canasta

Today, Pogo has rolled out additional changes to Badge Central, and with those changes come December’s Mix-n-Match badges. Each badge and challenge costs 16 gems; this set of badges will expire on December 22, 2009.

Battle Phlinx - Original Prankster Badge
Win 5 team games in 2 weeks!

Canasta - Cool Shades Badge
Get 2 Jackpot Spins in 1 day!

Crazy Cakes - Needs More Frosting Badge
Serve 200 desserts in 2 weeks!

Dice City Roller - Dice Dice Revolution Badge
Play 500 dice in 2 weeks!

Hog Heaven Slots - Cloud Cover Badge
Collect 5 Hog Heaven symbols in 1 hour!

Jigsaw Treasure Hunter - Treasure Vault Badge
Solve 1 puzzle on the Hard Skill Level or higher in 30 minutes!

Jungle Gin - Chasing Waterfalls Badge
Win 6 hands IN A ROW in 3 weeks!

MONOPOLY Here & Now: The World Edition - Winter Parking Badge
Land on Free Parking 10 times in 1 week

Poppit! - Weighted a Long Time Badge
Use a ”weight” power-up 25 times in 2 days!

SCRABBLE - Good Wood Badge
Earn 20 Double Word Score Bonuses in 5 hours!

Stack ‘em - Welcome to Cloneybrook Farms Badge
Get 15 Jackpot Spins in 15 days!

Texas Hold’em Poker - Pocket Rockets Badge
Win 11 hands in 11 days!

Tri-Peaks Solitaire - Frost Peaks Badge
Clear 33 peaks in 3 days!

Word Whomp - A Little Wordy Told Me Badge
Win 15 games on Skill Level 3 in 3 weeks!

World Class Solitaire - Prepare for Takeoff Badge
Get 5 passport stamps in 5 days!

Here are the 7 Mix-n-Match badges and challenges that were released today:

Addiction Solitaire - Spike the Night Light Badge
Win 15 hands in 2 weeks!

Canasta - Canasta Basket Badge
Win 5 games with a “Frozen Pile” in 5 days! (”Players cannot ever pick up the discard pile” must be selected!)

Chess - Royal Spotlight Badge
Win 3 games IN A ROW in 3 days!

High Stakes Poker - Pairs on Fire Badge
Win 75 hands with a “2 Pair” or better in 10 days!

Jigsaw Detective - Pulp Detective Badge
Solve a puzzle on MEDIUM difficulty level in 20 minutes or less in 2 days!

Spades - Strong Arm Badge
Win 1 500-point RATED game in 1 week!

Sweet Tooth 2 - Gumball Machine Badge
Make a “Combo X2″ bonus or better 222 times in 2 weeks!

For those of you who have completed all of the Mix-n-Matches before this, you’ll be completing your 8th album with the first badge in this list. Pogo hasn’t created the 8th ’secret’ badge that you are supposed to receive for finishing the Mix-n-Match album, so you won’t get it…yet. However, Pogo reps have assured us that you’ll be automatically awarded the badge once it’s been created.

Phlinx - Valley of the Kings Badge
Make 5,000 matches this week!

Canasta - Tune In and Meld Out Badge
Meld out before your opponents 12 times this week!

Plus, it’s a Personal Challenge Marathon week, so catch up on any previous challenges you haven’t completed yet!

For those of you looking for “No Pile” Canasta games, you can now easily set up one via the options screen and you can now easily find one via an ice cube graphic in the table selection area.

For those of you who don’t want “No Pile” games, they should now be considerably easier to avoid.

Here is Pogo’s News Release on the “Frozen Pile” option.

We don’t have an in-house Canasta expert, so if you have any experiences with this new option, good or bad, drop us a line and let us know how it’s worked out so far.

Pogo may be testing out a new Canasta game option for players who want to further customize their gameplay. “Players cannot ever pick up the discard pile” will default to off, but can be checkmarked to prevent players from picking up cards from the discard pile. The option/rule would read as follows:

“Normally, players can pick up the discard pile if they have the required cards in their hand. If you would prefer to play a special game where the discard pile is permanently frozen and neither player can EVER pick cards from the discard pile, select this option.”

EDIT: This has been confirmed as an upcoming addition to Canasta, from today’s Letters to the Editor.

“GOOD NEWS FOR CANASTA PLAYERS! Soon, we will be releasing a “Frozen Pile” option in Canasta for those who enjoy the “no pile” version of Canasta. So– players can choose the “Frozen Pile” option in a game room (don’t click “Play Now”– choose a room to set up the options), and play the game so that nobody can pick up the pile (the game will not let you).”

The Card Masters premium badge album is back and it’s on sale for $2.99 (or 43 gems). It contains challenges and badges for Hearts, Pinochle, Bridge, Cribbage, Euchre, Spades, Canasta, and Jungle Gin, plus the Card Masters Super Badge for completion. It’ll only be available until March 10, so get it if you need or want it!

The following badges are on sale for 10 gems a piece, instead of 16.

Canasta - Love Scene Badge
Meld Out before your opponent 25 times in 2 weeks!

Canasta - 7000 Calorie Badge
Win 7,000 tokens (including Jackpot Spins) in 7 days!

Cribbage - 1 for His Nobs Badge
Score “1 for His Nobs” 10 times in 10 days!
(Get a Jack of the same suit as the Starter Card.)

Euchre - Euchre Champ Badge
Win 3 games IN A ROW in 2 weeks!

Hearts - Studmuffin Badge
Shoot the Moon 3 times in 2 weeks!

Jungle Gin - Chameleons in Love Badge
Score 500 Gin points (not tokens) in 5 days!

Jungle Gin - Owl Butterfly Badge
Underknock your opponent 5 times in 10 days!

Pinochle - Pinochle Melody Badge
Win your bid 50 times in 3 weeks!

Pinochle - Saxophone Envy Badge
Earn 5 Jackpot Spins in 5 days!

Canasta - Canasta Master Badge
Win 25,000 Canasta Points this week! (Canasta Points are not tokens. Click the Score button to see your points!)

Aces Up! - Aviator Badge
Remove 2,000 cards this week! (Finish the game to check your progress!)

This may be the earliest monthly Mix-n-Match yet! December’s challenges are out. The challenges are for Aces Up!, Canasta, Dominoes, Fortune Bingo, Jigsaw Detective, Texas Hold’em Poker, Thousand Island Solitaire, and Vaults of Atlantis Slots.

There are also two Limited Edition badges included that are on a limited release and have animated chat icons. These two are for First Class Solitaire and Word Whomp and will only be available until January 1, so get crackin’!