December 16, 2009: Makeover Madness and Canasta

Canasta Challenge
Hooray Beret Badge
Make 25 Canastas this week!
Win this badge plus 2000 Tokens!

Thanks to Canasta Buddy I CAN CANASTA! Honestly, I never knew what a canasta was, let alone how to get one so thank goodness for this canasta Pogo cheat. And actually, now I have a pretty good idea about how this game is played, thanks to my helper. Anywho, on to the juicy badge challenge details...

If I had known how to play and had been paying closer attention at the start of the challenge, I could have reduced the 57 minutes it took to achieve this badge (but hey, can't shake a stick at the appealing 6,346 extra tokens I won in addition to the challenge token bonus!). HOW?! You ask? Well, I had "meld cards immediately" checked under options and during Canasta Buddy's play, I noticed that it would use a 2 and joker wild cards to make a meld with cards in my hand (ex. I have 244777 in my hand so it selects ALL the cards to meld, applying the 2 to the 4's) but I'd place it with cards that were already melded, to increase my canastas (ex. I have KKKKK already melded, so instead of using the 2 in the prior example to go with the 4's, I apply the 2 to the KKKKK instead).

Final comment: remember to play against a computer robot, as they are easier and faster to beat (and is only 1 player instead of the group canasta games that you can play).

Makeover Madness Challenge
You're Gonna Make It Afterall Badge
Serve 500 customers this week!
Win this badge plus 3000 Tokens!

Ahhhh, for a while there I forgot how nice it is to have a Play Buddy. And now this week it's back to two (YAY!). I love love LOVE that Makeover Buddy was available - I shudder to think how long this badge would have taken me on my own - as I wrapped this challenge up in 24 minutes with an extra 1,198 tokens. Make sure to put the difficulty level on "Holy Cow" because you get a whole room full of seats and clients, and Makeover Buddy is able to handle it all. I watched, mesmorized, at how game pieces were flying around the room and customers were zooming out of their chairs... it really is remarkable, especially considering my bumbling struggle with three chairs / customers on the easy level! Anyway, the challenge flew by and was a breeze thanks to my Buddy.