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3 simple things to try if a Pogo game won’t load

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Pogo Games: Not LoadingNothing is more frustrating than getting a badge activated, a cup of hot coffee on my desk, and settling in to play a marathon session at Pogo when *thud*, a game won’t load. Here are three quick things you can try to see if you can get Pogo games loading again, and a resource at the bottom if these things don’t work for you. You don’t have to try these things in any particular order, but I do recommend trying to load the game again after each step just so you know what particular step worked.

Also, if you do something different when a game doesn’t load, share it in a comment below. Your fellow Pogo fans would appreciate it!

Click shift-refresh

If you’ve clicked the “Start Game” button or chosen a room and nothing happens, try holding down your shift key while you refresh (reload) the page. Look for the reload/refresh icon on or near your browser’s address bar that looks like this: Refresh (or Reload) icon This will force your browser to ignore its cache and use the version of the page from Pogo’s web server.

Clear your browser & tech caches

First, clear your browser’s cache and restart your browser by closing it completely and relaunching it from the menu or icon.

Then, you need to determine if it’s a Java game or a Flash game. You can find a list at j-zotin’s Ranks & Badges page. Then, clear the related cache:

Try a different browser

The three most popular browsers are Google Chrome*, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Internet Explorer, and there are also lots of alternative browsers that can be found by searching the web.

If you’re using Internet Explorer and Java games won’t load, it’s because the recent version of Java is not playing nicely with IE. Pogo recommends you either use Firefox or this workaround.

*Google Chrome will not play Java games. Microsoft Edge, the browser that comes with Windows 10, will not play Java games at all.

What next?

If you’ve tried these simple things and your game still won’t load, you may need to perform some more in-depth tasks like updating your version of Flash or Java. Depending upon the type of game you’re trying to load (Flash or Java, see details under “Clear your browser & tech caches” above), you can take a look at Pogo help’s Flash guide and Java guide to get started.

What do you do when a Pogo game won’t load for you? Help out your fellow Pogo fans and share your step-by-step in a comment below. Thanks in advance!

Share these tips with your Pogo friends in chat:
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Comments

  1. Thanks for the hints. For me, sitting and hitting refresh over and over usually gets the box games to load eventually. I seem to have less problems with regular flash games than with the box games. Oddly enough, I have very few problems with Java except for at update time. My husband keeps everything up to date on my computer which helps.

  2. Where it says “start game” right click your mouse and go down to “open game in new window.” Don’t know why this seems to work for me.

  3. TYVM for the explanation & detailed info about the loading issues of late on Pogo. Now I can refer ppl to BH as it does get tiring trying to explain about clearing cache, FP, java, etc., and other things to get pogo going.

    I’ve also tried right clicking and use Open Link in New Window and found I could load Pogo as I tried to sign in…works @ times for me.

    I also suggest to ppl to get a tune-up of their computers professionally done; I relate it to our vehicles getting an oil change/tune-up.

    Again tyvm.

  4. Don’t know if there is a real reason why this works, but……
    After clearing and cleaning internet options, Java/Flash caches and doing a disk clean-up I will:
    1. turn the computer off
    2. unplug the modem and the wireless router
    3. wait 5 minutes
    4. reconnect the modem and router until all lights indicate they are back on
    5. turn the computer back on
    Many times giving everything this fresh start will work for me.
    (of course, right now, nothing is working for me after uninstalling the evil Java update and then reinstalling Java 51, but that’s a different story :))

  5. There are 2 things I do that work

    I do not hide the “friends list bar” under the game, never (and you have no idea how much I want to “hide” it because I hate it lol ) and always wait for this bar to fully load before I click Play Now or before picking a room
    If the friends list don’t show up then my game will most probably not load either or will take for ever to do it. Sometimes we even get the image of a sad Spike saying that there is as problem and to try again later, if you don’t have the “friends list bar” set to show you don’t even see this message.

    Go back to Home page (or Friends page if the game is in my Favorites list) . Seems like “refresh”never works for me so is easier and quicker to just select the game again from the list, go to the game page and load it.

    If it still not working I simply close my broswer and every open window and start again.

  6. #4 I generally always close my browsers, turn off my monitor but leave my hard drive on. A tech told me that your puter gets glitches and occasionally it is a good thing to close down your computer, router, modem like you stated.

  8. thanks for the post … i usually the reload /refresh button to get my game loading again…
    the biggest problem i have when i leave the game any period i have refresh my game and get the message you are neglecting us….. etc.. pogo need to fix this server issue….i dont
    understand why this happening any ideas?

  9. Kathy #8 – That message has nothing to do with a server problem. Pogo doesn’t want people sitting in a game and not playing. I have found that I can’t leave some games for more than 5 minutes. If I know I’m going to be longer I just leave and start over when I get back to my computer.

    Suz

  10. Great advice silnet about the friends list. I too have that
    if it doesn’t load my game isn’t going to load either. Not
    always but sometimes it still won’t load even if it appears
    though. So it’s not always the case lol.
    If it doesn’t load no amounting of sitting there will work
    for me. I have to close out and re-open it. Sometimes if
    I’ve done it a few times with no success I go someplace
    else like if I was using fav’s to get in I go to the categories
    page and try loading it from there sometimes it works.
    My puter sure doesn’t cost as much as a car and being low
    income no way can I take my puter in for a tune-up. Last
    time I called the place wanted almost as much for a new tower
    at Walmart! I rely on the knowledge I’ve picked here and from
    pogo over the years to clear my caches clean out temp. files etc.
    I have a few friends who really know putters well too. Because I
    pick up viruses left and right for some reason. Strange toolbars are
    always appearing on my browsers. When you get stuff like that you
    can’t keep going to the “guy” I’d be broke lol.

  11. I have high speed internet (at&t U-verse), so I don’t cache Flash or Java.
    If you have a high speed DSL you might not need to cache either.

    You might try turning off your cache in Flash and Java and see how fast the pages load.
    If the pages load too slow you can turn the cache back on.

    Boy, do I remember the days of dial-up when you could read a book waiting for a
    website to load.

  12. I’ve been having problems loading certain games for about a week now, so I was excited when I saw this, but nothing is working for me. I’ve pretty much tried everything and still can’t get it to work. I’m thinking its just something simple I’m missing, but after trying over and over, I usually just give up before I get too frustrated! I can play Zuma slots, but the other three slots won’t load. There are a few others I can’t load, but I haven’t tried all games yet. I play in both Chrome and Firefox. (IE does not work with POGO at all for me)
    I know there is a weekly coming in Chuzzle slots, so that’s when I will really be frustrated!

  13. Wonderful tips for those of you who have the patience to jump through hoops to play Pogo. I have been playing since there has been a site and just received my 12 year Club Pogo award so I have seen it all.

    I am at the point if Pogo won’t load I shut it down and go do something else. I am tired of using different browsers for different games, games not working properly etc, etc, etc. What about the concept of a user friendly site? It should not be necessary for a user of any site to go through the stuff that we Pogo players have to go through to play games we enjoy.It’s up to Pogo to give us a bug free site. As flash winds down I believe it is only going to get worse.

    When it works I play and enjoy it, when it causes aggravation, I leave and if I’m still in the mood to play games I go to mobile sites and the the game playing experience I ept, and it doesn’t cost me anything.

    Thanks for letting me vent, and I sincerely hope Pogo can get it’s act together. We all deserve better.

  14. Did anyone yet figure out how to get the hint area to show in Claire Hart when you enlarge it in the game? I have tried all three browsers, and it is still a no go. I run my cleaner, try different browser, all the usual stuff. Also some games the new and improved friends list is OVER the game, making you have to reload.
    Thanks for the hints everyone, but been there done that.

  15. Thank you Lura, but I checked my zoom. I always keep it at 100% but I checked it again. I know from reading the forum posts below the game that I am not the only one with this problem. I just haven’t seen anything posted that has helped me yet. The worst part is it is the only HOG game that I play. 🙁 Thank you again Lura.

  16. Something I didn’t see anyone mention is to log out of Pogo and log back in. Sometimes, it displays that I am logged in, when apparently I am really not. If I log out and back in, sometimes that fixes it.

  17. Well I have tried everything and still not able to get on POGO. Does anyone have Window 10 yet and if yes, does it work for POGO?

  18. I found out quite by accident that I was logged in on Firefox, and when I went to play on Chrome I couldn’t. You cannot be logged in to one server and then try to play on another server. Since Chrome no longer supports Java games that is when I started to experience the problem. I now know to sign out of one server if I am going to play on another. Hope this also helps.

  19. Some of the java and flash game work, some slow but eventually load. One specific Java game, Dice City Roller (older game not embedded) does not work on 2 of my PCs which have latest Java update, another does work and I have not updated Java on it yet. I was advised to install FireFox and try the game in that. But rather than add more programs to any of my PCs I think I will wait to see if EA/Pogo fixes this one game or any of the other games that load slow or not at all. World Class (embedded) did load eventually.

  20. For those who are having trouble loading games. I try to load and it won’t so I go to the “find a game box” at upper right and type the first couple of letters of the game and enter the game that would not load, click play, it will take you back to the game and the game will then load for 2-5 times before it freezes at the end of the round, so then I just do it all over again. I do get credit for the time played before the game freezes but occasionally not. This is not a perfect work around but if you are determined you can you can make it work.

  21. I downloaded the Google browser and it works on many of the newer Pogo games and HOGs (except Clue which I believe is still Java-based). I use it on all of the embedded games…from Bejeweled to Mahjong Escape.

    Have a great Friday everyone! <3

  22. I had the biggest problem with the games not loading. Then I figured out that if I click on a game room INSTEAD of clicking the “Start Game” button, the game seems to load 95% of the time. Occasionally I will have to click the refresh and then a game room. When I click on the Start Game button, I rarely get the game to load unless I try for 5-10 minutes.

  23. snstlvr48 #18 I have widows 10 on a laptop. Both Edge and IE11 browsers work well on flash games. I have not been able to find a way to play java games with IE11 although I have read that I should be able to. It may be a laptop issue — when I had windows 8.1 the java home page said they had no version to work in 8.1 on a laptop.

  25. OMG I want to blow pogo up when this happens. Thank you so much for sharing all your knowledge with us.
    Omi

  26. Just want to say thanks for the Click shift-refresh tip because that worked for me in bowling and EWB that I was having issues with. So that has relieved some of the frustrations I have.

    Now if I could only figure out why I can play Zuma slots, but not the other three coin slot games. But, now when I get too frustrated, I go play some of my new bigfish games. Thank you Lura for that. BTW if you have a suggestion for a good hidden object game, I would appreciate that. (My favorite HOG on Pogo is Clue)

  28. I have Windows 10 on my laptop and it has been working (although not without some difficulty). I have eventually gotten every game to work, that I have tried. Some only work sometimes. I couldn’t get Word Search Daily to load for about 3 days, but then it just worked one day, without my changing anything. So it hasn’t been simple, but I have gotten both Flash and Java to work somewhere, between the 4 browsers I have installed (IE, Edge, Chrome, and FF)

  29. I agree with mspatmac #13, I can’t open “Wordjong” for some reason, I have tried some of your tips, however, I am not as computer savvy as some of you, It is a “Pogo Issue” not any of my computers or browsers because I have tried all the browsers and all three of my computers and it won’t load on any of them. I like Pogo but we should not have to jump through hoops or try working around their “problems” they need to get their act together fix and focus on problems they have right not instead of keep introducing new games that will the same problems or worse, new and more problems added to “Pogo’s Website” Pogo use to be so much fun now it can be very frustrating. the other game site that I use to play on didn’t have, Java, Flash or whatever else problems Pogo seems to have lately, their biggest problem was that the site use to be down for maintenance sometimes which drove us players crazy but every playing website and working place websites go down for maintenance and it drives me crazy at work because one of the sites that need to use to do my job always seems go down on second shift. Thanks for letting me vent; I hope Pogo fixing the problem. Judy

  30. Judy #30 – I just tried Word Jong and it loaded in 12 seconds, so it’s not a site wide problem. It could be with certain browsers mixed with certain operating systems, different versions of something, different virus protection. There are so many things that it could be that Pogo can’t fix it until they know what’s causing it. When people go to the editor or customer service they need to tell them what their computer is running and all the different things that they have/don’t have. That’s the only way that Pogo can figure out things like that.

    It’s just like the newest version of Java. It doesn’t work with Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 10, so I rolled back to Java 8, update 51. Now I can load every game without a problem, just like I did before I took the update. The are plenty of computer configurations that work just fine with Java 8, update 60….mine just wasn’t 1 of them.

    Suz

  31. Thank you Suz, now I need to figure out what is preventing Word Jong from loading on my computers, it seems to be the only game that I can’t load which is strange; Thank God, it is the only game so far and hopefully it stays that way until I figure out the why it won’t load. Thank you again Suz, Judy

  32. I have windows 10 with the edge browser which doesn’t work with Java. Have switched to the Opera browser and have better luck.

  33. Linda #23 does your java work with the Internet Explorer 11 that comes with windows 10
    and do you have a desktop or laptop?

  34. I have a problem with flash games not loading. What I do is load a java game then reload the flash game. My problem is solved.

  35. JAVA games only go far enough for green bar to fill then quits
    the 4 colored balls stop bouncing
    only been last few days
    I can’t find where to load java 8 51
    I ‘ve cleaned all caches checked security prompts
    java is enabled script is enabled
    tried everything in EA help forum 4 JAVA
    suggestions?

  37. I can’t load a lot of games. Apparently it’s a security thing, but when I try to allow Pogo as a favorite site it won’t allow me to enter it unless it has an https (secure) listing, but when I use https I can’t even access the site at all. Does anyone know how to fix that? Pogo told me I have to have security set at medium or high to access some games, but their instructions don’t work.

  38. How do I get rid of “popups” which keep me from getting into the poker games?
    Thanks. I need help.