Hodj 'n' Podj is a 1995 computer board game and minigame compilation developed by Boffo Games and published by Media Vision and Virgin Interactive. It was designed by Steve Meretzky, previously known for adventure games such as The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Hodj 'n' Podj features 19 minigames based on peg solitaire, Pac-Man, Battleship and other games. These may be played separately or within an overarching fairy tale story, which follows the suitors Hodj and Podj in their attempts to rescue two princesses. Meretzky conceived Hodj 'n' Podj in the late 1980s, as a way to revive simpler games that had become hard to obtain. It began production in 1994, and was the first product developed by Meretzky's company Boffo Games. Production was troubled, thanks to a $100 million securities fraud scandal at Media Vision, which led to the project's sale to Virgin. During development, Boffo discovered that Hodj 'n' Podj appealed to a wider demographic than Meretzky's past work, and Meretzky has since cited it as an early casual game. Selling 40,000 to 50,000 units, Hodj 'n' Podj was commercially unsuccessful. Reviewers found the game simplistic but enjoyable, although Computer Gaming World criticized its reuse of minigames from titles like the Dr. Brain series. Retrospectively, Meretzky has called Hodj 'n' Podj a career turning point that led him toward casual game development, and an inspiration for his subsequent work with WorldWinner and Playdom. In 2009, he reported that Hodj 'n' Podj continued to receive as many fan letters as all of his other games combined. Gameplay and plot Hodj 'n' Podj is a computer board game and minigame compilation for one to two players. It is set in a fairy tale world, in the kingdom of Po-Poree, whose twin princesses Mish and Mosh have been kidnapped by the villainous Salmagundi. The player controls the suitor Hodj, and races the competing suitor Podj—controlled by the computer or a second player—to rescue the princesses first. Each turn, a spinner randomly determines the distances Hodj and Podj may travel across the game board. The board features 19 important locations, each of which contains a minigame that the player completes to earn items or information necessary to rescue the princesses. These include Battlefish, inspired by Battleship; Pack Rat, inspired by Pac-Man; Garfunkel, inspired by Simon; and a peg solitaire game called Peggleboz. All 19 minigames may also be played in "stand-alone mode",