Pogo.com Review

www.pogo.com

Overall 4.61 of 5 view all 205 reviews

chaz
Blue Springs, MO

excellent free game site

an animal rescuer, still a kid at heart

Pros

excellent graphics, easy to navigate

Cons

problem players are not removed

AUG

2007

Pogo is a great site to play rubber bridge. There are many other games on the site, but I spend most of my time playing bridge. I've become acquainted with people around the country, and Pogo allows the players to make a friends list. Players are alerted if there are any of your "friends" in the game room when you enter, and you can check to see if they are playing at any Pogo site.
Each player is rated based on wins and losses, and each foursome can be limited to skill level. When the table is opened the first player can set the criteria for scoring and rating the game. New players attempting to join must be accepted by the first player who opens the table, and each player's edited profile shows bidding systems used and win/loss/unfinished game percents. The unfinished game percent is a critical score because people who have many unfinished games are often problem players. Players can play against computers if they don't want to be rated for a game, but the computers are terrible players and very predictable. The worst part with computers is they always pass and never bid.
The biggest problem I've found is rude, crude, and obnoxious people who are allowed to continue to play on the site. Pogo has a link to report players, but they never do anything about it or even respond to complaints. Some players stall out a game to prevent losing. It is easy to cheat and foreign players can be notorious at cheating. That's why it's important to get to know the players and their integrity. More often than should happen, players can lose connection to the site during a game and cannot return to finish a game unless they know the backdoor site to enter the room. Each table allows players to chat during the game, and rude, crude, and offensive comments can occur. Each room also has a lobby that allows people to chat, and I've found some use it for politcal smears and insults. If you can tolerate the negative and don't get upset easily, Pogo is a great place to play bridge.