The smiley mini items we had told you about earlier will be released tomorrow, according to the first March issue of Pogo Insider! Here are the graphics used in the Insider:
From the category archives:
coming soon/rumors
Pogo has created several new backgrounds and mini items that have a relaxation/spa vacation feel. (Remember the Dr. Kathleen Hall items? Like those, only much classier.) There are scenes from what appears to be a mountain retreat, a beach, and an infinity pool overlooking the ocean. The mini goodies include candles, a small round cushion, a mortar and pestle (looks more like a chilled bottle of champagne to us, heh), and a relaxing water feature fountain. There is also a yin-yang t-shirt, a silk robe (pink for women, light blue for men), and a yoga outfit in darker shades. Expect these to be released in the near future.
And do you remember the “Life of the Party” lampshades that were released a while ago? They’re coming back for a while, too. Expect those in the near future as well.
Betty alerted us to this bit of Mahjong Safari information, from today’s Pogo News:
In anticipation of the upcoming game Mahjong Safari, Pogo.com will be retiring Animal Ark Mahjong. Mahjong Safari is an exciting new twist on traditional Mahjong where players make matches, collect power ups, complete safaris, and give gifts to other players. Also, players can customize the tilesets that they use, and Club Pogo players can collect 50 additional tiles for their Mahjong sets. 130 different animals are featured in the game. Look for it soon!
Luckily for all of us, Mahjong Safari is nothing like Animal Ark Mahjong (good riddance)!
We’ve seen some of a set of really wonderful mini backgrounds and mini goodies that are Pogo-themed. The backgrounds are scenes of Thousand Island Solitaire, Bingo Luau, Sweet Tooth 2, and Hangman Hijinks. There are also some coordinating mini items: a beach ball and baby in a crib that are stylized like Hangman Hijinks and a Tumble Bees honey pot. We’re guessing these will be awarded in Pogo Addiction Solitaire or will be on sale at the time of its release. We’ll fill you in when we see more of the set or when we find out how these can be acquired!
The How to Play help pages for Mahjong Safari have been written. It’s a version of Mahjong Connect (or Connect 2) that requires you to match tiles by connecting pieces with a line of two or fewer turns (bends).
The game will have 50 ranks, 5 in-game rank badges, and two secret badges (which aren’t much of a secret to those of us in the know). At each rank you’ll receive a rank tile displayed in your game window, and you’ll receive another tile to add to your collection. You’ll rank up not by winning a game, but by receiving jackpot spins at the end of your game — jackpot spins are awarded when you collect 10 mini-animals. On easy mode you receive 2 mini-animals per game, normal gives 3, and hard mode gives you 4 mini-animals per game; however there are more tiles on the board at higher difficulty modes.
This game will be available to Club Pogo members and non-Club members as well. It’ll be a nice addition to Pogo’s already-massive collection of Mahjong-style games.
The Ali Baba Slots makeover is almost done — the artwork for the game has been created and the artwork for the badges is all set. The badges will be awarded at ranks 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50. There may also be a special in-game award badge, but that hasn’t been confirmed yet. Considering the game is based on the same “engine” as Spooky Slots (so it won’t need much beta testing — if any) and that the artwork and how to play appear to be done, this game may be out faster than anyone expected!
Pogo has posted a tidbit about Monopoly Here & Now on their News page. As we already knew, the game will feature cities from around the world instead of properties on the board. When the game is released in fall on Pogo, it’ll feature “customizable game rules, unique player icons, spectacular sound effects and rich graphics from the World Edition board game.” As it’s in development, you can vote for your favorite city to be featured on the board game and in Pogo’s version.
It feels like the news this week has been slow, but we think it might be that we’ve had a whirlwind of rumors and information since the new year! A few noteworthy items from the past few days that didn’t deserve a full blog post:
We caught wind that Pogo is redesigning the game room selection pages.
We also heard that Sudoku Puzzle Blast was pretty much done and that it’ll be out “soon” (yes, Pogo actually used the word “soon” again).
And speaking of soon… This week’s Letters to the Editor had us in stitches! Short and to the point, a user wrote in with the question “So… when exactly is Word Riot coming back?” Of course, the Editor’s response was not exact, nor anything we couldn’t have gleaned from previous Editor writings on the topic: “I can’t give you an exact date, but I can say that it will be coming out in the nearish future!” (Insert a collective sigh…)
Did you notice the golf caddy in the latest Pogo Insider? WeatherDude did! In addition to this character (who is from the upcoming Golf Solitaire game), the latest Pogo Insider is decorated with a lot of puzzle pieces. Perhaps it’s a nod to the also-upcoming Sudoku Puzzle Blast? Anyway, here’s a screenshot of the header:
Pogo hasn’t posted the latest Insider to their web site yet, so if you haven’t seen it for yourself, check back here and we’ll update this post with a link when it arrives.
As we reported earlier, Mahjong Safari will have two ’special’ badges in addition to the five game award badges. You can receive one of them for making 50,000 matches of tiles and the other for giving 1,000 gifts to other players (gifts, like in Word Search Daily). The 50,000 matches badge shows a ladybug tile and the 1,000 gifts one is a present wrapped up in animal-print paper and tied with a bow.
