July 2008

Electronic Arts has announced that Operation Mania (formerly rumored to be Operation Deluxe: Quest for the Funny Bone Badges) will be available on Pogo.com (both US and UK) in August and at retail stores for $19.95 in September. This downloadable, deluxe game will have 35 levels (ranks?), two modes of play, mini-games, and more. You’ll be playing as the up-and-coming surgeon Dr. Humerus, operating on everyone’s well-known body Cavity Sam. The multiplayer mode is described with “Overcrowded waiting rooms can be alleviated by referring patients to friends and family online.” Ranks will be achieved via story mode.

So far, we know there are six badges for Operation. The badges are as follows:

Happy Healer

Earn this badge by simply playing.

Polar Pediatrician

Reach Rank 1 to earn this badge.

Jungle GYN

Reach Rank 2 to earn this badge.

Desert Doctor

Reach Rank 3 to earn this badge.

City Clinician

Reach Rank 4 to earn this badge.

Super Surgeon

Reach Rank 5 to earn this badge.

Here are some screenshots:

Cavity Sam’s Got Butterflies in his Stomach!

Full Emergency Room - Gameplay Screenshot

Operation Mania - World Map (Various Hospitals)

The full press release about Operation Mania can be read here (PDF).

Here is pretty solid confirmation that Pogo has been secretly working on a downloadable, deluxe version of Pogo Bowl! Someone at Pogo let the cat out of the bag today by accidentally releasing a bowling ball mini goodie item to the mini mall. (It’s the fourth one featured below, and it shows up in the ‘goodies’ section of your closet in the mini mall.)

Here are the six bowling ball goodies you’ll be able to win for your mini when and if the game is released:

There are also full outfits (hairstyles and bowling league uniforms) for males and females:

Remember these mysterious, unreleased animal-themed badges? They have resurfaced as badges for the new ranks that will be added to Tri-Peaks Solitaire. Pogo will be adding 70 more ranks to Tri-Peaks Solitaire, bringing the total number of ranks to 100. The new badges are as follows:

Salamander Badge

Collect 2176 artifacts to achieve Salmander Rank (Rank 40) and earn this badge

Firemouth Badge

Collect 2492 artifacts to achieve Firemouth Rank (Rank 60) and earn this badge

Booby Badge

Collect 2957 artifacts to achieve Booby Rank (Rank 80) and earn this badge

Tarantula Badge

Collect 3562 artifacts to achieve Tarantula Rank (Rank 100) and earn this badge

With today’s release of casual clothes and amusement park items, you’ll be able to take your mini to Pogoland. These clever items are a nice way to celebrate the lazy days of summer, so grab your gems and tokens and head to the mini mall!

This release includes the women’s outfits Petite Fleur Dress, Silky Teal Top, So Soccer Mom, Tropical Shorts, Velvet Va-Va-Voom; and the men’s outfits Casual with a Twist of Style, Comfort & Ease, In Charge, Striped & Hyped, and Turbo Tank Top. The Pogoland goodies are Giant Stuffed Nelson, Giant Stuffed Pai Gow Panda!, Giant Stuffed Spike, Helpful Signpost, Hey, I’m Spike!, Pink Wisps of Heaven!, and Poppity Popcorn Maker. The backgrounds are Family Flume Ride, Main Street Magic, Pogo Coaster, Pogoland Dream, Poppit! Old School, Ready Steady Claw!, and The Mysterious Carousel!.

Today marks the fifth year of Club Pogo — as with every year so far, we’ve all (well Club members have) been awarded this special edition badge. You’ll see it in your Badge Album under Special Edition Badges.

Over the five years, Pogo has created 38 Club-exclusive games, over 1500 badges, and tons of mini items (and pets)! You’re also among over one and a half million Club Pogo members — pretty cool, huh?

Don’t forget that also as part of the celebration Pogo has put some mini items on sale for 20% off and over 50 mix and match badges are on sale too.

Squelchies - Sea Creature Badge
Make a Combo of 3 or more groups of Squelchies 60 times this week! (Each combo must be a 4X Bonus or better)!

Here are some hints and tips directly from Pogo for a similar challenge!

Pinochle - Royal Marriages Badge
Create 12 Royal Marriages (King and Queen in the trump suit) this week!

A few of our readers have written in to ask if the Pogo beta tester letters have gone out yet. A quick scan of the Pogo fan forums shows that yes, a round of invitations has gone out already over the weekend. However, in the past Pogo has sent out the acceptance emails in small batches so they may deal with users who have problems logging into their beta accounts. If you applied and didn’t receive an acceptance email yet, don’t fret — there’s still a chance you may be invited at a later date.

Coming soon for our minis will be fun alien-themed items. There are some static backgrounds with soft scenes of aliens and alien terrain. There’s also a ray gun and an alien robot that will be available as goodies. You’ll also be able to dress your mini in a full-body costume as an astronaut. Keep your eyes out for these fun items in an upcoming mini release.

Also, changes are in the works to the way that goodies and pets currently work — soon you’ll be able to choose which side of your mini (right or left) displays your goodie. That way you can always have a goodie and a pet in your current mini shots!

Remember Team Bingo? It seemed to have fallen off the radar among protestations and yawns screaming “not another bingo game?!?” But just recently, Pogo’s artists created a badge that appears to be a weekly challenge badge for Team Bingo, depicting a squirrel tightly holding a gigantic acorn.

Could it be the same acorn featured on Everyone Wins Bingo’s badges and game board? Time will tell!

Propping up our theory is the fact that the game has resurfaced in beta testing under the new name “Everyone Wins” Bingo. According to our (somewhat speculative) calculations, that particular badge should be used for one of the weekly challenges the week of September 24-30th. This would mean the game would have to be released sometime in September at the latest, given that it’d need a week or two of Pogo’s “sneak peek” status to work out the kinks prior to the challenge.