 02.12.10 at 10:55 am
the bars make me no difference really, pogo is gonna do what pogo whats to do reguardless if its paying regular customers like it or not! they dont seem to care WE are the ones that built their business, but yet we are NOTHING to them! they think we will just take it, and i guess they are right, cus people dont stick together, eg when mix and match badges came out lots peeps said i aint paying for badges, and they were the very first one to run buy the badges. so needless to say boycot WONT work lol, besides most of us would go into withdrawls lmao! but one thing i DONT like and have noticed is in trivial pursuit when you hit main menu to pause the game, it NO longer pauses the game…BOO-HOOO i hate that! so if some one finds a new trick to pause tp PLZ pass it on thru our favorite site BADGEHUNGRY !!
as some one stated earlier in this post i just wish pogo would give us a heads up or notice when they are gonna do stupid stuff, like stopping posting all the trivial pursuit dates at the 1st of the year…they could have posted for those interested come jan 1 tp will no longer go past the current year, or like this week they could have posted they would be making changes to some of the games so as not to flip out if the layout of your game changes…..
pogo just take its regular paying customers for GRANITE… way over board!
Ben 02.12.10 at 11:12 am
If its not broken dont fix it ;)
Rock 02.12.10 at 11:53 am
Personally I like the new bars but see that it dont work on mono here and now, never checked all games tho?
Rock 02.12.10 at 12:24 pm
I also can see it better and it does away with all the clutter on the right side of window and makes for easier clicking of stats etc, I think its great and hope they do format all games that way.
Mamabear 02.12.10 at 1:24 pm
I dont like the look of them~doesnt enhance the game in anyway and is rather distracting IMO.
Lura 02.12.10 at 3:03 pm
This is what they’ve updated their News article to state:
Sheljin 02.12.10 at 7:27 pm
Well, finally got up the nerve to check out the black bars since I hadnt been on Pogo all week. How completely ugly. I guess Im lucky in that I didnt experience any of the problems others have had (knock wood) like the bars being on different parts of my screen, or obscuring chat, or making the game look smaller (though I do think, for instance, that in Crossword Cove, the bottom graphic did end up cut off a little bit). So, yes, I feel lucky that it could have been worse, but – seriously – I see no point to it. It is ugly (big black bars) and truly – were people have a huge amount of trouble finding jackpot totals or their own token totals? One of the wonderful things about Pogo, for me, was how beautiful so many of the games look. I liked the buttons.
Even the latest posting from Lura (thanks, Lura!) makes no sense – it is still only talking about bottom bars (games I checked have both top bottom) and they say only a few games – whereas both games I went into today – Crossword Cove MGM – had them and are not on the list in the Pogo update article.
I will add my repeated gripe about Pogo – # 1, if it aint broke, dont fix it and I agree with many here that it is not like they dont have real issues to address. And # 2, they have a million ways to get news to us – why must these types of things ALWAYS come with no notice? I, too, am still miffed over earlier TP puzzles unilaterally, with no notice, just being removed from the site. I remember a time – back when they were getting rid of that awful Blackjack game, where they gave tons of notice, so people who had not done the weekly badges on it would have the time to do them before the game got discontinued. It showed foresight and concern about how people, their customers!, would feel. Instead of talking the talk, they need to learn how to walk the walk again.
Thanks for letting me rant……….
~Shel
Dst 02.12.10 at 7:29 pm
i for one dont mind the bars but i do know that people who have a cheat program and play pogo bowl are very upset because they cant get any strikes now lmao i wish pogo would find a way to stop these cheaters
Randy F. 02.12.10 at 8:27 pm
20 walla99362 – I always run my browser at 100% zoom…nothing more, nothing less.
39 cpurnellt – I shouldnt have to resize my screen for the new changes to not look wonky. I am an advanced web developer by trade, and I can tell you that these changes were not developed or implemented properly. These days, there are many ways to make websites work with everyones browsers and screen resolutions without asking the website consumers to make changes to the way they browse. In other words, a website of Pogos magnitude should not be making such amateur mistakes.
LINDA ISENHART 02.12.10 at 10:12 pm
I DONT LIKE THE BLACK BAR DOWN AT THE BOTTOM OR TOP OF THE SCREEN HAD TO ADJUST LIKE THEY TOLD ME TO AND I HAVE BAD EYES AND I CANT HARDLY SEE THE CARDS AT ALL.USED TO LOVE PLAYING BINGO IN POGO BUT NOW I HATE GOING IN THE ROOMS GUESS ILL HAVE TO TRY SOMETHING ELSE THAT I CAN SEE.THANKS POGO
Sheljin 02.13.10 at 1:19 am
I am wondering if, as I think someone else said above, this wont end up being something about Facebook. I read an article on MSN today about the last changes in Facebooks upgrade coming online – seems just a bit too convenient to me. Thanks Randy F #59 for addressing what I had been thinking (but I dont have the professional expertise). I wondered why were constantly being told we can only use X or we have to do Y to our computers / screens. And to have help saying something different from the news page – well, it really doesnt give you much confidence in Pogo and who is running it these days.
~Shel
Shirley 02.13.10 at 12:24 pm
I know about progress, etc., but I believe if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. An example: Toyota.
Maxine 02.13.10 at 3:46 pm
I do not like the black bars. It makes the game look smaller to me. Just leave things as they were.
Joyphoto 02.13.10 at 5:37 pm
I hate the black bar…..come on guys…its not only ugly its not even user friendly….lets go back to the old way. Change is not always for the best.
Leta 02.14.10 at 1:22 am
Yeah, it threw me off too, its not on all rm.s. Id like to know how to fix the zoom to be able to chat.
Kaye 02.14.10 at 2:21 pm
I’ll weigh in and say I HATE the bars…….. The ones with the buttons that were skinned to fit in with the game were MUCH better.
But then I LOATHE the “publidh this on fb” label on my badges too.
Why do I have the feeling this is something to accomodate those who want to play the games through FB maybe?
But it makes the games look generic and the screen does seem to be smaller to accomodate them.
slycat001 02.14.10 at 3:08 pm
Oh my pogo……………..they are forever making changes, why cant they leave things alone – they were fine just the way they were. I very much dislike the black bars that have rearanged the volume and badges and such, it makes the games more difficult some how for me to navigate, almost like they are in the way.
Dody 02.15.10 at 8:56 pm
I do not like the black bar Will probably have to quit playing pogo games
lordie29 02.15.10 at 11:00 pm
i would like my current rank to be displayed in game screens!
Thank You
Lori
ELL 02.15.10 at 11:13 pm
For Beth #51 In TP if you want to pause game right click on any name in room right AFTER you answer a question as if you were going to see profile etc when you want to start again just click anywhere on the screen and the game will resume.
tigger 02.16.10 at 2:00 am
dody, its only certain games, for now…
jeannette 02.16.10 at 9:40 am
wtg
Carol 02.16.10 at 10:43 am
New bars, old bars, candy bars, corner bars. Makes no difference to me. I am under the assumption they were installed to make more room for the chat bar, which makes sense to me. They’re, I find, really, make no difference. I’m ss for all of you that are having trouble with them. Nevertheless, gla on getting all your badges!
All have a great week and GBUA!
Carol
Lisa 02.16.10 at 9:59 am
Thats a reall good idea lordie29.
sue 02.16.10 at 10:42 am
I didn’t even notice the change and had to go back and look. Seems great to have the bars. Will standardize the location of those things. Less clutter in game and info is readily available. I like it, but doesn’t seem like a big deal one way or the other.
Kay 02.16.10 at 11:44 am
I don’t like the black bars either but than pogo didn’t ask me.We are paying to play for badges and they should have atleast did a opinon poll like they do when we finish the badges for the week !I am totally a badge addict ! gl to all on the badges for this week !
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