a pogo.com fansite and blog

This update is short and sweet: Pogo is very seriously considering creating (…wait for it…) PETS for our minis. Animal-lovers rejoice!

The rules for Word Riot Deluxe are available now. Explained in these rules are the differences between the three modes: Classic, Rally, and Expert.

A big difference between the modes is the type of clue that can be given. In Classic mode, clues can be any 8 letters that don’t reveal the secret word. In Rally, the clue must be a dictionary word that doesn’t reveal the secret word (and there’s an auto-spell window that helps players enter valid clues and guesses). In expert mode, there are a variety of clue formats, including phonetics, rhyming, antonyms, “bacon” (a clever way of wrapping your clue with the capitalized first and last letters of the secret word), chewy (relational hints), ABC’s and Anything Goes. The current game setting will be displayed at the beginning of every game to help avoid confusion.

In addition, there is not a single mention of players being able to kick or boot other players from the game. Let’s hope all of these clue types will help alleviate a lot of the problems of the former version of the game.

If you were interested in picking up the Calming Candles but couldn’t get them because they were sold out last week: they’re back, completely stocked, and free!

Also, the Winter Thaw background has returned from its disappearing act, and it’s back in the closets of its previous owners, but it isn’t available for purchase as we had hoped. Insert sad face here.

Have you ever attended an Amazing Minis social night, only to sit in the room for several hours without ever seeing a judge? Well, it hasn’t happened too often, but it was a problem last week. (The Amazing Minis socials are where the Pogo Hot Shots are chosen by Pogo judges.) You’d think if this was really a problem, Pogo would grant the judges special access, but apparently not. This week, Pogo has posted a note in their social listing under each Amazing Minis social blurb:

“Please note: If rooms fill up, the Mini Judge can not get into the room. So, please try to enter a room that is not full– AND DO NOT USE “BACKDOORS!” Unfortunately, if a room is full and judges can’t get in, they may have no other choice than to skip the room. Also– PLEASE DO NOT FOLLOW THE JUDGES! That takes up space in the room, and players seen in more than one room will not be made Hot Shots.”

It’s confirmed: there will be a weekend challenge in KenoPop! in May. Here’s the breakdown!

KenoPop! - Poppin’ Tokens Special Edition Badge
Win 4,000 tokens this weekend!
(Play between Friday, May 2 and Monday, May 5!)

The name “Plate Spinner” did seem a little weird, we’ll admit. The latest word on the street is that Pogo will be changing the new game’s name to something else before release, but they haven’t decided what it’ll be yet. We’ll let you know as soon as we hear word of its new name.

Start your engines folks, Pogo wasn’t kidding when they said there were tons of mini items coming soon. There will be tons of animated mini backgrounds and two new “wheelchair outfits” in the mini mall in the coming months. There’s a pimped-out “Motor Wheels” outfit (think of an offroad wheelchair) and the backgrounds all feature different types of racing: a photo finish in Nascar, dune buggies, and and “Monster Truck Mania”. There are some related goodies as well.

This is probably unrelated, but Pogo has also created some outfits for men and women. We’ve seen two short-sleeved tops for the ladies: one patterned yellow and grey and the other is white with large grey polka dots. A coordinating pair of wide-legged trousers has been created as well. The men will get a striped grey polo as well as a pair of white pants.

It’s Game Night! Pop in and play Sudoku Puzzle Blast for a chance at winning a $50 gift card. Non-club members will be eligible to win doubled jackpots (up to $4,999), too.

From the mini backgrounds and goodies we’ve seen (and knowing that Hasbro and Pogo have aligned to bring Hasbro favorites to Pogo), we can tell you that Scrabble is coming to (Club?) Pogo soon!

In addition, we can confirm this news with this Electronic Arts job listing (and a couple others) that mentions Scrabble as coming to Pogo as a result of the Hasbro deal. “Join one of Electronic Art’s fastest growing divisions - Pogo.com! Pogo has rapid expansion plans for the coming year. As a result of a multi year deal with Hasbro, Pogo will be adding branded games such as Monopoly and Scrabble.”

The most interesting part of this scoop is that in January 2008, Hasbro had started the process of shutting down Scrabulous, a site where you can play Scrabble online. Scrabulous has since removed all mention of the word “Scrabble” from their site, however the game remains the same, more or less a direct copy/clone of Scrabble. Scrabulous got a lot of their notoriety through their Facebook application and when Hasbro came after Scrabulous, Facebook users created a group called “Save Scrabulous!” (You can find more information on the Scrabulous Wikipedia page).

Lately, Pogo has been positioning itself on Facebook. And now that Pogo and Hasbro are creating a version of Scrabble for online play, could this be the death knell for Scrabulous? Only time will tell…