Is it really Friday again? Time sure flies when people are bickering in Bingo Luau! Also, there was a lot of news this week so don’t forget to scroll down the homepage (and maybe even click through to older entries) to see if you missed anything. I’ve been a busy (buzy?) little bee.

Jan in Denver writes: “Seeing all the interesting screen names folks come up with, I’m wondering about the stories behind how each came up with their screen name.” Let us know how you picked your Pogo username in a comment below. If you’re not comfortable sharing yours, you can either creatively mention its origins or you can bring up another topic entirely. It’s up to you.

As usual, you should also use this thread to ask questions or talk about topics that didn’t fit in anywhere else this week. You can ask for help on a badge or offer your help to others, anything goes. There’s no such thing as “off-topic” on the weekend open threads! :)

See you in the comments!

It’s been a badge-filled week, with the Yahtzee badge that seems to be more time-consuming (and probably more frustrating for most people) than other weekly badges plus the personal challenge marathon — things might be a little quiet around here with all of you working to get all five badges done! If you’re still working on your badges, there are some good hints and tips in the weekly challenge thread.

And don’t forget: if you’d like some company either for completing badges in this week’s games or for ranking up, meet us in the following rooms: First Class Solitaire rooms under the Topics tab that start with the letter “V”, and Yahtzee Party rooms under Wild Mode, Fast Rooms, Temporary Rooms 51050 through 51055.

This weekend’s topic is courtesy of Curtie — expanding on her question (which was just about badges), in which games can you earn badges the fastest, and in which games can you earn tokens the fastest?

See you in the comments!

Thanks Austin for the heads-up on this one, we’d almost forgotten about it entirely.

*We love this. The site states “Let us know what you think! What games do you love, which games could be better? We welcome and encourage any feedback you might have.” However, there’s no link to contact them near that paragraph or anywhere else on the site. We guess you can just send your thoughts to editor@pogo.com.

This week was the first week we tried meeting up in game rooms to meet new people and keep each other company while doing our badges. (It’s not too late to get started either — for this week’s challenges in Boggle Bash and Word Search Daily we’re meeting up in rooms under the Topics tab that start with the letter “M”.) I have had pretty good success running into BadgeHungry readers while working on badges — I was glad to meet some new folks and say hi to long-time readers as well! How’s it been working out for you all? Is there any way we can improve on the whole experience?

This week’s discussion topic comes from Mike. He wants to know: Have you won a money jackpot in Pogo, what game was it, and how did you spend the money when you got the check from Pogo? I suspect that actual money jackpots are pretty rare, so if you have won anything at all from Pogo, please feel free to share that too!

As usual, you can feel free to go off-topic in this thread and ask any burning questions you may have about Pogo. If you need help with a badge or have a question please don’t hesitate… we’re here to help!

See you in the comments!

Welcome to a very special Valentine’s Day edition of the Weekend Open Thread! I went digging through the archives to get inspiration from the weekend open thread from around Valentine’s Day last year and last year’s thread had a total of 26 comments. These days we get that many comments within the first few hours! I am just so thrilled at how many of you have found your way here and how many come back each week to participate in what has become one of the most popular parts of this web site!

Donham123 wrote in with this week’s topic question and I’ll admit I almost didn’t use it because I didn’t think there’d be enough to talk about. But after reading about the very same topic on Facebook and on a special Pogo News article, I realized we’ll be just fine. So, without further ado:

Did you meet your sweetheart on Pogo or do you know of anyone who did?

Also, feel free to use this open thread to discuss anything and everything Pogo: ask questions, answer questions, share thoughts, et cetera!

See you in the comments!

Here’s some information if you’re unfamiliar with the beta-testing process:

Become a Pogo™ Beta Tester!
We’re looking for players to help us identify problems and give us feedback on games before they go live on Pogo. You’ll be a part of the super secret society whose goal is to make Pogo games more fun! Okay, so maybe it’s not a super secret society, but it is an opportunity to preview Pogo games and to take part in making the games you play everyday! As a Beta Tester you will get to:

* Play Pogo games before they are released
* Provide feedback and opinions on specific game features and game play
* Alert us to game bugs (problems)
* Hang out and play games with other Beta Testers

Good luck to everyone with your applications!

That groundhog wasn’t kidding this week — he popped out of his hole, saw his shadow, and predicted six more weeks of winter. Those six weeks are starting off with a bang: the East Coast is preparing for a monster storm. Snowmageddon ‘10, bring it on!

There have been a few promos this week that you might be interested in. If you haven’t seen all of the posts this week, be sure to check out the most recent posts in the promotions and events category; I’ve filed away a few coupon codes to save on Mix-n-Match badges, promos, and sweepstakes in there that you may have missed. Also, there’s a link for 25,000 free tokens for Valentine’s Day on the free tokens page!

I’m always asking people for suggestions for the upcoming weekend open thread topic questions and a few weeks back, Kevin B. suggested this great one:

Which game(s) made you become a Pogo member?

Let us know in a comment below, or feel free to ask any burning questions that didn’t fit in the other open posts this week.

See you in the comments!

We’re back! Welcome to the first weekend open thread of the new year! Thanks again for your patience while I went on maternity leave. It’s been a long and fun seven weeks for me, but things are pretty much back to normal (except my sleep schedule, ugh) and so these weekend open threads will run once again every Friday through Sunday. For those of you who haven’t participated in one before, the weekend open threads are your chance to ask any questions or leave comments about Pogo that you may have. We also provide a discussion question for those who just want to participate but don’t have any burning topics of their own.

This weekend’s question comes from Nephthys: have you ranked out in any Pogo games? If so, which one(s)?

Feel free to answer this question, ask one of your own, or have a discussion on anything Pogo-related in a comment below. See you in the comments!

The next PBA in development is Spike’s Casino. It’ll probably be released in January, but I’ll keep you posted if I hear otherwise. I will post the badges and their requirements later.

There’s a sweepstakes going on in Pogo Bowl for another few days. Play Pogo Bowl daily between December 15 – December 20 for chance to win $1,000 for you and a $1,000 for your favorite charity or a Portable Media Player and $10 gift card.

Several folks have written in wondering if Pet Society on Facebook is the replacement for Pogo Puppies, or at least the reason it’s retiring. “In the world of Pet Society, you and your pet can play games, decorate your house and even bring gifts to your friends! Enjoy many games and activities– play ball, jump rope, treasure hunt and partake in contests against other pets at the Pet Stadium!”

Until December 26, Pogo is having a sale on select Mini items and badges. It looks like you can get a lot of stuff for 25% off, including select M-n-M badges and all of the Premium Badge Albums (except Take a Trip).

Last, but not least: thank you SO MUCH to everyone who has sent in news and rumors so far. You guys rock! And keep ‘em coming! And thank you SO MUCH to everyone who sent in well-wishes and congratulations. We’re doing great, and just downright smitten with our new addition. Tired tired tired, but smitten. :)

So… I’m going to be taking some time off for myself and my family. This is only temporary and only for a short period of time.

This notice will remain at the top of the BadgeHungry home page until I’m back — don’t forget to scroll past this post for the latest news.

Things around here won’t change much for most of you, but the most frequent visitors will notice a few changes for a little while:

The Trivial Pursuit and Crossword Cove answers will still be posted regularly, however probably not as promptly as you’re used to. If the answers for the day haven’t been posted, please feel free to come back and try again later.

Weekend Open Threads will be suspended until I have time once again to devote to moderating the comments. If you have questions, please use the search box (on the right sidebar) to search for answers and information.

News may not be posted as immediately as you’re used to. I’ll do my best to gather the news and rumors that you send in and make informative posts as often as I have time. I’ll be relying upon all of you to help me keep our community of Pogo fans up to date! In addition, new threads won’t have comments open until I once again have full time to devote to the site.

And last, but not least, I won’t be able to answer email as promptly as usual and probably — for a little while — not at all. If your email doesn’t require a response, let me say thank you in advance.

I appreciate your understanding and patience while I’m more or less “afk” and I hope you all have a great holiday season.

With much love and happiness,

Lura

PS: it’s a boy! He arrived on 12/12! Thanks again for your patience while I take care of my new little man. :) Thanks for all of the well-wishes and congratulations!