Wheelie Minis, Ritzy Blitz, Zesty Zuma, Challenging Chess and MORE!

New Wheels Make Me Happy!

Dear Pogo,

I was so excited to see a new Spring outfit for my wheelchair mini!

With so few changes of clothes she was getting a little funky! ROFL

Hope you all have a wonderful Summer.

You guys & gals at Pogo are the best.

You NEVER let me down. (((hugs)))

With love,

Mel-on-wheels

Dear Editor,

I’m not really a fan of Facebook or the games on it, but Solitaire Blitz has me hooked! Thank you for doing a promotion on it. I might never have found it otherwise. I

know you get a lot of requests and suggestions, but I’d like to add one to the list. Would it be possible to have a Mini Mall tneme of this game? I would absolutely love an animated Pearl the Mermaid as my mini. I think all the other characters would make excellent goodies whether animated or token.

Thank you for listening!

Solitaire Blitz Fan

Editor: Thank you for your letter! I have passed your suggestions along to the appropriate people. For those of you who haven’t read it – check out our chat with a couple of the guys responsible for the game: Interview with the Creators of Facebook Sensation Solitaire Blitz!

I just wanted to write and say that I’m loving the new look of the embedded games.

I love the tabs below the game that let you see how the game is played, pick your chat room, look at what people are discussing in the forum on that game, and see all the challenges possible to get for playing the game.

I’ve found the new layout to be extremely easy to use. I’ve been reading a bit on the forums where people are mostly complaining about the new look, and I’m shocked. Everything is right there on one page for us to use! I hope you continue to use this layout and change all of the games to reflect this new and improved look!

Thank you Pogo!!

Sincerely,

Embedded in Happiness

Editor: Thanks so much for your letter of support. While we agree with you (obviously), we have heard not only from players who don’t like the way it doesn’t pop out, but from folks having difficulty getting the games to load. We’ve identified a few bugs we’ll be fixing to address the technical issues, and we are looking at ways to appease those who don’t like the way the game no longer pops out.

Every once in a while you do something right… [grin]

Seriously about the passwords and hijacking.

The readers also need to know it is NOT just Pogo. It can happen to any account on the net if your password isn’t secure enough. I just had a junk account hijacked at hotmail. That is where I send all my “Prob going to be spam but they won’t let me in without signing up” mail. It was easy enough to get it back, and I killed the account because it was intended to be able to be junked at a moments notice which is exactly what I did. Why? I didn’t know what he or she did with it. It was free to begin with and nothing important was going to it.

But what if it was your bank account? Or your personal family email? Or your Walmart or Macy’s account?

Each one should have a different password and each should be just as hard to crack as you can make it.

Your Pogo hints were good but some will say ‘But my memory..”

There is an easy enough way around that. You simply get a password program that will save all your passwords. In the one I use, I only have to remember one password to get into that program. It is a very very difficult password to crack but very easy for me to remember. It backs up easily. I can transfer it between computers and best of all it’s free. Didn’t spend a dime. I just drag and drop my password and even my username for each account. There are a lot out there. Some free and some not. So I can have extremely strong passwords with a different password for each program and my KeePass keeps track of it.

Safety first. It’s better than crying after.

Editor: Thanks for your reminder. Indeed, your password is like the lock on the front door of your home. If you secure it with tape, it won’t keep people out. But if you get yourself a strong lock, then your stuff is safe (generally). What’s better, unlike a lock, a more secure password doesn’t cost anything more than a bad one.

The fact is that over time the password cracking software gets better. It used to be “don’t choose a password that’s in the dictionary” was good advice. Not anymore. Now they track common passwords, many of which aren’t in a typical dictionary. For instance, proper names, pop culture references, numerical sequences, etc…

So, the best passwords are the ones that are as unique to you as your finger print. “Ashley” won’t cut it.

We have had a rash of hijackings lately, and in every case the password was “guessable”. Incidentally, those who have a dash or an underscore in their screen name are targets.

We’ve put up the The Importance of a Secure Password! story back on the front page of the Pogo News and we’ll be reminding folks in our chat rooms to be sure to make sure they have a secure password.

Hello,

I didn’t think I would be writing this letter, but I wanted to let you at Pogo know how happy I am that you had a badge challenge this week in Zuma’s Revenge!

That game is SO much fun to play! Not only does it challenge our reflexes, coordination, and even peripheral vision, but it was an exciting game to play, and made the time go by so quickly! I have been playing it for the last two hours., and not only got my badge, but even finished off my “extra” lives after getting the badge!

Thanks again — I love challenges like this one, and probably would never have even tried playing Zuma’s Revenge had it not been for this badge challenge. It is so much more fun that throwing dice over and over to get past GO in Monopoly, lol!

My only complaint (you probably knew there had to be one) was that I couldn’t check my progress while playing the game, but had to go back to the main page to see where I stood.

Thanks again!

Editor: That’s great to hear, and we’re really happy that some of our newer games are getting showcased in our Weekly Challenges. We do plan to add chat to these games, so eventually you’ll be able to see your progress while you play.

Dear Editor and Entire POGO Staff,

Thank you for endless hours of fun, distraction, good company, challenges and opportunities for artistic expression via the Mini Mall!

Speaking of which, have you decided to discontinue releasing Limited Edition items? It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen anything new and I cannot help but notice that many of the newer items have not been “flying off the shelves.” My personal opinion is that the concept was designed to create a demand that exceeded supply. Since POGO members all pay the same amount for subscriptions I believe it is also fair to have equal access to purchasing all mini items. I was on vacation last fall when the items for the Thanksgiving season were released and did not have internet access. When I returned one of the things I would have liked to purchase was already sold out.

Now, my life is no way diminished because I missed that opportunity, but it made me realize that certainly, I wasn’t the only person to encounter that situation. It became clear to me that restricting the number of items available was not the most equitable way of running the mall. I submit this simply for your consideration.

Might I also add a “thank you” for this week’s Chess challenge, not because I like this game or even have any clear concept as to how to win. But, it did force me to stretch a bit to find some creative ways of completing the challenge and then gave me the opportunity to pass on what I learned to others in order to simplify their lives. My daughter was going to help me win by “throwing” the game but for some reason, she could not get into any of the chess rooms. A Pogo angel entered the room and told us about a series of moves that would guarantee a win against a Bot every time… and it WORKED! So, not only did I complete this week’s Challenge but I also got two older weekly Chess Challenges finished for my personals, all because a kind lady shared some info.

Yes, there are a few curmudgeons out there in Pogoland, but the many kind and considerate ones more than balance the equation. So, again, thank you for all your hard work and please know that any “missteps” in programming and/or execution of new concepts are overshadowed by the grand successes you have in providing hours of entertainment and giggles.

Blessings,

Dennie

Editor: Thanks so much for your thoughts. I have forwarded your feedback to the Mini Mall Deciders.

I LOVE CHESS, WHAT A GREAT BADGE, keep up the Challenges.

No one says life would be easy, and when you do get a challenging badge its much more rewarding.

Hi Editor,

I’m sure your mailbox has been flooded with comments about this Challenge.

This email is coming from one who is experienced with chess but feels that this Challenge was over the top for the average Pogo player. Chess is a very intricate, detailed, and complex game that, in reality, takes YEARS to master. I do not question the choice of the game, but rather the requirements of this particular Challenge. I read your 10 steps to winning this challenge and I think they are a bit unrealistic.

For one, chess is not a quick game. It’s Sunday night and I’m at 4/5 of my challenges, simply because one game lasts so long. So for you to ask someone who has never played chess before to lose, lose, lose, win, lose, lose, win, win, win is ridiculous.

That’s hours and hours of time spent losing and then just hopefully winning against a player who may or may not be willing enough to help them win a game. I agree with your recommendation to not play against the computer because even the computer is a fairly decent competitor, but playing against real people runs the risk of playing against great chess players, quitters, time takers, and those not at all willing to help.

So unless you know the game well, or are able to find someone really willing to help, I find this challenge exceedingly difficult for the average Pogo player. If chess challenges are involved in the future I think they should be more aimed at minor accomplishments such as pieces taken, turns taken, tokens won, etc, but not games won, as this is something that can be extremely difficult for most people.

Thanks for listening.

Erik

I just read the letter from the person over 60 who has a problem with chess and I want to add my name to that list. Then I read your answer.

Please, give me a break.

Those instructions do not apply to Senior Citizens. While we may have been very sharp in our younger days, I know from personal experience that learning something new as one gets older is not impossible, but very hard. I worked for 38 years and I was extremely knowledgeable but when I quit using those skills, I lost most of them… so please don’t tell me I can learn to play chess now.

That is a cop out on your part. You are catering to younger people and not the older folks.

Just sign me ‘one of those Seniors who doesn’t understand chess’.

Editor: Thanks for your letter… Upon reflection, I can see that my recommendation falls flat, and I apologize. My intent wasn’t to cause anyone any upset, but rather to hopefully convince people to give it a try.

That said, there is a lot of evidence that senior citizens benefit greatly from learning new games, and merely from playing games. It helps keep the mind sharp. So, I still encourage you to learn the game – if only to benefit your brain.

I see some people think the challenge is too hard but if you play against a bot and always play white the challenge is very easy. The reason for this is that the bot always replies to each of your moves the same way, so once you have figured out a way to beat it you only need repeat it. I have included my fast way to “Beat the Bot” for anyone who is interested.

Okay…… you have to play in White position against the Bot and follow this exactly ~

E2 – E4
F1 – B5
D2 – D4
G1 – F3
C1 – F4
D1 – D2
F4 – H6
D2 – H6
F3 – G5
H6 – H7
H7 – F7

There may be faster ways but this works well and the challenge took me about 30 minutes.

Chess Guru.

Editor: Normally, I would not post a letter where “the answer” is revealed. However, since so many people disliked the fact that we had a Challengs in this game, I thought it might be a nice way to expose those folks to the game, while allowing them to get the badge.

Many folks have asked us to just “give” them the badge. We will not be doing that. However, if you follow the instructions of this letter writer, you’ll get the badge and learn a bit about the game at the same time.

I continue to write to you in the hopes that some day (hopefully in my lifetime LOL) I’ll get an answer to my question as to why there are dress uniforms for all branches of the military (Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard), and even an extra “uniform” for the Navy,(Navy shooter), but none for the Air Force.

While you do have the pilots outfit, that outfit could be appropriate to all branches. Also I (and I think many other Air Force vets) would like to dress our minis in Air Force dress uniforms, but nothing is available.

Please, if you can’t provide a dress uniform for us, at least tell us why we are stuck “being” pilots when we were’nt that in service. You may use my screen name draco1513

Thank you

George

Well George – guess what? Your letter hit a nerve with our Art Director, Jim F, and he asked me to talk to you for a little guidance. You responded, and we thank you very much! And without further ado…here’s a sneak peek! (The final uniforms will include hats):

Have something to say to the Editor? E-mail editor@pogo.com. Please note – if you are having any customer support or technical support related questions, please contact our Customer Experience Team