FrontierVille prizes are now available on Zynga Lotto

FrontierVille Zynga Lotto prizes
Today, Zynga Lotto has finally dropped the "Coming Soon" sign from the FrontierVille section and rolled in four fabulous new decor pieces for players. The much awaited prizes are a family of Pet Rocks, Crooked Target Fence for your bottle-shooting needs, a Buggy, and a golden Jack Statue with our man Jack standing over a whupped bear.

To grab this collection, you're going to need lots of luck and lots of tickets. We can't help you with the former, but you can learn how to get more tickets by clicking here.

FrontierVille Cheats & Tips: Six easy ways to get ahead

Since FrontierVille on launched in June 2010, the Wild West game shot to the top of Facebook game charts and has been holding steady at #3 behind FarmVille and Zynga Poker. And while this game doesn't have the same number of players as FarmVille, I'd venture to say it takes the best of FarmVille -- tending crops and harvesting animals -- and wraps it in a more sophisticated game experience, complete with a charming pioneer theme with universal appeal, a endless series of goals to keep you busy, and in-game rewards that will keep you coming back for more.

When the game launched, Games.com blog created a comprehensive FrontierVille energy guide, and now we're back with another round of six tips (plus a bonus tip), cultivated from months turning our piece of the wilderness into a thriving pioneer town.

frontierville cheats and tips six easy1. Keep your varmints handy

One of the first things you'll learn while playing FrontierVille clobbering varmints – snakes, bears, groundhogs and foxes – is hard work and takes up a lot of your energy. Almost every time you dig up a skull, you'll find a snake, chop down a big tree a bear will appear. So, if you want varmints to make an appearance less often -- here's what you do. Get snakes or bears to spawn in an out-of-the-way place on your property. Or, if that's impossible, whack them a few times to move them out of the way. Then leave them there. Now, the next time you harvest a crop, or chop down a tree, no varmints will spawn because they're already on your property.

2. Don't cash in your Collections until you need 'em

As you play FrontierVille, you will constantly find items that will fill out your Collections. Once the Collections are complete you can turn them in for special items or bonuses. While you will be tempted to turn collections in upon completion – don't. There are many Goals where you will be required to turn in Collections and then use the resulting item to complete it.

3. Don't clear Thorns/Skulls/Big Trees right away

When you start FrontierVIlle, you might be tempted to clear out all of your land, including large trees, thorns and skulls. Don't. Why? You'll need those thorns and skulls for missions later in the game and if you waste all of your energy on chopping down trees, you won't have much left to do other things required to complete Goals.

4. Make your Neighbor Visits Worthwhile

Visiting your neighbor's properties in FrontierVille can help you earn extra energy, coins and cloth – but once you're there, you can take extra steps to get the most out of your neighbor visit. Basically, harvest crops and animals that will get you the most bang for your buck, e.g. peanuts, peas, adult Oxen and peach trees.

5. Use your Wishlist Wisely

Every pioneer has a Wishlist that they can fill with items that they want to request from friends. A few tips on that front – don't include items that are available as free gifts and you can increase your changes of completing Collections that are more common – Apple Tree, Chickens, etc – since they're 'common' more people probably have extras to pass along to you, and you can in-turn, use those items to complete Collections for a bonus or complete a Goal faster down the line.

6. Use your Bonus Meter Wisely

At the top of the screen is a Bonus Meter, and the more times you fill it up to the top (by collecting coins, loot, hearts, etc from harvesting) the more bonus coins you will earn. One of the easiest ways to make sure you maximize your bonus is by harvesting items that are close together, then pick things up quickly so you will fill up the meter. When the meter starts flashing red, that means you only have mere moments left to click on another dropped item to keep the meter going up. If you meter stops flashing red, then you'll have to start over from scratch.

frontierville badgesBonus Tip:

Badges: Make like a Boy Scout and Earn 'em

This recently launched feature is one of the easiest ways to get quick coin and other valuable loot in FrontierVille. You can find the badges in the menu or by clicking on your Jackalope Lodge. Earning these badges will often get you 25+ XP on completion.

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

FrontierVille Holiday Free Gifts: Large Wreath, Fence with Garland, Fruitcake now available

For the first time in a very, very long time, Zynga has updated the free gifts page in FrontierVille to offer a trio of new Winter Holiday items that you can now send to your friends, just as you would any other free gift.

Two of these items are decorative, and come in the form of a Large Wreath, and a Fence with Farland. The Large Wreath is just that - a large decorated wreath that has been placed on top of a tall stick, so that you don't have to worry about finding a "wall" to place the wreath on. The Fence with Garland item, meanwhile, is a simple brown, wooden fence (the most basic in the game), that happens to have green and red garland wrapped around the top and sides.

As for the Fruitcake, it is an energy item, which will reward you with 15 energy points each time you "eat" one. This is done in the same way that you use Lunches, Light Snacks, and the like, in that you can simply head into your inventory and use the item with a single click of the mouse.

It's likely that these three items will only be available for the rest of the Holiday season, so make sure to send them to your friends / ask your friends to send them to you while you know they are still available.

FrontierVille: Bess has arrived, but what brings her to the frontier?

Bess has arrived
As part of the recent New Year's Party Goals, we were briefly introduced to a new character in FrontierVille named Bess. Reportedly Frontier Jack's niece, Bess will be the next major character in FrontierVille, but as to what she's up to or why she even came out west we haven't an idea in the slightest. Though, that hasn't stopped Zynga from fueling the flames of wild speculation. The company posted a three-page long forum thread on the FrontierVille fan page that has players discussing the possibilities for this new character.

During the New Year's Party Goals and building the Dance Floor, some hints were made at a potential love triangle between Miss Fanny Wildcat, the mysterious Bess and Hank, that lecherous General Store manager. The most logical guess is that this will be the basis for an upcoming Valentine's Day holiday event series. But the teaser message that many are seeing in-game mentions that Bess will be heavily involved in the events for 2011, so it's doubtful that this homestead drama will be settled on Feb. 14. Could one of our lovestruck ladies receive some good news in time for Mother's Day? We'll have to keep playing to find out.

Earn 2 free FarmVille Farm Cash from Best Buy Poll

It's time to score another two smackers on the farm through another FarmVille Sponsored Link. This time, Zynga has teamed with Best Buy to help players earn 2 Farm Cash through a short mini game and poll. First, click on the link below your FarmVille game screen that reads, "Take the Best Buy Buy Back Poll and earn free cash!" Then it's time to throw around the old pigskin Zynga-style in honor of the biggest game of the year.
Best Buy Football
Once inside the pop-up mini game, just, choose a team, select any two plays and you should score a touchdown. Honestly, I doubt any of those choices matter--it's just a fun way to get you to the meat of the sponsored link. Of course, that's answering some helpful questions for Best Buy's marketing department. Just answer the questions as best you can and you'll be brought back to the football game. You'll see in the top right of the window a message telling you that you've earned your Farm Cash. Just click on the "X" next to that message and you'll soon be on your way to FarmVille riches.

Have you completed this sponsored link yet? Who do you think Zynga will partner with next for its Farm Cash offers?

FrontierVille Peach Cobbler Issues: Just a typo, sorry folks

The land expansion Goals have dropped in FrontierVille, but several players have reported issues to FrontierVille Info. More specifically, there seems to be a problem with the Goal titled "Reach an Agreement" within the 35x35 Land Expansion series. Players have reported that no matter how many Peach Cobblers they amass for the eight required, they're simply not enough to complete the Goal.

Whoops, that was just a typo, according to FrontierVille forum moderator NikkiKing. Zynga's bad, guys--the required item is actually eight Peach Pies and was entered in error when first placed into the game. That's cool, it's not as if we didn't spend all weekend collecting cobblers when we should have been grabbing pies. Granted, they both come from harvesting Peach Trees, but it's said that Pies are far more difficult to find than Cobblers. Isn't Cobbler good enough?

FrontierVille Granny's Home Goals: Everything you need to know

The Ponderosa Lodge wasn't enough, I guess. Now, Granny has come to FrontierVille, and she wants an even bigger house to stay in. But in order to score the Adobe Bricks needed to complete the Fancy Cabin upgrade (which seems to only appear in the Market after completing the Lodge), you must complete two sets of tasks for old g-mom. Just don't question why Granny would want an even bigger place. Don't worry, the "Granny's Home" series is almost too easy. Find out for yourself after the break.

1. Granny's Home

    Clobber 1 Snake
    Clobber 1 Bear
    Place the Fancy Cabin


Granny's RockerOf course, finding Snakes and Bears is as easy as clearing debris and chopping down trees, respectively. The Fancy Cabin upgrade will be in the Market to place, though its price is unknown as of this writing. (If you couldn't already tell, this information just recently leaked, so details are scarce.) Finish this mission and 500 XP and a Varmint Surprise await you.

2. Granny's Rocker

    Craft or have 4 Saltpeter
    Craft or have 40 Planks
    Tend 40 Cotton


The 4 Saltpeter are obtained through the Manure Collection, as almost everyone should know, which of course is completed by tending to animals and beating up varmints. In other words, it's going to take a while. The 40 Planks can be crafted in the Wagon for 7 Wood and 250 coins a piece, which will cost 280 Wood and 10 thousand coins total. The 40 Cotton will cost 24 thousand coins and take three whole days to harvest. For completing this Goal, a Granny Rocker, 1,000 XP and 20 Adobe Bricks are yours.

[Source and Image Credit: FrontierVille Info]

Have you gotten this far in the Cabin Goals already? What do you recommend for completing them the fastest?

FrontierVille: Bear Collection no longer offers Animal Ready Boosts

Update: This seems to have been reversed, as the Bear Collection once again reads "One Animal Ready Boost." Thanks Zynga.

For months now, FrontierVille players have been stockpiling items from the Bear Collection so that they could turn that collection in time and time again for Animal Ready Boosts. These Boosts would then work to make every animal (not in a storage building) ready to be fed again, thus greatly speeding up the process of raising a baby animal to adulthood without having to wait the technically required amount of time for them to become hungry on their own.

Imagine our frustration then, and even downright shock, when discovering that Zynga had changed the rewards of the Bear Collection from this very, very useful Boost to something far more disappointing: One Clothing and two Cow Ready Boosts. That's right - regardless of how many Bear items you've saved, or how many Stuffed Bears you have on your land to spawn collectibles, the entire collection is now rendered basically useless. I hope you had been keeping up on trading in your Bear Collection as soon as you completed it, as you're now left with the option of purchasing just single animal Boosts from the General Store for Horseshoes.

Just like that, we've lost this great system of animal growth, but perhaps with enough public outcry, the FrontierVille team will see the error in their ways and change things back. We can only hope so.

FrontierVille Bug Report: The Case of the Disappearing Animals

While some bugs and glitches in FrontierVille can actually be large enough to negatively impact the way we play the game, we've discovered another bug that's just downright head-scratching. When logging into my Homestead, I scanned to my livestock area only to find a large empty space in the middle of my injured and mystery animals. My Spring Bears had completely disappeared from my land!

I hadn't sold the Bears, and I hadn't moved them to another area on my Homestead; they had simply vanished, without a trace. Thinking that a simple refresh of the game might fix matters, I was left to discover that while my Spring Bears had returned, my entire collection of Lynxes had now disappeared instead! Refreshing the game a second time seemed to fix matters, but only temporarily, as I've continued to discover missing patches of animals when logging in at different times over the past few hours. I suppose the fact that refreshing often makes them reappear makes this a bug that we really shouldn't worry about, but it is something to keep in mind all the same. Don't panic and start buying additional Cows, Goats, Mules and the like, if they start "disappearing" as well - save those coins for something else.

If this bug becomes any more widespread, or looks to cause some actual damage to our games, we'll make sure to update this space.

Pioneer Trail Ice Shed: Everything you need to know

Just days ago, we saw the launch of the Potting Shed in Pioneer Trail, and now we've seen another "shed" added to the game. This one, the Ice Shed, will allow you to "keep your milk cold," while receiving Critter Milk for free everyday. You'll unlock two new animals via the construction of this building, and will also have a couple of goals to complete along the way. Here's a complete guide to the Ice Shed, so get our your hammers and get ready to build! Note: This feature may not be available to all players as of this writing.

Once this update rolls around to you, you can either place the base right away, or you can purchase it from the store at a later time if you choose to finish some other tasks first. Once you place it, you'll need to gather plenty of building ingredients: 10 each of Rivets, Sheet Metal and Warm Gloves, along with 15 each of Ice Boxes, Saw Dust piles and Insulation. These final three items are earned through individual gift requests sent to friends, while the former trio are earned through general news feed posts.

Once built, your Ice Shed will give you access to free Critter Milk everyday when collecting the building's Daily Bonus, and you'll also receive a free Dairy Cow (that goes by the name of Daisy) once you finish the building's two goals:

Milk Cooler

    Place Ice Shed
    Tend 25 Adult Cows
    Collect 15 Blocks of Ice


You'll need to ask your friends for the Blocks of Ice, as you might expect. For finishing this first of two goals, you'll receive 500 XP, 1,000 coins and a single bottle of Critter Milk.

Stockpiling

    Tend 15 Neighbor Goats
    Tend 15 Pigmy Goats
    Collect 15 Glass Milk Bottles


Again, you'll finish this collection task by asking your friends to help you, while you'll need to visit at least three neighbors for all of those regular Goats. As for the Pygmy Goat, it becomes available to purchase in the store once you've completed your Ice Shed. If your friends beat you to it, it looks like you can tend their Pygmy Goats instead. Finish this goal and you'll receive 800 XP and the Daisy Dairy Cow that I told you about earlier.

All told, this is a fairly simple and straightforward building project and goal series (albeit probably a bit time consuming), so just make sure to take a few seconds out of your day to ask for these building pieces and you'll eventually finish both off.

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

What do you think of the Ice Shed in Pioneer Trail? What other sorts of items would you like to receive free from buildings, if not Critter Milk?