Poor Man's Solitaire v2.1

by Mike Perry, August 5th, 2000

Solitaire has got to be one of the most generally popular computer games. It's the perfect time waster, there are dozens of versions for all computer platforms, implementing many different variations of the basic games.

"Poor Man's Solitaire" supports over 40 of the popular solitaire variations, all of which are described below, along with their basic rules. When learning new solitaire variations, you might find it useful to turn on "Show Pile Types", or "Show Next Card", under the options menu. These will help a lot in learning the layout of the card piles, and how to develop piles. Card flow is generally in the direction of bottom to top when building foundations (Klondike, Canfield), or left to right when eliminating cards (Monte Carlo, Idiot's Delight).

If you have trouble figuring out these instructions, you can find good rules references at the Pretty Good Solitaire website, and the Sol Suite 2000 website. In addition John Mcleod's page is always a great reference for card games of every kind. Shameless plug: This game was created using a card engine I developed for a game called "Cat and Mouse" (available soon), a version of Spite and Malice, which can be found on the Allgood Software website.

Moving Cards

To move cards between piles, click and drag the card you want to move over to the pile you want to move it to, then drop it. (to move blocks, just grab the topmost card of the block you wish to move, the cards below will come along for the ride). To deal from the stock (as in Canfield, Klondike, Idiot's Delight, etc...) just click once on it. If the discard may be used to replenish the stock (Klondike, Canfield), just click on the empty stock, and the cards will recycle. When moving a card or sequence over a pile, it will light up if the card may be placed onto it. (you can turn off this feature with the 'Hilight Piles' option).

To remove a card in pair matching games, like Monte Carlo, Doublets, and Fourteen out, simply drag one card onto its mate, and both will be removed from play.

Some games, like La Bella Lucie, offer a limited number of redeals (of the tableau). In these games, a "Redeal" button will be available. Pressing this button will redeal the tableau according to the rules of the game. The number of redeals still available to you is indicated on the button.

Undo!

Version 2.1 brings with it the ability to undo an unlimited number of times. After making a move, if you see a better one you could have made, just select "Undo" from under the "File" menu (or use the shortcut key: Command-Z), and the recently moved card(s) will pop back to their previous position. This can be repeated as much as you like, back until the start of the game, with one exception. In games that 'reshuffle', like La Bella Lucie, or Monte Carlo, moves can only be taken back up until the most recent shuffle.

Pile Types

Foundation - usually the goal of solitaire games is to get all the cards into one of these piles.
Tableau - your playing area. Generally used for building cards in preparation for moving them to the foundation.
Reserve - A special reserve of cards which will have specific rules for play. Found in Canfield, Free Cell, and others.
Stock - A reserve of cards that is progressed through in various manners depending on the game.
Discard - Usually a pile the stock deals into. Generally the top card of the discard pile is available for play. Sometimes used as a waste pile, as in Idiot's Delight and Monte Carlo.

Building

Most Solitaire variants allow building in the Tableau, and/or the Foundations. Each game enforces different building rules for each pile. To explain by example, imagine a pile whose top card is the 8 of Clubs:

Build up by suit - A card with the next higher value, of the same suit is required: only a 9 of Clubs can be played on our 8 of Clubs. Example: Klondike foundations.
Build down by suit - A card with the next lower value, of the same suit is required: only a 7 of Clubs can be played on our 8 of Clubs. Example: Fan tableaus.
Build down by alternating colour - A card with the next lower value, of the other colour (Red or Black) is required: either a 7 of hearts, or a 7 of diamonds may be placed on our 8 of clubs. Example: Klondike tableaus.
Build down by colour - A card with the next lower value, of the same colour (Red or Black) is required: either a 7 of clubs, or a 7 of spades may be placed on our 8 of clubs. Example: Whitehead tableaus.
Build up by value - A card with the next higher value, with no regard to suit, is required: Any of the four 9's may be played on our 8 of clubs. Example: Auld Lang Syne foundations.
Build down by value - A card with the next lower value, with no regard to suit, is required: Any of the four 7's may be played on our 8 of clubs. Example: Will O the Wisp tableaus.
Build up or down by value - A card with the next lower, or the next higher value, with no regard to suit, is required: Any of the four 7's or the four 9's may be played on our 8 of Clubs. Example: Golf discard.
Build up by an increment - A card that is offset from the current top card by an increment. For example, if our 8 of Clubs were on the by 3's foundation of calculation, we could put any jack on it. Example: Calculation foundations.

The Games

Klondike Family	Free Cell Family	Tableau Clearing Family
Agnes Bernauer Agnes Sorel Alaska Canfield Corners Czarina Double Canfield Double Klondike East Haven Forty Thieves King Albert Klondike "Classic" Klondike Russian Solitaire Thumb and Pouch Whitehead Yukon	Baker's Game Canister Eight Off Free Cell Mt. Olympus Seahaven Towers	Block Ten Doublets Fourteen Out Golf Idiot's Delight Monte Carlo Simple Pairs
Fan Family	Spider Family	Miscellaneous
Baker's Dozen Beleaguered Castle Bisley Fan La Bella Lucie Trefoil	Scorpion Spider Spiderette Will O The Wisp	Acquaintance Auld Lang Syne Calculation Osmosis Sir Tommy

There are several different distinct kinds of solitaires, which I've grouped into different families. You'll find that the games within a family generally have the same goals, and play in similiar ways.

Klondike Family - generally trying to build foundations up by suit, building in a tableau with some face down cards, making luck a factor in winning the game. Often, there is a stock that can be run through to help with building. Klondike and Canfield are the most commonly known games of this family.
Free Cell Family - Building foundations up again, but this time there is no stock, all the cards are dealt into the tableau and are face up. The fact that the location of every card is known before play even begins gives strategy a large part in the winning of the game. Often Cells are offered as temporary holding places for cards, as in the flagship game, Free Cell. Most of the Free Cell variants can be won with proper planning.
Fan Family - The Fan family contains games that have a large number of tableau piles (fans), with just a few face up cards each. Like the Free Cell family, the fact that you can tell where every card is makes strategy more important than luck. In the Fan series, cards can generally only be moved one at a time, so it is easy to trap yourself by blocking lower cards with higher ones. Several variations allow you to redeal the Tableau, giving you a second or third chance to complete the foundations. The most commonly known game of the Fan family is La Bella Lucie.
Spider Family - Spider is one of the classic solitaire games, and as a result, many different variations have been invented. This family of games has no foundations, instead the goal is to clear cards from the tableau by forming sequences down in suit, from King to Ace. As these sequences are formed, they are automatically removed from play (and added to your score). The classic examples of this family are Spider and Will O the Wisp.
Tableau Clearing Family - These games are won by clearing out all cards in the Tableau, there are no foundations. Each have their own mechanisms, all described below. Several of these games are fairly well known, including Golf, Idiot's Delight, and Monte Carlo.
Miscellaneous - The rest. All of these games are unique, and I couldn't figure out where else to put them, heh.

Acquaintance

Acquaintance is a variation of Auld Lang Syne, but allows 2 redeals, so is a lot easier to win. The 4 foundation piles need to be built up by value (no regard to suit) from ace to king. The top card of each of the 4 tableau piles may be used to play to foundations, but no intra-tableau movement is allowed. Spaces filled within the Tableau may not be filled with anything. Clicking on the stock will deal a card to each tableau pile. When the stock is exhausted, click the 'redeal' button to gather all the cards in the tableau, shuffle, and start dealing cards to tableau piles again.

Version 2.1 (August, 2000)	Adds new games: Double Canfield, Double Klondike, Beleagured Castle, Spider, King Albert, Czarina, Block Ten and Simple Pairs. Unlimited levels of undo available. 'KingOnly', and 'AutoPlay' options added. Statistics. Pile hilighting. Save/Restore games.
Version 2.0 (June, 2000)	Added loads of new games: Free Cell, Sir Tommy, Monte Carlo, among others. Can now move cards back out of the foundations in some games. "Special Pile" (cheating) options: Pile Type, Next Card Show hidden aces. Open a "live" view of a piles contents. New, cleaner card style.
Version 1.0 (December, 1999)	Support for Klondike, Canfield, Corners, Golf, Idiot's Delight, Osmosis, Baker's Dozen, and Canister.