10th May 2001

When you're alone and life is making you lonely, you can always go -- ACK! Doon toon! Either that, or play a rousing game of Freecell. For me, it was easier to master Hearts and Spades. You've already got it, whether or not you get it; FREECELL.EXE comes with newer installations of Windows. Even though I've never truly played it, I know I could win on my first game. That is, with the help of a simple keyboard shortcut. In the middle of gameplay, CTRL+SHIFT+F10 will bring up a small dialog. Through it, you can Abort, Retry, or Ignore. Archaic commands with immediate results. The self-titled "User-Friendly User Interface" will allow you to automatically win or lose on the next move. Well, I hate losing, so I might as well Abort. Hee hee! Care to deal a hand that's impossible to win? Tap F3 to select a game number. Enter "- 1" (sans quotes) in the field. Okay, worm your way out of that shuffle without cheating. If that's not challenging enough, try entering "-2" (sans quotes). But whatever you do, DO NOT ENTER "- 27" when prompted. It won't work.