The object is to remove all of the cards from the board.
You win when all cards have been removed from the board.
You loose when all cards have been dealt from the deck and there are still cards remaining on the board.
Be forewarned, wins are rare! On average you will win only about 5% of the games you play.
Rules of the game:
The card at the top right of the window is referred to as the Play Card. Cards are dealt onto the board in the shape of a pyramid and are referred to as Board Cards.
A Board Card is only playable if it is uncovered.
A Board Card is only playable if it is one up, or one down, in sequence from the Play Card. For example, if the Play Card is a 5, you can play a 4 or a 6 from the uncovered cards on the board.
Change the Play Card by taking a Hit or playing a card from the board. The Hit card or board card played becomes the new Play Card.
By default Aces are both high and low. So, you can play an Ace on a King or a 2. You can change Ace behavior by setting your preferences.
Suit is ignored.
Rules and features of the application:
To begin a game select New Game from the File menu. Or, click Deal on the game window.
You can re-deal as many times as you like until you take your first hit card or play your first card from the board.
Play a card from the board by clicking it.
The Hit button changes the Play Card by dealing the next card from the deck. You can also click the Card Deck.
You can have multiple game windows open at once by selecting New from the File menu.
Command + d with a game window front most will deal (if a deal is allowed).
Auto Play
Pressing the space bar with a game window front most will activate Auto Play. Auto Play will play the game automatically for you until there is more than one playable card to choose from. You may decide what you want to happen at this point by setting your "Auto play decision" preference. You may decide how much time to delay between auto play moves by setting your "Auto play delay (in ticks)" preference. I find anything over about 30 annoying, range is 0 to 300.
Players & High Scores (Edit Menu)
Up and down arrow keys select a row.
Special characters in front of the player name have special meanings as follows:
• denotes the default player, the player to use when you launch the game.
* denotes the active player, the player currently playing. I added this in case someone else comes along and takes your Mac!
Change Name
- changes the player name (command + n)
Make Default
- changes the selected player to the default player (command + d)
Make Active
- changes the selected player to the active player (command + a)
Clear...
- clear the selected player's scores and name!
Clear All...
- clears all of the player's scores and names! (command + c)
Save & Show Scores
- save any changes and shows the selected player's scores.
Preferences
Auto play delay (in ticks)
- see Auto Play above, 1 tick = 1/60th of a second
Auto play decision
- see Auto Play above
Ace behavior
- see Rules of the game
Unplayable card behavior
- this determines what happens when you click a card that is either covered or not in sequence from the Play Card
Give hints
- if checked and you take a Hit when there is a playable card on the board you will get a dialog that asks if you want to see the card you missed, stop (in order to figure it out yourself), or continue without a hint (kind of dumb thing to do!)
Allow undo
- enables the undo command in the edit menu. You can back up to the beginning of the game at any time. After losing, it's kind of cool to hold down command + z and watch the game go backwards. It's also useful to see what's happened after a lengthy auto play.
Play card sounds
- plays a sound when you take a hit or play a card from the board and when dealing
Deal on new game
- will deal automatically when selecting new game
New game on startup
- will select New Game when you open the game
Show default player's scores at startup
- will do just that!
Alert Dialogs
The space bar, return and enter keys all answer default in dialogs. The addition of the space bar as a default key makes auto play a little easier when auto play decision is set to Alert Dialog.
Known problems & stuff in progress:
I don't like the way redraws of cards are handled, it flashes and is ugly. I'm planning to use CopyBits, instead of on screen redraws.
I want to add dragging of the cards to the Play Card area, instead of just a click. Or, better yet, I'd like to add that cool thing Eric's Solitaire does where you can throw the card and it goes to where it's supposed to.
I want to add the ability to play a card by typing 1 through 7 (no command key). 1 will always play the furthest left playable card, whichever row that may be. 2 will play the second from the left, etc.
I also want to add look ahead to auto play. When auto play reaches a point where there are multiple cards to play it stops. This is dumb. I'm going to add a preference that allows you to look at various outcomes of removing any one of the removable cards.
By the time you send in your shareware fee, all this stuff should be completed.
Please let me know if you have other suggestions.
Photo Credits
Option + About Solitaire
by Naoko
Shift + About Solitaire
by Alan
Shareware & other stuff:
This game was written in C using Metrowerks CodeWarrior Professional.
I don't remember who taught me this game. I learned it when I was quite young and always liked it a lot. The simplicity and the fact that you hardly ever win kept me interested.
If you have any suggestions, bug reports, feature requests, or whatever please send them to me at aewalt@aol.com. Please mention Solitaire in the subject or I may delete it without reading it (damn spam!).
This game is shareware. Please send $2, or whatever you think it's worth, to the address below. This game may not be re-distributed without written permission from the author.
If you would like the source code please send your email address and $20 to the address below!
