My mom used to accuse me of being a packrat when I was little. There were times when she and dad cleaned my room when I wasn’t home and threw away several trash bags of stuff. Not so much anymore, now I’m the one trying to get rid of stuff. But now, thanks to Elea, I am totally and utterly addicted to this game on Facebook: PackRat!! Tonight’s an off-night, Steve had a meeting and it’s way cold out, so I seem to have spent my whole evening between wrangling Elijah and playing this silly game.

I’ve never played a trading card game before, but I’m really having fun! And it actually requires me to think, so that’s good, too!

So how do you play? In a nutshell, you have a pack that can hold up to 15 items. You can either buy from the marketplace or steal from friends (mutual Facebook friends who also play) or steal from these game rats’ inventory. The objective is to eventually gather all the items in the various collections. Some can be bought, some are surprise pop-ups that you can claim, others are created by combining basic items. As long as an item is in your pack, a friend can steal it away. You have to vault the items to make them permanently yours. To vault items, you either have to have five identical ones, or five unique ones from the same collection. You can lock items by playing little games within your pack, but the lock takes up space and it can be broken if your friend scores higher than you on the same game.

For instance, here’s my pack right now:

I’ve got those apple pie slices locked ’cause I made them out of three apples each and I need another one to make a whole apple pie. I have a set in the Cimarron Canyon group (Western) but I’m not vaulting it yet because I already have all that stuff and want to at least turn three lassos into a 10 gallon hat.

When stealing items, you’re given a status bar of sorts. You have to replace that stolen item with something from your pack and when you select it, you’re shown on the bar if you have a higher or lower chance of getting “caught” stealing and it being unsuccessful. There’s always a chance you’ll get caught, but your chances are lower if you offer an item that’s as high or higher in value than the one you’re stealing, or from the same collection. Successful thefts not only get you the item you want but get you points too. For an item worth 500 points, you’ll get 50 points for stealing it. I’ve found it’s good strategy to just take items I don’t need/want and just run around to the rats and keep trying to trade up. I actually won an item the other day that was worth 5000 points with something that was only worth 1500 points and a few other steals like that.

Not only this, but as you surf around, you can pick up more credits wherever they pop up (they look like a coin almost) by clicking on them. The same with some items that will pop up in a box.

So y’all, what’s your strategy/secrets. ;-) If you’re playing that is. If you’re not, come on, especially if you’re my friend on Facebook, you know, so I can stop stealing from the same few people hehehehe.

There is a recipe page out there, by the way, but I’ve never been able to access it, server’s always down or something. So I’m gonna just start listing here the recipes I find out. Feel free to add. :) (Some might have images if you click on the collection title.)

Ancient Realms

Castle (15800) — Wizard, Dragon, Stone Golem
Wizard (7800) — Alfgar the Wise, Spell Book, Crystal Ball
Succubus (6000) — Skeleton Warrior, Kyeera of the Amazons, Fairy Queen
Dragon (3300) — Spell Book, Wyrm, Goblin Soldier
Armored Knight (2500) — Short Sword, Gavin the Squire, Knight’s Shield
Skeleton Warrior (1750) — Dark Slime, Flail, Short Sword
Trebuchet (1550) — Bow, Buckler, Hammer
Stone Golem (1450) — Scroll, Hammer, Magic Potion
Spell Book (1200) — Scroll x 3
Knight’s Shield (1200) — Buckler x 3

Cimarron Canyon

Sam the Gambler (2300) — Outlaw, Six Shooter, Ace of Spades
Great State of Texas (1600) — Tin Star x 3
Outlaw (800) — Cerveza x 3
10 Gallon Hat (400) — Lasso x 3

Ninja Dawn

General Yutaka (6300) — Samurai Helmet, Robo-Ninja, Pagoda
Robo-Ninja (2300) — Samurai Helmet x 3
Red Ninja Hoshi (1900) — Shuriken, Katana, Ninja Hoshi
Nigiri (800) — Maki Roll x 3
Karate Headband (400) — Chop Sticks x3

Oh, the Drama

Gossip Rag (6800) — Little Black Dress, Red Carpet, Paparazzo
Sparklie (5600) — Credit Cards x 3
Red Carpet (2000) — Designer Handbag, Audrey Shades, Lipstick
Credit Cards (1650) — Designer Handbag, Audrey Shades, Pink Cellphone

Primary Colors 2008

George Bush (5000) — Ballot Box, I Voted Sticker, GOP Button
Bill Clinton (5000) — Hillary Clinton, Al Gore, Upset
Al Gore (3000) — Ballot Box, I Voted Sticker, Dem Button
State of New York (2500) — Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Michael Bloomberg
Upset (2000) — Ron Paul, Michael Bloomberg, Dennis Kucinich

Safari Kingdom

Periodical au Naturale (4600) — Giraffe, Rangefinder, Rover
Rover (1300) — Suitcase, Binoculars, Pith Helmet
Rangefinder (1200) — Binoculars x 3
Good Doctor Livingston (1000) — Canteen, Binoculars, Pith Helmet

South by Southwest

Dome (3500) — Swank Guitar, Superswank Hotel, Bratwurst
Swank Guitar (1200) — Billiards, Longnecks, Bratwurst
Margarita (800) — Krauterlikor x 3

Sugar Rush

Apple Pie (3200) — Slice of apple pie x 3
Dentist (2500) — Toothbrush, Toothpaste, Dental Drill
Diet Cola Geiser (2000) — Diet Cola, Berry Freshmakers, Mint Freshmakers
Banana Split (1200) — Soft Serve, Cherry Cordial, Banana
Slice of Apple Pie (800) — Apple x 3

Supermassive Black Hole

Cyclops Invader (1400) — Ray Gun, Mercury Communicator, Martian
Deluxe Alien (1200) — Extraterrestrial x 3
Foo Fighter (400) — Tabloid x 3

Tiki Island

Pop Idol (2400) – Tiki x 3
Halapaleki Hula Girl (900) — Lei, Coconut Palm, Grass Skirt
Piña Colada (400) – Pineapple Juice x 3

Urban Hipster

Hipster Deejay (2300) — Turntable, Pricey Headphones, LP

Well, yes, I’ve wasted entirely too much time with this, heh. But I do think I’m entitled, especially when I’m not feeling well, I suppose!