July 25, 2012: Hog Heaven Slots, Bejeweled Twist & Bingo Luau Badge Challenges

Sistine Hog Badge
Earn 7,000 tokens this week! 
Win this badge plus 2000 Tokens!

SURPRISE! extra challenge added. No worries though because of Hog Heaven Buddy. Check it out:

Game Difficulty: n/a
Buddy Settings: Use ALL halos turned on
Tokens: 4,395 tokens earned (strange considering the badge was to win 7,000!)
Time: 9 minutes
NOTES: Seems like the game was embedded so it wasn't working in the US room so I used a UK room instead.

Bejeweled Twist Badge Challenge

Torch Bearer Badge
Create 1 fruit gem this week! 
Win this badge plus 2000 Tokens!

HA! This badge challenge was EASY! But that's probably because I had a little (okay a LOT) of help fromBejeweled Twist Buddy. Check it out:

Game Difficulty: n/a
Buddy Settings: Default
Tokens: 2,330 tokens earned
Time: 6 minutes
NOTES: None

Bingo Luau Badge Challenge

Opening Ceremonies Badge
Correctly cover 470 numbers this week! 
Win this badge plus 2000 Tokens!
I enlisted dauber champion Bingo Luau Buddy so I could get this challenged wrapped up like so:

Game Difficulty: n/a
Buddy Settings: Default
Tokens: 4,503 tokens earned
Time: 37 minutes
NOTES: Since covering numbers as quickly as possible is the goal, I recommend joining super-speedy blackout rooms (alone if possible).

July 18, 2012: Balloon Bounce & Jacks or Better Poker Badge Challenges

Balloon Bounce Badge Challenge

Hammer Time Badge
Inflate 4 or more giant balloons in a row 37 times this week! (Finish the game to check your progress) 
Win this badge plus 2000 Tokens!

Wowza, what a doozy! This is one of those games that has me bouncing off the walls (and not in a good way) especially with a challenge like this. So I'm thankful that Balloon Buddy helped me retain my sanity and completed the challenge like so:

Game Difficulty: Easy
Buddy Settings: Default
Tokens: 7,780 tokens earned
Time: 2 hours
NOTES: I tried it on 'beginner' at first but it seemed too easy - the balloons were so big that getting 4 'giants' in a row usually didn't happen.

Jacks or Better Badge Challenge

Easy Rider Badge
Win 170 hands this week! 
Win this badge plus 2000 Tokens!
There was nothing easy about this challenge 'til I enlisted the help of Jacks Better Buddy, this challenge got wrapped up like so:

Game Difficulty: n/a
Buddy Settings: Default
Tokens: 2,890 tokens earned
Time: 50 minutes
NOTES: Once again luck is a factor since there's no controlling what cards come out; the Buddy's holding strategy seemed right on point.

July 11, 2012: Word Whomp Whackdown & Slingo Ricochet Badge Challenges

Word Whomp Whackdown Badge Challenge

Nick of Time Badge
Find 700 words this week! 
Win this badge plus 3000 Tokens!

Whackdown Buddy is tried and true and cleaned this up as fast as possible:

Game Difficulty: Medium
Buddy Settings: Change speed to 'fastest'
Tokens: 7,927 tokens earned
Time: 30 minutes
NOTES: I changed from 'easy' to 'medium' game play level a couple rounds in because there are more words given on medium (but not more on hard than on medium as far as I could tell). Increasing the Buddy's play speed helped make things go quicker, too.

Slingo Ricochet Badge Challenge

Saved Again Badge
Make 140 slingos this week! 
Win this badge plus 2000 Tokens!
I'm feeling some dejavu here: Yay for a brand new Slingo Buddy! Here's the completion results for this brand new buddy:

Game Difficulty: n/a
Buddy Settings: Default
Tokens: 3,560 tokens earned
Time: 21 minutes
NOTES:So this is kind of a 'luck of the draw' situation... the Buddy can't control which numbers appear on the spin but it'll play any and all of 'em.

July 4, 2012: Ride the Tide & Lottso! Express Badge Challenges

Ride the Tide Badge Challenge

Riding High Badge
Earn 3,000 tokens this week! 
Win this badge plus 2000 Tokens!

Well Ride Tide Buddy got the job done. It's a process but it gets there:

Game Difficulty: N/A
Buddy Settings: Change bet to 'bet max'
Tokens: 3,790 tokens earned
Time: 51 minutes
NOTES: I changed the default bet 5 setting to 'max' to increase the amount of tokens won.

Lottso! Express Badge Challenge

Winning Smile Badge
Reach the 5th goal 3 times this week! 
Win this badge plus 2000 Tokens!
Yay for a brand new Lotso Xpress Buddy! Read my notes on the completion for this one:

Game Difficulty: n/a
Buddy Settings: Speed 1 / always play for mega lotso (see NOTES)
Tokens: 6,094 tokens earned
Time: 34 minutes
NOTES:So this is kind of a 'luck of the draw' situation... you'll need some lucky draws for certain balls AND some lucky guesses on the mega lottso card to boost the points enough to finish goal 5. To complete this challenge as quickly as possible, play WITH the Buddy. Here's the trick: turn ON 'always play for mega lotso' in its settings so you get your mega lottso card. Then turn it OFF so that it can acquire the points needed to COMPLETE the 5th goal (poorly worded by Pogo this week - reaching the 5th goal does nothing towards the badge; you have to reach 11,000 points thereby COMPLETING the round to get credit). ALSO when I saw it getting low on balls in goal 4 or 5, I'd make sure it collected any 'extra' spots AND if it was going to throw away balls (refill), I'd place them in any empty bonus slots.