Tiki Bros. Tip Talk – The Tikis Go Monthly

Green: Yeah Red, I noticed you circled today’s date on my calendar. Did you happen to notice that my calendar is an ERASABLE calendar and you wrote on it with PERMANENT ink??

Red: Of course I noticed! I’m not going to let you weasel your way out of it this time. I also circled the first Thursday for the next twelve months. The we’re going monthly.

Green: My poor calendar defiled! Oh no! Well I hope lots of people send good questions to The Tiki brothers so we have enough questions to answer.

Red: Uh oh! I’ll make sure I get the extra large basket put under the door to catch all the letters from Bob the Mailman.

Green: Sounds good! Now where’s my surf-board shaped letter opener? Oh here it is! I’ll read the first letter Red.

“Florida Crafter” Writes:
My favorite game is Sweet Tooth 2. I’ve tried all the tips suggested and I can’t play it, I have no problems with any other games. I have Windows XP Any Ideas?

Red: Well hello there Florida Crafter. The first thing I’d like to mention is that I don’t really think that Windows XP is specifically the reason you are having issues with this so that is good news. Having Windows XP does give us a clue though right Green?

Green: That’s right Red. Since you have XP, that indicates to us that you might have some out of date software on your system. Sweet Tooth 2 was recently changed into a Flash game instead of a Java game. It’s possible that your Flash Player is out of date and it could use a bit of attention.

Red: You can read our last article for hints and tips for Flash games. Especially look at the section about updating your Flash Player. Thanks for the question, and good luck!

Green: Ok Red, our next letter demands a simple yes/no answer.

mross1950 asks:
Will Word Whomp be like it used to be before it was turned into a Flash game? Will it run as smooth and look as nice. I would appreciate a simple “Yes” or “no”.

Red: Your answer is… “Yes…but”! Green and I covered this in our last article a bit, but to make a long story short, this game is a Flash game now and it may never be exactly one-hundred percent the same as it was before. We’ve done our best to make sure it is on par with the Java version. For many people the flash version works just as well as the Java version ever did. It really depends on your computer’s configuration and your perception of how well the old game used to work. I can tell you that we took down the original Flash version, tweaked it to make it faster, and the version out now is the one that is going to stay.

Wow, we’re on a roll Green, toss me out another!

Green: Dude! Why do you get all the fun? Let me answer one.

Red: Oh fine! Be that way.

Canasta Player asks:
I have been trying to play Canasta for the badge this week and I can’t seem to get into a game room. I go in and hit play and I can hear the game but cannot see the cards. I have tried cleaning out Java and Cache and it still doesn’t seem to help. Can you help me?

Green: Well Canasta Player, I know the badge is over, but it doesn’t sound like your issue is related to the badge, and we’d still like to help you get Canasta working properly. Canasta is kind-of funny. It has more cards on screen than any other Pogo game. Having all these cards can be a little taxing on your computer’s “graphic card” of all things. I won’t get too technical, but your graphics card is a part of your computer that processes all the images and graphics your computer produces. The card can go a little crazy when too many things are going on at once. One thing you can try is updating your video drivers on your computer.

Red: Our Friends over at EA have some great info and help on how to update your video drivers. It pretty much boils down to figuring out what video drivers you need, and then downloading and installing the latest version. See you at the Canasta table. I hope you see me there too! Heh heh! Green, your letter opening skills are so much greater than mine, would you kindly read the next question?

Green: Yeah right! You’re such a wimp! You just can’t deal with all the paper-cuts. I actually got two questions that are sort of related so here you are:

Phyllis asks:
Every since I got my new computer with Windows 7 when a game loads it is a small game not the normal size game as it was on my Windows XP. I don’t know why it loads this way.

Hello Tikibrothers,
I have to replace my XP computer soon but Windows 7 does not appear to support 800 x 600 screen resolution. When I run Pogo games in higher resolution I have trouble working with the reduced size. What can you suggest to resolve this issue?
-Shaaron

Red: I have sensitive fingers! Well Shaaron is on the right track with this. First off Phyllis, your new Windows 7 computer most likely has its resolutions settings set too high. The first thing you will want to try is reducing your desktop resolution a bit. On Windows 7 you should be able to “Safely” set your desktop resolution as low as 1024×768 without causing any problems. By setting a monitor resolution lower, objects including text and Pogo games will appear larger. Check out the Penguin Blocks section in this classic Tiki article to read more about adjusting your desktop resolution.

Green: Another thing you can do, if setting your screen to 1024×768 isn’t large enough for you is to try a built in feature for Windows 7 called “Magnifier”. Click on the Windows button and click “All Programs”. Open the “Accessories” folder then the “Ease of Access” folder. There is a program in there called “Magnifier”. Just run it and you will witness that everything under your computer mouse is magnified 200%! It’s almost like having Superman vision!

Red: If you’ve set the resolution as low as it can go and you’ve tried out the magnifier and it just isn’t working well for you, the last thing you might consider is treating yourself to a larger computer monitor. But trust us when we say anything over 25 inches is just way too large for most people. Green is still recovering from the face-sunburn from sitting 12 inches from a 48 inch monitor twelve hours straight!

Green: It was totally worth it too. I wish you didn’t make me return it! Aright let’s finish up this pile of letters up with an easy one shall we Red?

Prescdoll writes:
Hello; I need help. Why can’t I change the options on the table setting screen? Thank you very much.

Red: Oh you’re right you did find a question with an easy answer, but it’s equally easy to see what the confusion might be. This boils down to the fact that you can’t change the table settings of a game in progress. If you join a table game and then click on the table rules, you will see that all the options are grayed out. This allows you to see what the current game rules are, but you can’t change them. Simply close the game, then find an empty table and sit down. You will see the table options screen pop up and all the table settings should be available to change. Cool huh? Have fun Prescdoll.

Green: Great! We’ve reached the end of this Tiki Brothers Tip Talk, but honestly this is just the beginning. We want to read you’re burning questions and help you out. Having technical difficulties or just want to learn a new winning technique for Sweet Tooth!? Just email The Tiki Brothers and we can help! Now where is my turpentine? I need to fix my calendar!

Red: See y’all next month!