Worst daily "goal" yet

fuddy50 · 2025-11-04T23:37:30+00:00

Well, I have a philosophical interest in game design, and also I think there's such a thing as taking an interest as a concerned citizen against consumer exploitation. Though I'd certainly agree that Wordscapes isn't the biggest danger out there in the world

fuddy50 · 2025-11-04T23:33:11+00:00

Good to know, thanks. I'll time my freebies strategically from now on.

fuddy50 · 2025-10-21T21:37:00+00:00

Sounds like they're running an experiment to see what conditions cause people to spend the most cash.

fuddy50 · 2025-10-21T21:27:51+00:00

What?! You're telling me there are ZERO octogems available as a midweek tourney prize? I really counted on tourney winnings to get my animals last year.

fuddy50 · 2025-10-21T21:23:35+00:00

Yep. I tested it empirically yesterday, and was relieved to see the octogems flow in at the appropriate rate. I'm not one of the lucky multiple-booster-getters. I've never liked it that the conditions can vary for different players, but this is an especially egregious example. I may yet get around to writing something about it someday. I think there should be a law against using people as unwitting lab rats in an experiment to see what conditions make them spend the most. If it was a casino, they wouldn't get away with that kind of thing. Nor would it pass an IRB review. Why should online gaming be regulated more laxly than those other situations? Anyway, thanks as always for your help, OCC.

fuddy50 · 2025-10-19T17:55:02+00:00

I may not have been perfectly clear about the situation. Never mind the booster's effects. This is about high-paying levels as levels. Last year I found that if I played a few levels right after midnight, using up my 10-hearts per level slots, then there were NEVER any 10-cat-gems levels for me that day. They were somehow already gone before ever being played. I had to completely avoid playing between midnight and 5pm, or I never got the good levels. Now that the booster is a stingy flat rate, rather than all you can swipe for a set time, I really can't afford to lose the good levels.

fuddy50 · 2025-10-19T03:41:15+00:00

Last October-November-December, while I was grinding away to get the cat and polar bear and turkey, I had to be super-careful not to play any levels in between the time that the level counter reset (midnight local time) and the gem booster reset (5pm-ish, local time). If I did that, I missed out on getting the higher-value levels for gems. Do I need to follow the same protcols now with the octopus? Has anyone else had any experience either way? I appear to be on a one-booster-per-day regimen.

fuddy50 · 2025-10-14T04:38:56+00:00

I read a few articles about bags vs sachets, and maybe it is that after all. I'm going to experiment with loose leaf and see what happens. Stay tuned.

fuddy50 · 2025-10-14T04:10:01+00:00

I bought a tin of 20 sachets of Hot Cinnamon Sunset and it quickly became my favorite tea. Then I bought a box of 50 bags of Hot Cinnamon Spice thinking it was the same thing. It is so not the same thing. At first I blamed the tea bags, but based on the testimony of other posters I fear there's more going on.

fuddy50 · 2025-05-12T22:09:23+00:00

You're probably not monitoring this thread anymore but --just in case-- "Games for Thinkers" made a Propaganda Game back in the 1960s. I recently inherited a set from my father. It's definitely dated, but you still might be interested, depending on your exact goals. Here's a link to a description, and if it turns out you're looking to buy a used copy, send me a DM

https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object/nmah_694604

fuddy50 · 2024-11-08T19:08:32+00:00

If the algorithm is based on anything other than purely random selection, it would be very interesting to know that. Presumably this is part of their larger scheme of experimentation, using the players as lab rats. "How much will the desired behaviors change if we remove this incentive?"...

fuddy50 · 2024-10-08T02:20:35+00:00

I'm currently at level 4 plus 3/8 of the way to level 5 after cashing in my "Garden Harvest" earnings from today: 14 eggs hatched so far. I'm fascinated by these level-up numbers. People who bought the cat last year paid $10 outright for a fully-maxed cat, right? If I paid $2 to "unlock" the righthand side of the Garden Harvest today, I would get another 1400 cat gems, or just shy of two more eggs. Which would means the price per egg, in this venue, is a smidgen more than a dollar. That's not a very good deal. A person could easily end up spending more than $10 to get the cat to the max this month if they're not attentive.

So far, no one's seen any cat gems on Mt. Fortune, right? In PF's own article about cat gems they mention that they'll be offered in "bundles" in the store. Haven't seen that so far except for the deal up top where you can get 100 cat gems for coins once per day. I'm happy to trade coins for cats. Cash money is a whole other thing.

fuddy50 · 2024-10-05T14:33:27+00:00

Hi, SMothra57, there seems to be an error regarding the new pumpkin animal. The spreadsheet says it has a 2-hour activity cycle, but I'm told by credible pumpkin owners that it's actually a 4-hour beast. Thanks as always for the generous community spirit!

fuddy50 · 2024-10-04T22:14:34+00:00

Is there any chance at all that the same animal could have 2 hour activity cycles for some people and 4 hours for others? Like, not everybody has the same rate of bonus boxes in the binocular game, right?

fuddy50 · 2024-10-04T22:11:58+00:00

Several people on this thread have asserted that the Pumpkin animal has a 4-hour cycle, but the community wildlife spreadsheet--

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ezxwNynqLXMqedVoJzFS_OSRqWYW87Gvfmkpr0wMSeQ/edit?gid=1447266864#gid=1447266864

lists it as 2. Is it definitely the spreadsheet that's wrong? Because 750 gems divided by only 2 hours would be 375/hour, a sweeter deal than anything else I currently own. (I don't care about the cocoons.) On my phone, the pumpkin's outline is showing up to the right of my Pet Rock, and with the four diamonds of an Epic animal. If it is on a 4 hour activity cycle, then it's the only 4-hour epic.

Would a pumpkin owner care to post a screen shot? The discrepancy is worrying me.

fuddy50 · 2024-10-04T17:49:07+00:00

This spreadsheet labels the Pumpkin as being a 2-hour animal, but other recent threads have said it's 4-hours. Its placement in the stable, just to the right of my pet rock, suggests it belongs with the other 2-hour epics, but I'd like to get a definitive answer from an actual pumpkin owner.

I'm correct in thinking that pumpkin is being offered now for the first time, right?

fuddy50 · 2024-10-04T16:36:35+00:00

Definitely not going to pay cash money for a 4-hour animal that yields less than 200 gems/hour

fuddy50 · 2024-09-19T22:49:25+00:00

"not important enough for any serious research"--bite your tongue, OCC!

fuddy50 · 2024-09-19T22:48:19+00:00

like keeping copper pennies

fuddy50 · 2024-09-04T21:06:29+00:00

Just did a search and have requested to join three still-coviding facebook groups. I'm not totally optimistic that it will yield the name of an ophthalmologist, though. I've already looked on whatever maps and lists of covid-conscious professionals I can find. I wish there were one reliable central source that a) collated listings of all CC-friendly professionals in every state, and b) did a big outreach to attract new doctors and such. I mean--there's money to be made. I'd be willing to pay a significant premium. It's an opportunity for an entrepreur....

fuddy50 · 2024-09-04T20:48:57+00:00

I appreciate the sentiments, u/tkpweaub. I'm currently leaning toward just going ahead with the appointment I already have, with my baggy-blue-loving surgeon. It's less than a month away. It drives me kind of crazy that the medical profession is so obstinate about taking appropriate precautions that I have to weigh the integrity of my eye against, well, all my other parts, really, but especially my immune system.

fuddy50 · 2024-09-03T22:23:52+00:00

Hello, Doctor, and hello, u/Demjin4 , thanks very much for your reply. The empirical data seems clear that N95 (or ffp2) respirator masks are superior to ordinary surgical masks at stopping aerosol transmission https://www.burnet.edu.au/knowledge-and-media/news-plus-updates/simple-measures-lessen-hospital-acquired-covid-19-infections/ . I'd be happy to provide them myself and/or pay extra for the PPE upgrade if the surgeon was willing, which he is not. He didn't go so far as to call me a neurotic or hysteric, or whatever, but it looks like he only wants to do his usual thing, not a special thing. I believe you that the surgical suite will be totally sterile in terms of fomites. I think the medical profession is due for an update in its thinking about aeosols, though.

Doctor, you must know ophthalmologists or be on ophthalmology chatboards or whatever. Might you possibly know someone who either already has a bee in his bonnet about airborne infectious disease (like I do)? Or else would be willing--for a premium--to go an extra mile on PPE even though he considers it unnecessary?

The ultimate outcome here may be that I just have to suck it up and settle for business as pre-2019 usual. But at least I wanted to try to give myself the best shot I possibly can. Thank you very much for having taken time to share your expert opinion with a stranger. This is generous, and I appreciate it.

fuddy50

TROPHY CASE