The cool thing about being a huge international gaming site is that people from all over the world get to play your games. The drawback is that your users never get to visit you. Of course, given that there's a few dozen of us and several million of you, maybe that's okay. There's only so much hosting we can do before we'd run out of those little cocktail weenies. But we were pretty excited to find out that Sharri, one of our Turbo 21 Jackpot winners, works about 200 feet away from the Pogo offices. So we invited her over for a little visit to get some Turbo 21 strategies and, as it turns out, a lot of good travel advice.

We were hoping to get one of those giant novelty checks for Sharri to pose with, but decided a Pogo T-shirt is a little more practical. Also, those giant novelty checks are more expensive than you'd think.

Pogo: So, Sharri, tell us about yourself.

Sharri: I manage a travel agency -- we specialize in European and South Pacific travel.

Pogo: You can include a shameless plug for your company if you'd like.

Sharri: Really? Okay... well, you can go to www.interoceantravel.net for our web site -- if you're looking to plan a trip, just leave a request there and it'll go directly to us.

Pogo: So, if I were looking for a place where I could lie on the beach all day and have people bring me fru-fru drinks with little umbrellas in 'em, where should I go?

Sharri: The Caribbean. That's probably the best place. But if you're on a budget, go to Mexico.

Pogo: Where would you rather go on vacation: Paris, Madrid, or Rome?

Sharri: Rome. It's got so much history and culture -- you could go back a hundred times and still see things you've never seen before. And it's impossible to get a bad meal in Rome.

Pogo: What do you think is the most under-rated vacation destination?

Sharri: Where people don't realize how good it is? Mmmm... probably the Southeast coast of the United States. Like the South Carolina and Georgia seashores. It's really inexpensive, it's easy to get there, the weather is beautiful, and the beaches are gorgeous.

Pogo: What about over-rated?

Sharri: Paris.

Pogo: You know this means we're going to get angry letters from Frenchmen now.

Sharri: Sorry. I mean, it's still a nice city, but...

Pogo: So it seems like Thailand, Vietnam, all of Southeast Asia is really popular right now. Any advice for people planning trips out there?

Sharri: Don't book it over the Internet. Don't just go with the lowest price. Go with somebody who knows a lot about that area. If you're looking to go to Indonesia, say, you should talk to a travel agency that's Indonesian-owned. You don't want to end up in the bad section of Indonesia.

Pogo: What do you do for fun?

Sharri: Travel.

Pogo: I should I should have seen that coming. What about when you're not travelling?

Sharri: When we're home, my husband and I play Pogo games. We're competing for the largest number of tokens.

Pogo: Who's winning?

Sharri: Well, my husband was winning because I kept exchanging my tokens for the drawings and he kept holding on to them, but now that I won a jackpot, I think I've got him beat.

Pogo: What are your favorite Pogo games?

Sharri: Turbo 21. And sometimes Word Whomp. I like the timed games where you have to think quickly. Oh, and when I'm at work, I like Keno because you can let it run in the background while you're working on other stuff. And I should let you know, some of the clients I work with, like at big aviation companies, they're Pogo-holics.

Pogo: Really? How come none of them have offered us free trips to Tahiti?

Sharri: Ummm... I'll look into it.

Pogo: So you must have some good Turbo 21 strategies then.

Sharri: Yes... My biggest piece of advice is take your time. With the timer, people are in a big rush because they see the seconds ticking away. But if you find that you have a lot of time left over and you're making mistakes, just slow down. You have more time than you think.

Pogo: Good advice. Anything else?

Sharri: Well, you don't want to end up with repeats. So, like, let's say you've got a 12, 14, 17, and 19 in the four different columns, and a 3 comes up. You don't want to put that on the 14, because then you'll have two columns with 17 in them, and that's a bad thing.

Pogo: How well do you normally do? Do you always get the Jackpot spin?

Sharri: Oh, all the time. And I can usually get pole position (the top spot) once or twice a month.

Pogo: Wow. The best I've gotten is up to the 250-tokens slot.

Sharri: (Clearly not impressed) That's all?

Pogo: (Defensive) Well, uh... I'm new at this.

Sharri: Uh-huh.

Pogo: Ahem... anyway... do you play with the sound on, or off?

Sharri: Off. On is too distracting. And I don't really like the sounds.

Pogo: So, what was it like winning the jackpot?

Sharri: Actually, I thought I had been booted. It went to this big white screen that you normally get when there's an error or something⁽¹⁾, so I thought I was out of the game. Then it told me I won a jackpot, and it took a while for it to sink in; first I ran to the kitchen, then back to the computer, then back to the kitchen, then back to the computer. My dog got very excited, and she just clamped on to my bathrobe the whole time.

Pogo: So part of your winnings are going towards a new bathrobe?

Sharri: Yeah, and some of it will go towards our next trip. And some of it is going to replenish my daughter and son-in-law's education fund.

Pogo: Awww... that's nice.

Sharri: Yeah, she's in school to be a massage therapist, and he's in school to be a nurse.

Pogo: Do you do anything for good luck when you're playing?

Sharri: You gotta have Coke. Gotta have a glass of, like, Cherry Coke next to you as you're playing to keep your reactions up. It's all part of my big set-up

Pogo: Okay, describe your gaming set-up to me.

Sharri: You need comfortable clothes. You need workout clothes or something. That's the first thing I do when I go home is change into comfortable clothes. And I need my can of Coke on one side of my desk, and I'll have a potholder on the other side of my desk because sometimes my husband will make me dinner, and I like to have it there when I'm playing.

Pogo: Wow. That's hardcore.

Sharri: Oh, yeah.

Pogo: So, are you a fast driver in real life?

Sharri: No. But I do have my Pogo name on my license plate.

Pogo: You're kidding!

Sharri: Nope.

Pogo: That's the coolest thing ever!

Sharri: Glad you think so.

Pogo: When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Sharri: I wanted to be a dramatic actress in New York.

Pogo: Who was your first movie-star crush as a kid?

Sharri: Can it be TV?

Pogo: Sure.

Sharri: Okay... it was Robert Horton. He was the guy who played Flint McCullough on the "Wagon Train" TV show. I was 6 years old, and I was so in love with him. That might have been before your time.

Pogo: Yeah... I have no idea who that is, but I'll look him up on the Internet. So what's your biggest irrational fear?

Sharri: Well... I'm not afraid of heights, but... oh, this sounds crazy -- when I'm near a balcony, or something with a railing, I'm afraid that I'll have this crazy impulse to jump over. Just to see what it's like. It's bad enough that I sweat when I'm near a balcony.

Pogo: So travelling a lot, you must have had some weird foods. What's the weirdest thing you've eaten and enjoyed?

Sharri: Squid. I had it in France, and they sauteed it just like escargot. I guess escargot is pretty weird, too. But it tastes so good with the garlic and butter sauce.

Pogo: Ya know, I've always thought that restaurants should just skip the middleman and serve you big bowls of garlic and butter.

Sharri: Oh, that sounds good.

Pogo: What about fast food? What do you like when you're in the mood for some fast food?

Sharri: Taco Bell. I used to love Bell Beefers.

Pogo: Bell Beefers?

Sharri: That was probably before your time, too, but it was the Taco Bell meat on a hamburger bun with shredded lettuce and a bunch of shredded cheese. It was so good -- it was like a big, soft, juicy hamburger. They don't make 'em anymore, though. That sucks.

Pogo: Suppose a genie could grant you any wish you wanted, but would lose your hearing when he granted it. What would you wish for?

Sharri: I guess... I'd wish for my daughter and her family to always have whatever they needed. That'd be worth losing my hearing for.

Pogo: Oohh... good answer! Name one animal you think the world would be better off without?

Sharri: Hamsters.

Pogo: Hamsters? But they're so cute!

Sharri: Oh, but they're mean. They bite and they kinda smell. Rats are nicer animals than hamsters.

Pogo: Really? I guess rats just have a bad reputation because you don't see, like, feral hamsters running around in the sewers. Okay... what famous celebrity do you think is most likely to be a space alien in disguise?

Sharri: (Laughs) Jim Carrey.

Pogo: Yeah, I'd believe that. So you've been in California all your life?

Sharri: Yep. I've been in the Bay Area since 1986.

Pogo: So you were here for the 1989 earthquake. How was that?

Sharri: Scary. We were in the living room getting ready to watch the World Series when it started, and I couldn't stay standing on my feet. I really couldn't. So I just laid down on my bed. My daughter at first was really excited. She thought it'd be fun, then after a couple of minutes, she was like, "DADDDDDD-YYY!" So my husband grabbed her and sat down with her.

Pogo: Wow.

Sharri: And the weirdest part -- you don't realize just how much noise there is in the world until it's gone. When the earthquake was over, we went outside and there was nothing. No cards, no birds, no insects. Absolutely nothing. Just a couple of sirens and car alarms in the distance.

Pogo: Scary. So, do you have any questions for us?

Sharri: Are you going to bring back Speed Bingo?

Pogo: Speed Bingo?

Sharri: Yeah, you need some more fast-moving games. Speed Bingo was like regular bingo, but much much faster. It was great!

Pogo: Hmmm... I don't know. I'll ask around.

Will Pogo bring back Speed Bingo? Will Taco Bell bring back Bell Beefers? Can you really go to a French restaurant and order a bowl of butter-and-garlic sauce? Will we find better ways of ending our articles than with a string of rhetorical questions? Find out next time on... Inside Pogo!

Hey, if you've got a good Pogo-related story that you want to share with us, send us some email, and maybe we'll do an interview. We're kinda hard up for material.