Pioneer Trail: Building Boosts now available for Horseshoes

Remember back in March/April, when Zynga partnered with Intuit to offer Intuit Business Boosts after completing themed goals in Pioneer Trail (then FrontierVille)? Those bonuses were some of the best things to happen to the game, as they allowed you to instantly recharge a building's Daily Bonus, allowing you to collect the Daily Bonus more than once in a 24 hour period. In terms of goals that ask you to collect three or four Daily Bonuses from a specific building, this meant tons of time saved, and more progress made. The only problem? They were one-time-use objects that eventually ran out.

Now, if you're willing to pay Horseshoes, you can return to the glory days of those Building Boosts, as they are now available to purchase from the store for Horseshoes (under the Special tab). For 15 Horseshoes, you'll purchase a single Business Boost, which is - again - a single-use object. That being said, the value here isn't that great, but if you're looking at spending three or four days waiting to complete a goal that you've otherwise completed, I can definitely see the draw in purchasing one to move on (and save your patience from being so tested).

There doesn't look to be an expiration date on these Building Boosts, so they should be available permanently in the store. Hopefully though, we'll see a return of the Intuit (or any free) Business Boosts in the future, so we can save our Horseshoes for another time.

What do you think of these Business Boosts? Will you purchase them to speed up your progress at completing specific goals?

Pioneer Trail: Zynga offers a week of freebies in thank you letter to fans

Tonight, Zynga sent out an email to all Pioneer Trail players announcing a week-long, in-game giveaway to all its loyal fans. This email is signed by the John Osvald, the General Manager of FrontierVille, and carries the subject heading of "Been havin' trouble? Let us make it right as rain."

While he doesn't mention any specific performance issues with the game aside from success in being able to "cut the load times in half", he did very clearly acknowledge that "there have been more issues in the game than you're used to, and for that, I sincerely apologize." And just to show how sorry he is, players now have a week's worth of daily freebies to look forward to!

    From tomorrow, Saturday, September 10th through Saturday, September 17th, we'll be giving away a special present for every day you log into The Pioneer Trail, from horseshoes, to mystery crates... even the book of experience (which grants the holder a full level up!) We've also created a forum topic for discussion at forums.zynga.com. If you'd like to participate, I'll be reading! :)

You can see a copy of the official email for yourself below. (Click on the image if you need to make it bigger.)
FrontierVille Pioneer Trail Zynga fan letter from John Osvald
Will you be logging into Pioneer Trail daily next week for your free goodies?

Pioneer Trail Capital One Goals: Everything you need to know

While we've already taken a look at the Capital One cross-promotions in FarmVille and CityVille, Pioneer Trail's version of the promotion is definitely the most complex, taking four goals to complete. The first of these goals introduces you to the Capital One Goat, who hopes that you can help him find his lost band mates, and bring their bandstand to life on your Homestead. That's right - there's a new building to create as part of this cross-promotion, along with the four goals. Here's a complete rundown of the event.

Sterling the Bloodhound

    * Collect one Bandstand Upgrade Part
    * Visit Capital One Facebook Page
    * Craft Sterling's Guitar in the Bandstand


First things first, the Bandstand can be purchased inside the store for under 10 coins if you have the discount enabled in your game. You won't have to whack a frame or collect items to create a functioning Bandstand; however, you will have to collect these parts to upgrade the building. This is done by clicking on the Bandstand and then clicking "Upgrade" on the menu that appears. From here, it's the familiar process of asking your friends for items.

You'll need to collect 10 each of Stage Lights, pieces of Band Merchandise and Concert Wristbands, all of which are earned through general news posts, while 15 each of Sandbags and Scaffolding are earned by sending out individual requests to your friends for help. The final item - the five Band Groupies - are earned by completing these new goals, as they'll be earned automatically. That being the case, you don't have to be in too great of a rush to collect the rest of the ingredients, as you literally can't complete it anyway.

As for finishing this first goal, you'll need to head inside your Bandstand to craft items as you would in other buildings. From there, you'll need three Guitar Fretboards and five Guitar Strings to actually craft the guitar. These are both new items, requiring you to tend goats or simply ask your friends to help you earn them, among other tasks. Finishing the entirety of this first goal will give you 250 XP, Sterling the Bloodhound and 250 coins.

Toonie the Bear

    * Chop 10 Trees on your Neighbors' Homesteads
    * Feed 30 Goats on your Homestead
    * Craft Toonie's Upright Bass in the Bandstand


Again, you'll need to head inside the Bandstand to craft Toonie's Upright Base, which requires three Tailpieces and five Bass Strings. Again, you can ask your friends to send you the Bass Strings, and can craft the Tailpieces, also inside the Bandstand.

Once you finish this second goal, you'll receive 500 XP, Toonie the Bear and 500 coins.

Penny the Bullfrog

    * Feed 30 Geese on your Homestead
    * Have or Collect 3 Termites
    * Craft Penny's Banjo in the Bandstand


Again, just head inside the Bandstand to see the parts you need to craft Penny's Banjo (in this case the Banjo Pot and Banjo Pick), and then make sure you have three termites from the Oak Tree collection to finish this one off. For doing so, you'll receive 750 XP, Goat and Penny (the two remaining band members) and 5 Band Groupies. Remember those Groupies that you needed to complete the upgrade of the Bandstand? There you go.

Entertainment, Not Food

    * Collect the Upgraded Bandstand Bonus Once
    * Collect 10 Wildberries
    * Harvest 50 Corn


Like a regular building, the Bandstand has a daily bonus that can be collected, so complete that and these other simple (albeit time-consuming) tasks and you'll be golden. You'll receive 1,000 XP, a Rockin Horse (a new mount for your avatar that wears sunglasses) and 1,000 coins for finishing this final goal.

All told, we're not given an expiration date for when this cross-promotion and these goals will leave the game, but your best bet would be to finish everything off as soon as possible just to make sure you don't miss out on anything. Have fun!

Check out the rest of our FrontierVille Cheats & Tips right here.

What do you think of this entire Capital One promotion in Pioneer Trail? Are you going to make your avatar ride this horse-with-shades? Sound off in the comments.

Top 25 Facebook Games - September 2011: Rise of The Sims Social

Will Zynga finally be dethroned? August saw one of the biggest upsets in Facebook gaming history, as EA and Playfish released The Sims Social. Short after its shoddy release in the middle of the month, the game has skyrocketed to third place this month with over 7.5 million daily players and fifth place on the monthly player charts with over 24 million players. While CityVille, Empires & Allies, Zynga Poker and FarmVille are on top of the charts yet again, all four games have suffered declines.

If this doesn't stir the pot a bit in the Facebook gaming world, nothing will. But The Sims Social isn't the only new game to upset the charts and displace a few hit games. Zynga's The Pioneer Trail expansion hit the monthly chart just under The Sims Social in sixth place at a healthy 19.7 million players. Words with Friends, the Facebook version of the popular mobile game, released in August to over 11.5 million monthly players, while Ubisoft set The Smurfs and Co. loose to over 8.6 million rabid fans and hit 16th place.

The casualties for this month include August's last five spot holders: Treasure Isle, Zombie Lane, Happy Aquarium, Mall World and Crime City. These games weren't just displaced because of the influx of new games hitting top spots, but all five were already on a decline. This allowed new additions like the Bubble and Ninja Sagas in the 21 and 22 spots at 6.6 million and 6.2 million monthly players, respectively.

Top 25 Facebook Games September
But look more closely at this month's chart, and you'll notice that each and every one of these brand new games to upset the charts is backed by a massive, recognizable brand. Perhaps this is what it takes to disrupt the status quo in Facebook games. And with ambitious branded games like Dexter Slice of Life on the way, our guess is that you'll be seeing a lot more from where The Sims Social and The Smurfs and Co. came from.

[Source and Image Credit: Inside Social Games]

What do you think of the charts this month? Do you think these branded games will continue to upset the Facebook games world? Sound off in the comments. 1 Comment