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A "pack rat" refers to someone who has a compulsive need to hoard items and refuses to throw anything away. If you're guilty of this little personality quirk and have a basement full of junk to prove it, then you might want to look into PackRat. This nifty Facebook application channels all of those crafty, secretive hoarding tendencies into a fun and super addictive game about collecting sets of cards.
You'll start off with five cards in your pack, and each card belongs to a certain collection, such as "The Bees Knees" (bees and bee-themed cards), "Ancient Realms" (wizards, knights, medieval weapons and other fantasy items), and "Sleep Tight" (a collection of the monsters that live under little children's beds).
Collect at least five cards in the same set and you can add them to your permanent vault, which is sort of like a sticker book that proudly displays everything you've collected so far.
How do you get more cards? Ah, now this is where the fun comes in. You can either buy them from the marketplace using credits (which you can earn in a variety of ways), or browse through the packs of your Facebook friends and steal their cards. If you're successful at your attempted theft, the card will be added to your pack and you'll drop a different card of your choice in its place. (Tip: Nothing will make your friend happier than if you manage to pilfer one of their super rare items and drop something worthless like an ear of corn or handful of ice cubes in its place.)
Of course, you can be stolen from as well, which is why it pays to "lock" precious cards until they're ready to be added to the vault. This is done by using a special lock card, but nothing is ever completely safe. Locks can be broken by conquering one of five mini-games which include a memory card game, word descramble and ball-and-paddle challenge.
The more friends you have who have added the application, the more fun it is because the more items there are to choose from. But even without real friends, you can always count on computer-generated rat characters like Princess Cinderatta, Captain Ratbeard and Ratty Crocker, who can steal and be stolen from – watch out for them!
Click here to add the PackRat application to your Facebook page, and if you don't have a Facebook account you can sign up for one there as well. Once you've got a feel for the game, check out the PackRat Wiki for tips, tricks, item lists and other useful info.