PogoTips.com - Pogo Bowl

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Pogo Bowl


Game awards	Super Striker Rank 10 - 80 spins In the Bag Rank 20 - 240 spins Slick Shirts Rank 30 - 480 spins Stylin' Shoes Rank 40 - 960 spins Golden Bowler Rank 50 - 1,800 spins

Challenge badges	Bowling Shoes (9/20/06) Bowl one game with a 200 score or better Turkey Bowl (11/22/06) Bowl 25 Strikes Silver Pin (8/15/07) Knock down 8 Silver pins Dare to Spare (11/14/07) Bowl 80 Spares Lucky Shirt (3/26/08) Earn 4,000 tokens Leftover Turkey (11/26/08) Bowl 33 Strikes Pin Pals (3/18/09) Knock down 5 Gold pins Pinned Down (11/18/09) Knock down 400 pins Pin Monkey (3/17/10) Bowl 100 Spares or Strikes

Premium badges	Bowled Over (animated) Piece of Cake book Bowl 50 Strikes Turkey Roll (animated) 4-Game Sampler book Knock down 20 silver pins Perfect Ball (animated) 10-Pack book Bowl two games with 200 scores or better Spike Can't Bowl (animated) On the Go book Knock down 170 pins in 30 minutes or less Strike While It's Hot (animated) Friends Forever book Bowl 15 Strikes Alien Alley (animated) Out of This World book Bowl 51 Spares Yeti (animated) Mythic Menagerie book Knock down 2 Gold pins
Mix & Match	Bowling for Trouble EXPIRED Mix & Match (thru 11/14/07) Bowl 50 Spares Add a Little Spin EXPIRED Mix & Match (thru 4/15/08) Bowl two games with 200 scores or better Gold Pin EXPIRED Mix & Match (thru 6/17/08) Knock down four gold pins in under two hours Bowled Over EXPIRED (animated) Mix & Match (thru 8/12/08) Bowl 40 Strikes 2007 Giving Thanks EXPIRED (animated) Limited Edition Mix & Match (thru 11/28/07) Earn 3,000 tokens Bowling Night EXPIRED Mix & Match (thru 3/17/09) Knock down 500 pins Lucky Lapel Pin EXPIRED Mix & Match (thru 8/11/09) Knock down 10 gold pins Spare Turkey EXPIRED Mix & Match (thru 11/24/09) Bowl one turkey (three strikes in a row) Cosmic Bowling EXPIRED Mix & Match (thru 3/16/10) Knock down 3 silver pins in two hours Turkey Ball Mix & Match (thru 11/7/10) Get 5 jackpot spins in one day Bowl of Balls Mix & Match (thru 3/7/11) Bowl 20 Strikes Two-Hand Toss Mix & Match (thru 6/7/11) Bowl one turkey (three strikes in a row)

Badge tips

Be aware of the 30 minute time limit for Spike Can't Bowl! Your tally will be shown at the end of each game so if you're not the best bowler, wait to activate this badge when you're in a room and a game is about to begin.

Be aware of the one day time limit for Turkey Ball!

For badges requiring gold or silver pins, don't worry about getting strikes or spares when the gold or silver pin shows up - just be sure to knock down the one you need. There's one silver OR one gold pin in every game.

Do the same for Gold Pin or Cosmic Bowling when the color you need shows up, and be aware of the two hour time limit on these badges! Play on the Fast Rooms tab, and when you knock down the color you need early in a game (or if the other color shows up) move to a new game. You can wait to activate the badge until the color you need shows up but if you do, activate it fast, make sure the green activation notice shows up in the chat area, and then knock that pin down fast!

For Dare to Spare or Bowling for Trouble, if you aren't very proficient at the game, try to knock down pins on one side with the first ball and then knock down the others on the second ball to pick up Spares.

For badges requiring tokens, you'll earn more for high scores, for making strikes & spares with the Gold or Silver pins, and for getting the only strike in a frame in your room.

The Bowling Shoes badge caused a lot of grief for a lot of players. For this one, Add a Little Spin, Perfect Ball, and badges requiring Strikes, refer to Game tips.

Game tips

ALWAYS read a game's How to Play, and also check for a Hints or Tips tab and/or Tutorial. They do help! Click to watch the Pogo Bowl tutorial.

You need 150 points in a game to earn a spin. You can do it without bowling any Strikes, but you'll need to pick up Spares in nearly every frame without them.

The reason you can't always repeat your Strikes in this game is because the pins move. These screenshots were cropped in exactly the same position. You can see by the red stripes and the bottom edges of the pins how much difference there is in pin placements between the two.

In this pair, note that the bottom edges of the front pins are almost even in the left pic and the rear pins are set slightly in towards the middle. The pins on the right are set more in a V shape and the rear pins are directly behind the front pins.

Unlike real bowling, speed doesn't necessarily give you an edge here. You need to find a spot that works for you and try to replicate it with each ball. The position of the ball and the position of the cursor on the ball also make a difference. You'll get more Strikes if you adjust your starting position according to pin placements in each frame.

Here's what works for me. I generally start from the left side, placing my cursor so that the bottom of it is on the second line to the left of the third dot, and just about flush with the bottom of the ball.

Then I draw the cursor up all the way to the pins and let go when its tip is between the #1 and #2 pins and touching the top edge of the alley. The ball from this screenshot resulted in a Strike.

Different people have different methods and different starting spots. Obviously some work better than mine as I've never had a perfect 300 game, but I rarely get splits and I almost always get a spin. I'm also able to get a 200-plus game relatively often when I adjust for gaps between the pins.

The screenshot below on the left is where I generally place my cursor - the ball snaps to it when it appears. In the middle shot you can see how to line it up ahead of time, when the score results are on-screen: its tip is where the curvy lines intersect and its bottom is flush with the lower edge of the orange section.

When the gaps between pins are wider on the right side than the left, I move to the other side of the alley and aim between the #1 and #3 pins. The starting point here has the point of the cursor in the intersecting point of the "t" in "It" in Strike It Rich.

Is this a lot of hassle to go to just to knock down some bowling pins? Yes! But it's a lot less frustrating than throwing fast balls (like real bowling) only to get endless splits and scores that fall short of the 150 needed to get a spin and make rank progress due to the "moving pins" issue. And it's not hard to get used to.

More about Pogo Bowl

Along with Game Award badges, you get a new ball at every 10th rank.

Clicking your name when the score sheet pops up will show your scores for every frame of a game. You can't see another player's entire game though - only your own.

The only way to pick up a 7-10 split is to hit one pin and then either it or the ball bounces over to knock down the other - it's very rare occurrence.

For some reason, game average isn't included in the player stats for this game - it's the most used and most relevant statistic in real bowling.

This game has very realistic sounds and gives the illusion of realistic play, but real bowling alleys don't move the pins around.

This is one of very few games that has two badges with the exact same titles (Bowled Over).

This game sports Thanksgiving and Christmas themes in November & December, which include alley decorations and special pins & balls (which override rank balls). The Christmas theme is in place for all country portals, but if you want to play with the regular pins during Thanksgiving season, you can sign out of Club Pogo USA and re-enter through the UK portal . There's no guarantee this alternate route will still maintain standard pins in the future.

The 2007 Giving Thanks badge was a Limited Edition and was only available for a few days. This was the first special badge that could be purchased with Pogo Gems.

Thanks to sov6plus2 for submitting additional Pogo Bowl tips!

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