You might think I'm crazy for doing it...
Let me tell you something, I _knew_ I was crazy before I did this.
This doesn't even begin to touch on how crazy I am.
But, if you say so, then I can't argue with you.
Here is my...
O---------------O
| SOLITAIRE FAQ |
O---------------O
Be a master of everyone's favorite one-player card game!
v1.0
Written by Snow Dragon (C) 2002. All rights reserved.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
=================
I. Intro and Notes
II. What is Solitaire?
III. A Brief History of Solitaire
IV. How Does One Go About Playing Solitaire?
V. Menu Navigation
1) Game
2) Help
VI. Modes of Play
1) Standard
2) Vegas
VII. How to Cheat at Solitaire
1) PC Solitaire
2) Manual Solitaire
VIII. Credits and Copyrights
INTRO AND NOTES
===============
Okay, so yes, I _am_ just a tad bit crazy if I'm sitting here doing an FAQ
for Solitaire. It also tells you how much free time I have on my hands to be
sitting here using my time in the least constructive way possible. Anyway,
though, there's not much to be said about the game of Solitaire. I love
Solitaire: it's one of the few computer games that can be accurately re-
enacted while away from the computer. There's a few things in this FAQ that I
feel are expedient that you know, but don't read them until you're past the
fact that I have written a Solitaire FAQ.
** I think you actually know how to play Solitaire. In case you've been
living under a rock since the 1300s though, it's here if you need it. This
document is here to give you a basic feel for how Solitaire works and a
few of the rules. It will even tell you how to cheat a little! In both the
computer game and in manual solitaire! What a deal!
** Curious about the game of solitaire came to be? I've got your number! Dig
the Brief History of Solitaire section for the inside scoop.
** If you need to contact me to tell me anything that's wrong with this or
any of my other FAQs, suggest something that would be beneficial to one of
them, or you need to correct my errors, or you want to tell me how stupid
I am for writing a Solitaire FAQ (I'm waiting for it, believe me), contact
me at <
[email protected]> and wait for an answer. Unless you send me
something that is outlandishly off-the-wall and totally inane, you'll get
a reply, so send that e-mail today! Don't delay!
** That should be all! Let's go play some Solitaire!
WHAT IS SOLITAIRE?
==================
I am so glad you asked that question! It is a card game designed to be played
by one person. It is a great way to take your mind off the drudgery of the
real world and not become a Cubicle Zombie (though you may turn into a
Solitaire Junkie if you do not moderate your playing time). It is a cover-up
for things you may be doing that you do not want other people to see! You may
cover it up with things that you may be doing because you don't want other
people to see you playing Solitaire! (You see, it works both ways.)
Seriously, if you want to know how to play Solitaire, see that all-
encompassing section entitled "How Does One Go About Playing Solitaire?"
If you want to know what's up with Solitaire and why it's such a big thing
today, read "A Brief History of Solitaire", immediately following this
section.
If you want to know how to cheat your way through what may be the world's
simplest card game ever conceived, see "How to Cheat at Solitaire." There are
easy-to-follow instructions on how to play Solitaire like a bad person.
And even though Solitaire is a card game designed to be played by one person,
it is also all of the other things that I said in that needlessly lengthy
paragraph above this one. Let's move on!
A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOLITAIRE
============================
Solitaire dates way back to one day in 20,000 B.C. when someone chiseled a
deck of cards out of 52 stone slabs. The suits were hammers, tigers, bones,
and clubs (still a Solitaire mainstay to this day), but the game was not
without its problems. The deck was not very portable, and had very little
shuffling capacity. Many stubbed toes and thumbs came about as a result of
the nearly one-and-a-half-ton deck. Leave it to the French, who value their
alone time just as much as anyone else, to improve vastly on this primitive
formula.
Okay, so none of that Neanderthal schlock really happened, but the stuff
about the French being the perpetrators of solitaire conception is entirely
true. "Solitaire" itself is a French word meaning "patience." The first
vestiges of what we know as basic card games came around in the 1300s.
Playing cards then were strictly a nobility thing since they had to be
painted by hand. When mass production became available in Germany in the
1500s, a wider audience could enjoy card games. That brings us to around the
19th Century or so, when solitaire came into a state of mild popularity in
England and France. The first two solitaire games on record are known as "Sir
Tommy" and "Grandfather's Patience," two apparently closely related games.
What we are playing here is more appropriately referred to as Klondike but
which most Windows users and people in general know as Solitaire, even though
there are approximately eighty-six trillion renditions of solitaire in
existence today. There are many fancy Klondike solitaire terms that we are
not going to throw around here. If you wish to know them, you can visit the
website I learned them from, which is listed in the Credits and Copyrights
section. Just know that this version of solitaire is called Klondike, and
there are many other versions of solitaire that are waiting to be played by
card game buffs such as yourself.
HOW DOES ONE GO ABOUT PLAYING SOLITAIRE?
========================================
Another excellent question! Allow me to answer it in the fullest of detail!
In Solitaire, you start out with seven columns of cards. The far left column
has only one card, and one card is added to each column as you go right. Only
the top card in each column is face-up. You have the deck in the upper-left-
hand corner, and four spaces for your separate suits (diamonds, hearts,
clubs, and spades) to the right of the deck. Therefore, it would look a
little something like what you see below:
_ _ _ _ _
|D| |_| |_| |_| |_|
(for Deck)
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
|_| _ _ _ _ _ _
|_| _ _ _ _ _
|_| _ _ _ _
|_| _ _ _
|_| _ _
|_| _
|_|
This is quite a crude representation, but I'm doing the best I can, mind you.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to get all the cards from
each suit up into those four blank space in the top right-hand corner in
ascending order from aces to kings. That means you can't slap a four of
hearts up there until you've got a three of hearts in that spot. And of
course, the three of hearts can't rest there until you've laid a two of
hearts in that same area, which in turn has to wait for the ace of hearts to
be placed up there. Are we on the same page? Excellent.
Now, there are a few ways you can go about finding cards to put up in that
corner in the correct order. First, look at the cards you've got to start
with. If there are any aces there facing up, drag them to one of the
designated outlined areas in the top right-hand corner. If not, then stack
cards that can be stacked on each other on each other. What's that? How do
you know when you can stack a card on top of another? That's a very good
question. Let me offer up my informed response. (By the way, whenever there's
a hole between columns, put a king in there to start up a new stack.)
You have a black ten of clubs. Only one type of card can be stacked on top of
this black ten of clubs: a nine of a red suit, either diamonds or hearts.
Similarly, you can only put a black eight on that red nine, and on the black
eight, a red seven. You have to get all 52 cards into stacks of thirteen,
each one alternating in color with each new card. When the next card to go in
one of the top right-hand stacks is open, either double-click it or drag it
to make it go there. The game is over when all four kings are safely at the
top. Then this neat little animation pops up. Back in the day when this was
made, this nifty little featurette would go on for a minute at least, but on
today's higher-end comps, the whole thing goes by in a flash, lasting about
five seconds tops. It was really fun to watch back when Windows 3.1 was the
dominant OS in America.
All that right there is the basic gist of solitaire, both the PC version and
the version that uses actual cards that you actually hold in your hand. There
is a life outside the computer.
MENU NAVIGATION
===============
PC Solitaire has a few menus that, while not exactly a chore to navigate even
by trained monkey standards, are still mentioned here in full detail to help
you get the hang of them in case you've never played the cool little card
game included with every Microsoft OS ever made.
-------
1) Game
-------
Deal
----
Bangs up a fresh new game, new cards, new deck, new everything. You can't
take back the decision to deal a new hand, so don't do it unless you are
absolutely stuck!
Undo
----
If you did something stupid, you can take it back as long as you haven't done
anything else. You can only take back one move, not your entire game. You
could never lose if you could do that.
Deck
----
Choose the card back that you want to look at while you play Solitaire. Some
of the backs have short animations, such as the tacky striped coat that's
holding three aces (another one will peek out of his sleeve if you wait a
moment).
Options
-------
Lets you set up the way you want to play Solitaire. Here are the many
submenus within the Options ... option.
DRAW
Draw One: When you click on the deck, only one card will be face-up. This is
the baby way to play Solitaire. You will almost always win playing
with this option on, and if you ever lose playing one-card-draw,
please hit yourself for me.
Draw Three: The standard way to play Solitaire. Three cards will pop up when
you click on the deck, and you can only play the top one. There
is a way to bypass this - see "How to Cheat at Solitaire" for a
more detailed synopsis of this bypassing.
SCORING
Standard: You'll get five points for laying a card down on a stack, five
points for uncovering the top card of a stack, and ten points for
placing a card in one of the top right-hand compartments. You will
lose twenty points every time you re-shuffle the deck after the
third go-around. A normal score for the end usually figures from
about 680 to 710 points.
Vegas: Like Standard, but your points are in increments of dollars, and you
start out 52 smackers in the hole (one dollar for every card, I would
assume). Here's the kicker though: you can only go through the deck a
limited number of times - three, I believe. After this, a glaring red
X will appear where the deck should be and you won't be able to cycle
through the cards anymore. That's why they call it Vegas: because
under this system, you will win one time out of every, oh, ninety
million times (unless you cheat - more on that in the next section).
OTHER OPTIONS
Timed Game: A timer will count up, and after every few seconds you'll lose a
few points, pressuring you to move faster and make quicker
decisions. If your game isn't timed, you won't lose points as the
game progresses.
Status Bar: If you don't have this on, you just won't be able to see your
score, or how much time has elapsed if you're playing a timed
game.
Outline Dragging: This is for people who have no idea what the heck is going
on and they have just opened the Solitaire program for the
first time. Outline dragging is sort of a litmus test for
stackability - it'll tell you when a move is legal by
inverting the colors of the card you're about to stack
another one on. If there is no color change, the move is
ambiguous and can't be executed. Pros need not turn this
option on unless they are easily amused by inverted colors.
Keep Score: This'll tell you how many you've won and lost. I don't play with
this, but it's a nice option to have in place if you're obsessive
about your solitaire record.
-------
2) Help
-------
Help Topics
-----------
This will bring up a new window that will allow you to learn everything
important about Solitaire. I think I did a pretty good job of casting a dark
shadow on the Windows Help, if you ask me.
About Solitaire
---------------
This will give you some vital statistics about how Windows Solitaire came to
be. Did you know some of the following important facts?
+ The full name of the program is Microsoft (R) Solitaire!
+ It was created in 1981 and is copyrighted all the way up to the present
day!
+ It was developed for Microsoft by Wes Cherry!
+ This product is licensed to (insert name of registered PC owner)!
+ You can see how much physical memory is available to Windows!
+ You can see how much of your system resources are free!
See now, wasn't that educational? You should be thanking the About Solitaire
dialog box for its informative stance on Solitaire.
The About Solitaire dialog box says "You're welcome."
HOW TO CHEAT AT SOLITAIRE
=========================
You know the old saying - "Stop me if you've heard this already." Here's my
variation - "Skip this if you know it already." This is going to tell you a
neat little trick that I've picked up in my years of mooching solitaire
tricks off of the locals. Here we go:
H O W T O C H E A T A T P C S O L I T A I R E ! ! !
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Truth be told, it's a bit disappointing how you cheat at Windows Solitaire.
In three-card-draw mode, hold down Ctrl, Alt, and Shift. Holding these three
keys down? Are you? Is it killing your fingers? Are you feelin' the burn?
Excellent! Now click on the deck. Magically, only one card will appear! You
know how else you can do this? Go to Options and turn on One Card under the
Draw submenu! Oh happy day! You know how to cheat at Windows Solitaire!
However, what kind of section would this be if it didn't tell you how to beat
the system in the real world as well? I've included a special vignette that's
sure to get the solitaire community all a-flutter with excitement. Are you
ready for this? You might want to change your pants once you hear:
H O W T O C H E A T A T M A N U A L S O L I T A I R E ! ! !
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
What you do here is you set up a normal solitaire game. You're ready to
start, right? Go! Once you get into it and start laying cards, you're
eventually going to find yourself in a jam where you need to deal from the
deck. You ready? Here's what to do: flip over the deck and leaf through every
card until you find the one you need, and then lay it in the appropriate
stack! I told you you'd want to change your pants! (If this does not work,
then what you'll want to do is start looking at the face-down cards behind
stacks. Do it when people aren't looking, too. That's always good.)
This has been "How to Cheat at Solitaire."
CREDITS AND COPYRIGHTS
======================
Well, sad to say, this is the end of our time together discussing the
intricacies of solitaire. It's been a fun romp, I suppose, but all things
must come to an end. It felt so short, though most would contend that an
eight-page FAQ over Solitaire is entirely too long. Anyway, there are those
that I would like to thank who have made this FAQ possible:
** Bill Gates, for starting Microsoft and not realizing how many Solitaire
Junkies he has created in the wake of his empire.
** Wes Cherry, whoever the heezy he is, because he developed Solitaire for
Microsoft and also effectively had a hand in creating legions of Solitaire
Junkies.
** My dad, who bestowed upon me the laptop that I type this document on. He
is a great and wise man who would probably give me a blank stare if he
knew I was writing this.
** Solitaire Information at <www.gis.net/~dber/solitair.htm> for its detailed
history of the game of solitaire. A man named Dave Berzannini knows
practically everything about it, and obviously comes from a rich heritage
of Solitaire Junkies who were playing it on the Mayflower while everyone
else was suffering from scurvy and the aftereffects of drinking salt
water. A fuller version of my Brief History of Solitaire can be seen at
his website, along with recommendations for books on the subject.
Also, if you want to check out more about solitaire, go to Solitaire
Central (www.solitairecentral.com). They have a bunch of rare variants of
solitaire available for download - just click on the Solitaire Rarities
link.
** And then, Dave Berzannini for his excellent solitaire knowledge.
** Those great and mighty teachers and other adults who have had a part in
and have witnessed the fruition of my writing talent.
** Any site that posts this, whether to help those who need Solitaire help or
to single me out for their "Only In America" archive.
** Chili dogs, which provide excellent sustenance for minutes of solitaire
indulgence.
Now, the legal mumbo-jumbo that is obligatory for documents such as these:
Don't plagiarize this FAQ. Several identifiable references will easily tell
me if this has been stolen and not credited to me. Plagiarism is flat-out
illegal anyway, so don't mess around with it.
You must have my permission to use this FAQ on your website. Send me a
short and simple request for said consent to my e-mail address,
<
[email protected]>, and be sure to put "Solitaire" or something to
that effect in the subject line. Otherwise, I'll trash it without a second
thought. If I find you using it without my permission, something will be
done. I don't know what yet, but something.
Once you do have my permission, you're not allowed to change the text in
any way, shape, or form. It has to be transcribed from the website it's on to
yours free of blemish or spot. Use the text exactly as is, though I will
allow the use of pictures as a visual aid, though Solitaire isn't exactly a
game that needs explanation through pictures.
If someone needs this for help with Solitaire or a cheap laugh, distribute
it to them freely, not charging any money at all. Sale of this document for a
cash profit is strictly forbidden.
All my guides see the light of day on GameFAQs first, and GameFAQs tells
those who pay it a visit to not link directly to the FAQs. It's all in their
legal section, and I choose to abide by this rule because it's a good rule.
I'd stick by it if'n I was you.
This version of this FAQ (1.0) is (C) June 4, 2002 by Snow Dragon. The latest
version of this FAQ can always be found at GameFAQs, and you can bank on
that.
Make it a great day, and may all your Windows Solitaire experiences be
pleasant ones!
Word.
