Game Concepts

Background

Solitaire card games, also known as patience games, exist since a long time, but they become popular during the XIX century. Of course they were (and still are) played with paper cards. In the 80s, computers offered an electronic alternative, the most known being the Klondike game that came with MS Windows 3.1. Freecell followed a few years later on the same platform.

Fundamental Rules

The object of solitaire card games is to transform shuffled packs of cards back into order by following building rules. They are many variations to accomplish this. Most games have Tableau to help rearrange the cards before sending them, ordered, in Foundations. Some have a Stock were cards wait to be dealt to a Waste or to other piles. Some have Discards were cards can be discarded for a while before being used elsewhere. Some have Reserves where cards can be used when needed. The way cards can be stacked on top of others is probably why they are so many variations; cards can follow descending or ascending suit sequences, in family, in color or other combinations. They are almost no limit to the number of variations even if many are close to each other. The difficulty is vary also in great range; some games come out very often and other are so hard you will probably never win more than 1 out of 100. Speaking of difficulty does not take into account the fact that it could be difficult because of luck of of brain power; open games (Fan 15 for example) use less luck than games that setup with most cards hidden (Klondike for example).

Why Solo Cards

Solo Cards mixes the better of all solitaire card games that you could find. Great graphics, sounds, and user interface, a large number of available games, an AI (the Wise Man) that really helps, and a score system that takes the clock into account; in Solo Cards even easy games will be interesting because you'll compete against the clock. You'll want to gain a few seconds over the last high score.

Solo Cards - (C) 2000 - Bertrand Vauthier