Giving Thanks for Thanksgiving!
November 5, 2009
Whet your appetite for the big upcoming holiday with Thanksgiving themed Mini backgrounds, goodies and more!

Be sure to check out some of the backgrounds that pay tribute to the Native Americans and nature!

And don’t miss out on Allie, the Siberian Tiger! She’s the Pet of the Month for November!

First Class Solitaire – Classy Magician Badge
Complete 25 foundation stacks in 3 weeks!
Win this badge plus 2000 tokens!

Golf Solitaire – Surprise Swing Badge
Play a perfect hole 20 times in 3 weeks! (Remove every card from the playing field to play a perfect hole)
Win this badge plus 3000 tokens!

Thousand Island Solitaire – Circus Cannon Badge
Play 1000 cards in 3 weeks!
Win this badge plus 3000 tokens!

Aces Up! – Aerial Amazement Badge
Win 10 hands in 3 weeks!
Win this badge plus 2000 tokens!

Tri-Peaks Solitaire – Mystic Chest Badge
Get a ‘10 Card Streak’ or better 15 times in 3 weeks!
Win this badge plus 3000 tokens!

World Class Solitaire – Clowning Around Badge
Visit 8 cities in 3 weeks!
Win this badge plus 2000 tokens!

Rainy Day Spider Solitaire – Trapeze Net Badge
Win games without using 10 Bonus Free Cells in 3 weeks! (Each unused Bonus Free Cell counts after winning the game)
Win this badge plus 2000 tokens!

Payday FreeCell – Royal Revue Badge
Win 5 games in 150 moves or less in 3 weeks!
Win this badge plus 3000 tokens!

Perfect Pair Solitaire – Perfect Present Badge
Make 50 perfect matches in 3 weeks! (You must win the game for perfect matches to count)
Win this badge plus 2000 tokens!

Addiction Solitaire – Wild Ride Badge
Give 1 Token Gift in 3 weeks!
Win this badge plus 2000 tokens!

Cirque du Solitaire Super Badge – Album Completion

Also, if you’re a Solitaire lover and haven’t purchased it yet, Pogo has put the Solitaire Playland album on sale for 50% off to coincide with the release of this new album!

Did you buy this one? Do you like it? How long did it take? Do you have any hints or tips for your fellow Pogo fans regarding this album? Talk about it in the comments below!

Jigsaw Treasure Hunter – Broken Drawer Badge
Solve a puzzle on any Skill Level in 15 minutes or less!
Win this badge plus 1,000 tokens.

KenoPop! – Rollin’ Around Badge
Play any power-up 30 times in 2 weeks! (Finish the game to check your progress.)
Win this badge plus 3,000 tokens.

Mahjong Garden – Paper Dragon Badge
Remove 1000 tiles using the ‘Geometric’ tile set in 5 days!
Win this badge plus 2,000 tokens.

Mini Golf Madness – Mini Clubs Badge
Hit 50 Birdies in 2 weeks!
Win this badge plus 2,000 tokens.

Pogo Bowl – Turkey Ball Badge
Get 5 Jackpot Spins in 1 day! (Bowl 150 or better to earn a Jackpot Spin)
Win this badge plus 2,000 tokens.

SCRABBLE – Letter Factory Badge
Earn 25 Triple Letter Scores in 5 hours!
Win this badge plus 3,000 tokens.

Sweet Tooth 2 – Sweetener Badge
Win 25 games in 10 days!
Win this badge plus 3,000 tokens.

Tri-Peaks Solitaire – Tri, Tri, Tri, Again Badge
Get a 10-card streak or better 3 times in 3 days!
Win this badge plus 2,000 tokens.

Word Whomp Whackdown – Surprise Whack Badge
Find 100 words in 5 days! (Words from the Main Round and the Speed Round count)
Win this badge plus 2,000 tokens.

World Class Solitaire – Fear of Flying Badge
Get 25 powerups in 3 days!
Win this badge plus 2,000 tokens.

Yahtzee Party! – Party Planner Badge
Roll 5 Yahtzees with ‘fives’ in 2 weeks! (Free Play and Super Yahtzees do not count)
Win this badge plus 2,000 tokens.

Also, look for a special edition animated mix-n-match badge later this month.

Pogo forums

It’ll be interesting to see how these forums turn out, especially over time after the novelty wears off. Just a few weeks ago, we discussed the possibility of Pogo adding forums in our weekend open thread. Do you all still feel the same way?

What do you think of this? Chime in with your comments below.

If you’ve previously used a Pogo Facebook app — such as the Pogo Games Fanatic app — your accounts are probably “connected”. One way to check if your account is connected is to visit your Profile Privacy Settings (Guestbook, Guestbook Settings, Profile Privacy bar) and look for the section about Facebook. For the purposes of this article, I’ve created a fake Facebook profile (first name Badge, last name Fairy) and am connecting it to a previously-established Pogo profile.

If your settings include the information in the screenshot above, your Facebook and Pogo accounts are connected. By default, the box to use your photo and name from Facebook is unchecked. (Yay privacy!) If you do not see the Facebook information in your Profile Privacy settings, your accounts are not connected.

As you can see, for a connected account, as long as the checkbox is not checked, your Facebook information (read: your name) will not be displayed on your profile when others view it. The drawback to this is that your Facebook friends will not be able to find you automatically and add you as a friend on Pogo. You can still always just tell them your username and have them add you the “old-fashioned way”.

Once your account is connected to Facebook, when you view your profile you will see this box:

Don’t panic! As long as that checkbox up there is unchecked, you are the only one who can see this information. If you were to check the box, anyone that has permission to see your profile (by default, everyone — but you can set those settings in the same place as the Facebook settings, see the screenshot above) will be able to see it too.

No matter if you’ve checked the checkbox or not, all connected accounts will display the Facebook ‘f’ icon next to their profiles in others’ friends lists:

Now, on to the fun stuff! If your accounts are connected (it doesn’t matter if your name and photo are being displayed on your Pogo profile or not), you can share badges you’ve earned on your Facebook profile. To do so, go to Badge Central and visit “My Collection”. Choose a badge you’d like to flaunt, and click the small Facebook ‘f’ icon next to it. You’ll be walked through the posting process and voila, your badge will show up on your Wall and on your friends’ home pages:

The option to publish a badge to Facebook is also available in the pop-up window when you earn a badge. You may want to be sparing with this feature, you have the ability to publish any number of badges you have ever earned or may earn in the future (the throttling is done by Facebook, but it’s not very strict). In writing this article, I spammed my Wall and friends list with 8 or 9 posts of the same badge, which would probably be pretty annoying to any Facebook friends you may have (good thing Badge Fairy has no friends)!

So, now that it’s working as intended (and your privacy is safe and secure once again), what do you think of these new features?

Today, Pogo rolled out even more integration with Facebook. There are a bunch of places the integration shows up and in some cases it’s completely automatic. If you have an account on Pogo and on Facebook, you may need to take some steps to protect your personal privacy.

So, why is any of this a problem (and why are some Pogo users totally outraged at this change)? As we’ll show you later, if you previously used a Pogo Facebook app, your account is already linked and as of today your real name will be shown on your Pogo profile, which is by default a public profile. In other words, if you did nothing more than check out a Facebook Pogo app, your privacy is probably at risk.

Set aside people who didn’t want their Pogo friends knowing their real name (or Facebook users who didn’t want their boss or other friends knowing how much time they spend on Pogo) — there are even larger personal privacy issues at hand. Mix in Pogo’s large number of underage/teenage users and their propensity for trying out a ton of Facebook apps on a whim. You can be sure pedophiles and creeps around the world are rejoicing that they now have the full, real name of the young girl they have been flirting with via Pogo in their teen rooms.

Let’s look at how the integration has played out on Pogo’s pages and how you can reclaim your privacy if you want. If you’re a Facebook user, a small F logo will appear next to your name in your friends’ friends list.

This is apparently automatic (based on your email address), but your profile should’t display any of your personal information unless you want it to (unless you’ve used a Pogo Facebook application in the past and previously linked Pogo and Facebook). Removing the connection between Facebook as outlined below will remove this icon from next to your name.

If you want to turn on full Facebook integration, just visit your Guestbook, then Guestbook Settings, then use the Profile Privacy dropdown tab. Check the box for Facebook integration and you’re all set.

If your Facebook and Pogo aren’t linked at all and you would like them to be, there’s a box on your profile that will allow you to connect the two. This button also appears on your Friends List if you have no pre-existing connection between Facebook and Pogo.

If you’re a little more concerned about your personal privacy and would like to turn it all off, be sure to also visit your profile page and you’ll notice a new Facebook box. You’ll want to choose “Remove Link with Facebook” to completely remove your identifying Facebook data from Pogo. Once you confirm by choosing the Disconnect button, you will see the box above. This will also remove the setting entirely from your Profile Privacy settings.

There are features (benefits?) to this connection, such as publishing badges you’ve earned to Facebook. You can find full instructions for connecting, disconnecting, displaying badges, adding friends and more on the Facebook Connect FAQ on Pogo. (We can’t find a direct link to the Facebook Connect FAQ on Pogo, so here’s a paste of its text.)

What is Facebook Connect?
Facebook Connect allows you to connect your Pogo account to your Facebook account. By doing this, you can:

* Add Facebook friends with Pogo accounts that have also gone through the connect process to your friends list.
* Invite your Facebook friends to check out Pogo.
* Let all of your Facebook friends know you’ve won a weekly badge by publishing the achievement to your Facebook news feed! To do this, simply visit your badge album and click the Facebook icon next to the desired badge (this feature is only available to Club Pogo users).

How do I connect my Pogo account to my Facebook account?
There are two places where you can connect your Pogo and Facebook accounts: your profile page and your My Friends page. On each of these pages is a button that reads “Connect with Facebook.”

If I connect my Pogo and Facebook accounts, do I have to show everyone on Pogo my Facebook profile picture and name?
No. While connecting your accounts, you will be asked if you want to display your Facebook profile picture and name.

* If you DO want to display your Facebook information, make sure the box is CHECKED. Your Facebook photo and name will appear on your profile page. Your Pogo friends that have also connected with Facebook will be able to find you and add you to their friends list.
* If you DO NOT want to display your Facebook information, make sure the box is UNCHECKED. Your Facebook photo and name will not appear on your profile page. Your Pogo friends that have also connected with Facebook will not be able to find you during the Facebook Connect process.

You can also change this setting on the My Account page. From there, click the Edit Profile Privacy and Guestbook Settings link. You can change your Facebook privacy settings in the Profile Privacy box.

How can I invite my Facebook friends to join Pogo?
During the Facebook Connect process, you will be prompted to invite your Facebook friends to check out Pogo. However, if you want to invite friends after you have already connected, simply visit your My Friends page and click the Add Facebook Friends button.

When I click the “Add Facebook Friends” button on the “My Friends” page, I don’t see all of my Facebook friends that have Pogo accounts. How come?
This popup only shows your Pogo and Facebook friends that have connected their accounts and set their Facebook profile to be visible. However, keep checking back!

Can I publish Pogo activity to my Facebook news feed?
Yes. However, only weekly badge activity can be published at this time. Weekly badges can only be earned by Club Pogo members.

Are weekly badges automatically published to Facebook after they are earned?
No. To publish a weekly badge to your Facebook news feed, visit your badge album. Next to the badges you have won, you will see a Facebook icon. Click this icon to publish the badge to your Facebook news feed.

I keep seeing a popup that tells me my Facebook account is already connected to a Pogo account. What is going on?
If you are logged into Facebook as someone other than yourself (this happens a lot on shared computers), you will see this popup. Click the Logout of Facebook button at the bottom of the popup and you will be prompted to log back into Facebook with your own username and password.

I tried to add a Facebook friend as a Pogo friend, but I see a popup telling me that I have reached the maximum number of friends. How can I add more friends?
If you are a free Pogo member, you can add up to 30 friends to your friends list. Club Pogo member can add up to 200 friends. You also have the option to delete friends from your friends list to make room for new ones.

Can I log into Pogo with my Facebook username?
No. You must register a unique Pogo account to log into the site.

I have multiple Pogo accounts. Can I connect them all to my Facebook account?
No. Only one Pogo account can be linked to a Facebook account, so choose wisely! However, if you change your mind, you can always disconnect a Pogo account from your Facebook account and connect a different Pogo account.

How do I disconnect my Pogo and Facebook accounts?
On your profile page in the Facebook module, you will see a Remove Link with Facebook link. This only appears if you have connected your Pogo and Facebook accounts and you are logged into Facebook. Click the link to disconnect your Pogo and Facebook accounts.

If you disconnect your accounts, any Facebook friends that you have added to your Pogo friends list will remain.

If you are excited about this Facebook Connect stuff, you’re in luck because there seems to be more on its way. The higher-ups at EA seem to be really, really into the potential traffic and monetary benefits to Facebook and other social networking connections. According to this article, EA’s COO states “We’ve seen some very creative developers move to social gaming and deliver experiences that are generating a lot of eyeballs on sites like Facebook and MySpace,” he tells us. “The traffic has attracted a lot of attention — and dollars — from the investment community.” Of course, EA and Pogo want a piece of it.

Coincidentally, we finally got around to publishing our BadgeHungry fan page, so feel free to become a fan if you’d like. All twitter posts will be replicated there to start and we’ll see about adding more features in the future.

Update 4:40pm EST: We just got an official update from Pogo: “We are adjusting the privacy to be ‘Private’ by default, fix should come tonight.”

Update 6:08pm EST: Just got another update: “The facebook connect feature has been turned off until the privacy issue has been fixed, tonight.”

Due to an overwhelming number of requests to be able to discuss this topic, comments are now open (perhaps only for a limited time). Please be nice to each other, be patient with Pogo, and be kind to your moderator (who still won’t be approving off-topic comments or anything that gets too heated). Thank you!

Rank 10 – Excellent Ensign Badge

Rank 20 – Loyal Lieutenant Badge

Rank 30 – Clever Commander Badge

Rank 40 – Capable Captain Badge

Rank 50 – Astounding Admiral Badge

Battleship Bomber Badge
Sink 2500 Battleships to earn this badge.

Terrifically Tenacious Badge
Miss 50000 times to earn this badge.

If you’d like to add your hints or tips for ranking up or if you’d like to discuss this new game, leave a comment below.

If you need some help on this course, HomelessDog has submitted some hole-in-one screenshots!

FYI: The badge album doesn’t show the course badge for this one yet. Is it even available? Will it be? Only time will tell.

Update 10/20/09: The course badge for Creature Feature has been released. You can view this badge and all of the other badges available for this game at our Mini Golf Madness Ranks and Badges page.

Creature Feature Course Badge

Spooky Slots – 2009 Halloween Limited Edition Badge
Win 500 tokens from the Free Spin Bonus in 3 days! (The Free Spin Bonus is triggered when the Ghost symbol stops on the reels) Win this badge plus 2,000 tokens.

Just FYI, the original requirements for this badge were “Spin the reels to get 3 Spiders 5 times in 1 day!” Thankfully Pogo decided to loosen up a little bit and make this based on the free spin bonus and not 3 spiders which probably would have been near impossible!

Don’t forget to check out our Upcoming Badges page for a preview of the Halloween weekend challenge coming up later this month!