EA Brings "5 Great Pogo Games In 1 Free App" To The iPhone And iPod Touch
December 10, 2010
Electronic Arts released Pogo Games, a free iOS app offering up 5 free pogo.com games. Which did EA pick? Pogo Games includes the popular word scramble and matching titles: Word Whomp, Turbo 21, Poppit!, Sweet Tooth 2, and Mahjong Safari.
Word Whomp is your basic, fun, and challenging word find kind of game. There are six gophers holding letters, and your task is to assemble three to six letter words from these six letters. Tapping on a gopher sends him to the back, which is where your word can be submitted. Tapping Mixup will randomly change the order, perhaps providing a hint without using the Hint button. The Hint button automatically fills in letters of a random word, but using it speeds up the countdown timer. You have 2:20 to put together as many of the words as possible.
Turbo 21 is an interesting twist of Blackjack and Solitaire. There are four lanes (sets) of cards. As you're dealt cards, you need to place them on a pile, hopefully where you can reach a total of 21. Face cards are worth 10, aces worth one. Just like Blackjack, it's considered a "bust" to go over 21. You can also clear a lane and obtain points by having a lane of five cards without busting. Once the deck of cards is gone or the 2:20 countdown timer expires, the game is over.
Poppit! is a match-2 game of popping balloons. There is no timer in this one. Tap on a group of two or more same colored balloons to pop them. Popping the balloons isn't what gets you points, popping balloons to release prizes is what matters. After a prize begins to parachute down, tilt your iDevice or use your finger to push the prize to the target mat. Missing the mat still earns points but not nearly as many.
Sweet Tooth 2 has you matching the more common set of three items. While it may very well require it, the objective isn't to just match every three or more of the same candy. Your mission is to clear all of the caramel behind the candy to move to the next round. You clear caramel by matching candy that is sitting on it. Double-tapping power-ups will help clear things out faster. Making your way through all three rounds will earn you extra, however, this one is also timed.
Mahjong Safari is Mahjong with an African-ized theme. Alright, that may have been a little too obvious. Match like tiles to gain points. As you match tiles, you'll collect Safari animals, which will earn you a spin and 100 tokens. Mahjong Safari offers Easy, Normal, and Hard difficulty levels. The higher the difficulty setting the more tiles to clear but the more points you can earn.
Pogo Games has quite a few ads, mainly between game rounds. Each has about a 5-10 second viewing period, then you can tap Menu, and finally Skip or submit to viewing the product. Club Pogo members are rewarded with the ads no longer appearing. You can play all of the games just by downloading the app, although, earning achievements, tokens, etc requires you to at least register for a free pogo.com account.
Pogo Games is compatible with iPhone and iPod touch running iOS 3.0 or later. Go download your free copy in the App Store now.
