MattKendrick.com

Not sure why, but recently my addiction to Mafia Wars has grown. My wife Heather and my cousin CJ have been playing for months. Part of my labor day weekend was spent obtaining level 35 to gain access to Cuba! Well last night I have saw the promised land! But I have plans to finish the job tiers in New York before moving on to Cuba. I would like to be settled in Cuba in time for Moscow (new expansion).

I’ve picked up a few tips while playing the game.

Tip 1: Use energy packs wisely.
If you’re close to completing a level and you have a spare energy pack, wait until you’ve completed the level. Each completed level gives you a complete energy refill. Otherwise you’re wasting energy.

Tip 2: Complete all job tiers.
Starting with the lowest job tiers to earn quick cash and experience. You also gain bonuses through mastering job tiers.

Tip 3: Join groups to build your mafia
A big mafia is a strong mafia. Join Facebook Mafia Wars groups and find people looking to join mafias. You may end up with a bloated Facebook profile (300+ friends that you’ve never met). But at least you’ll have plenty of help completing jobs and fights.

Tip 4: Invest, invest invest…
Invest in large properties for huge payout. Earning money is key to gaining the resources you need to be successful!

Tip 5: Trade items and vault collections.
Through completing jobs, you gain trade items. These items can help you gain boosts. Collect these items and vault them over and over again. Through trading items you gain helpful relationships with other players. I’ll scratch your back, you scratch mine.

I don’t claim to be a master of Mafia Wars. But I have found these tips useful in my game play. If you’re looking for a Mafia member track me down on Facebook. I’d be happy join and help you fight!

Every now and then a causal web game comes along that just stops you in your tracks. You’ll spend hours playing. This would be the case with my latest distraction, Farm Town. With this Facebook Application you and your friends can run your own farms. You’ll enjoy countless hours of watching stuff grow and doing chores. Sounds fun huh?

We’ll I hate to say. But it is! But the basic premise of the game is to keep a farm. You plant and tend to plants. Once those plants are ready for harvest you get people to come harvest for you. You can work for other people and harvest their crops.

Different crops harvest yield different amounts of cash. Some crops don’t unlock until you advance. You can buy fences, animals, etc. But they don’t earn you any money or have any benefit to your farm. It’s been said the chickens just get in the way.

Our friend Emily Bohan from Bangor, Maine got us hooked on the game. She posted up some tips on how to be successful.

1. DO NOT harvest your own fields…go to the marketplace (or one of your neighbors) and hire someone to work on your farm. Do that by clicking on them and selecting the hire option.

2.ONLY plant POTATOES!! Dont plant a bunch of stuff…it doesnt make you as much money and it takes too long. Plant cabbage when you can, but just as many potatoes as possible.

3. Go to the marketplace and stand still and dont say a lot and people will hire you to work on their farms. Work as fast and steady as you can and you will make lots of money to use on your farm…to plant your potatoes!

4. Get as many neighbors as possible and go help them out when it pops up cause that earns you exp points.

5. dont buy lots of junk…ie fencing, hay bales, barrels, paths, don’t do that until you can buy more land (starting at level 15)

6. Ask me questions if you need to…its a fun game, but can be frustrating if no one helps you out!

Happy Farming!!!

Well that’s Farm Town in a nut shell. For those on Facebook, look us up. We’ll be happy to welcome you as neighbors!

Farm Town