There's a little applet on Facebook called PackRat that I just adore! It appeals to all my collector instincts, and I have many. I am an admitted Facebook addict anyway, I just love reading everyone's daily updates and seeing the pictures people put up and playing co-op on PackRat with Katie Postma! The nice thing is that when you need a little break from your daily grind, there it is, waiting for you to waste 15 minutes.

The idea behind PackRat is very simple. There are sets of beautifully designed cards (the artists have done a top notch job) and you have to collect them. There are several ways to collect the cards in a set. First, you can buy them from markets using credits. Second, you can steal them off your friends (and there are some people you just can't trust at all, they are thieves!) Third, some are random pop-ups you get when browsing your friends (or the rats)packs or when inviting friends. Fourth, when you 'Vault' a set, you get a Vault Bonus. Fifth, you create cards using recipes, which is essentially 3 cards put together to make a new card.

Each set has a different number of cards in it and I'm very pleased to state that I have two 'perfect' sets in my Vault. The Rat Pack (a vegas themed set) and Jump the Shark sets I've completed, I have vaulted only one of each card -- which is quite the feat, let me tell you! Enough bragging. The developers of this bite-size game release new sets pretty frequently (although right now I've got nothing to do, since I'm completely caught up on the sets) and they also retire sets, so the market never gets overwhelmed with too many old cards people just don't want anymore. Of course this means some people who are just now joining won't get to complete the older sets. Boo hoo.

Another interesting thing that has happened around this game is a trade economy has developed. There are two currencies in the game, the cards themselves, and credits. While trading credits is not supposed to be a legitimate aspect of the game, the players have discovered a way to trade credits. There are things called locks in the game -- it allows you to lock a card you really don't want people to steal by setting a goal on mini-game. If you are really good at the mini-game and are able to set it high, your item might be safe. But other players (only on your friends list thankfully) can come by and break your lock and steal your item. Every attempt at stealing item costs 10 credits. So by clicking on the lock and refreshing the screen x number of times, you can effectively trade credits. The traders forum is incredibly busy, expect a post there to last about 3 minutes tops on the front page.

The game is so simplistic. And yet for many people, it's extremely addictive. I may be one of those people. It's not for everyone, to be sure. A lot of my friends added it, played around a bit and then abandoned the game, which means I can stash stuff in their pack I might want to use later, hehe. Of course, the rats might steal it from them too, which is the risk I take with that maneuver. It's definitely worth checking out if you are an achiever who loves collectibles like me.

PackRat on Facebook

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