Pogo.com Review

I'm one of those people who can't just sit still and stare at the TV or do nothing.  I almost always have to be doing two things at once so I like to keep my brain and hands busy playing games online. I've tried a few different sites for free and downloadable games that are OK but my hands down favorite is Pogo.com.

I signed up in 2001 with just a plain free account which gives user access to over 80 free card, casino, puzzle, board, word, and arcade games.  The games display on screen fairly quickly and have good instructions and tips for gameplay.  User can win tokens and prizes (t-shirts, mugs, small stuff like that) and use tokens for entering the larger contests.  There are also jackpots that can be won on most of the games.   

The only annoyances with the free games are ads and the lure of Club Pogo games.  Every few minutes or rounds of game play end with 30 or 60 seconds of internet ads displayed on the screen which interrupt the game.   They're not horribly long and it gives one a chance to get up and stretch or grab a snack so it could be worse.  The other thing is the Club Pogo game lure.  The games that are part of Club Pogo (for those members who pay about $40 a year to use the site) are displayed on the free site so it's kind of a bummer to see them, to see that they are cool, but to not have access to them.

I've been a member of Club Pogo for about 3 years now and I'm happy with my subscription.  There are tons of games in Club Pogo, including 36 that are exclusive to the Club.  Also, the jackpot amounts for some of the games are doubled for Club Pogo members. I've never won a prize or a jackpot but I really like the site and the games better than any other site so I stay.

There are also some other fun things to do on the site like earning badges, creating and dressing your mini me character, and chat. 

Badges can be won on most games for reaching certain levels or doing something a certain number of times.  It's kind of fun to try to earn badges as it gives my mindless play a goal, however lame that sounds. 

I'm not too much into decorating and dressing my mini me but she looks just like me and once in a while I change her outfit and background to match the season.  It's kind of like online paperdolls without all that cutting. 

Finally, there's a chat room in each game that allows you to meet up with old friends or find some new ones.  I don't chat all that much unless I have a game question but if you're on Pogo and feel like chatting you can find me under user name Uglybugg.   My favorite games are Canasta, Tri Peaks Solitaire, Poppit, Pop Fu, Squechies, Sweet Tooth 2, Bingo Luau, Lottso, and Mah Jong Garden.  Hope to see you there!

The only complaints I have about Pogo.com are with regard to no longer being able to play a few games on my new laptop with Windows Vista and game rooms being full.

For some reason I can no longer play Canasta on my laptop with Vista.  Once in a while it works but very rarely and I'm not sure why.  I've read the Pogo troubleshooting section but have yet to figure out what the problem is.  I also haven't looked all that hard for a solution as I've just started playing other games instead and haven't put much effort into finding a solution.

And when new badge challenges are released on Wednesdays the game rooms sometimes fill up really quickly so I can't get in to a room to play one of those games when I want.  This happens very infrequently though.  The last time I recall it happening was when a really popular game was featured in the badge challenge and it was Christmas week when everyone was home and playing online.

4 stars - I really like Pogo.com and am happy with my subscription. I will continue it for the forseeable future as long as things remain the same or get better.