Solitaire Games

Resonance

New tile matching layout for Pretty Good MahJongg:  Resonance

Resonance can be downloaded from http://www.goodmj.com/layouts.html

It requires version 2.1 of Pretty Good MahJongg.  Download Pretty Good MahJongg version 2.1.

Fox

Another new user created tile matching layout is available for Pretty Good MahJongg:  Fox.

The Fox layout can be downloaded from http://www.goodmj.com/layouts.html

Note: this layout requires at least version 2.0 of  Pretty Good MahJongg.

Antique Tile Set

The Antique Tile Set for Pretty Good MahJongg has been improved!  Now with clearer, sharper tiles.

Download the new improved Antique Tile Set from http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html

This tile set requires version 2 or higher of Pretty Good MahJongg.  Download Pretty Good MahJongg.

Goodsol Newsletter #88 - Pretty Good MahJongg v2.1

Goodsol Newsletter #88
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http://www.goodsol.com


New version 2.1 of Pretty Good MahJongg
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http://www.goodmj.com

Pretty Good MahJongg version 2.1 is now available.  It can be downloaded from <http://www.goodmj.com/download.html>.

What's New in version 2.1:
- 15 new tile matching layouts.  Now there are a total of 175 tile matching layouts.
- Now you can create your own tilesets.  See <http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html#create> for details.  You can also download the first custom made tileset, the Goodsol Cats tileset, from this page.
- Now includes the Pretty Good MahJongg Screensaver.  This is a screensaver of the game winning animation. 

Version 2.1 is a free update for registered users of Pretty Good MahJongg. Just download and if a previous version is installed it will find your registration code automatically. Pretty Good MahJongg can be ordered for US$24.95 at <http://www.goodmj.com/orderonline.html>.


Improved Tile Sets 
http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html

We are improving all of the tilesets of Pretty Good MahJongg for version 2. The Kids Tile Set and the Space Tile Set have now been improved for version 2. These tile sets have been made clearer and sharper and updated for the new graphics of version 2. You can download the new improved tilesets from < http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html>.  These new tilesets require version 2 of Pretty Good MahJongg, they will not work in version 1.

Watch the tilesets page as we continue to update more tilesets.
Also, we will be regularly adding more tile matching layouts on the layouts page at <http://www.goodmj.com/layouts.html>.

I hope you like the recent improvements to Pretty Good MahJongg. New versions of Action Solitaire and Pretty Good Solitaire are coming soon!



Solitaire Plus for Mac OS X
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http://www.goodsol.com/mac.html

Solitaire Plus for Mac OS X is a collection of 30 popular solitaire games for Apple Mac computers. It contains many favorites including Klondike, FreeCell, and Spider. While it is not as large or full featured as Pretty Good Solitaire, Solitaire Plus is based on our old Free Solitaire game. It therefore contains many of the elements of Pretty Good Solitaire, such as right click quick move. Solitaire Plus will run on any Mac mini, iMac, PowerMac, iBook, or PowerBook with Mac OSX version 10.1 or higher. This is the closest to a Mac version of Pretty Good Solitaire that there will likely be for some time. Solitaire Plus can be downloaded or ordered from <http://www.goodsol.com/mac.html>.   Try the trial version or order with a money back guarantee.


Featured Game - Simple Simon
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Simple Simon is an underrated one deck game of the Spider type.

At the start of the game, all 52 cards are dealt face up to 10 piles. Eight cards are dealt to each of the first three piles, then seven cards are dealt to the fourth pile, six cards to the third pile, and so on until only one card is dealt to the last pile. Since all of the cards are dealt out and face up, Simple Simon is an open game, which is unusual for Spider type games.

The objective is to build the tableau into 4 piles of 13 cards down in suit sequence from Kings to Aces. To achieve this, you can build tableau piles down regardless of suit. Groups of card can be moved as a unit if they are in sequence down in suit. These are the same building rules as Spider. Unlike Spider, once a suit sequence is created it is not removed from the tableau (in this way the game is like Scorpion).

As with most open games, Simple Simon has opportunity for skill. Clearly you want to build in suit if possible, since then you can move the cards together. Creating open spaces is imperative. Most of all, though, you need to keep open options of movement. That is, you need to make moves that will create other moves, even if these moves might not be optimal. You may need to not build in suit, for example, if the non-suit move allows some other cards below it to be moved.

The average player in the user statistics at <http://scores.goodsol.com/topscores/scores/pgs/sim plesimon.html> wins Simple Simon about 75% of the time. It seems likely that most Simple Simon games are winnable and that unwinnable games are probably rare but possible.

There are a couple of variations of Simple Simon. Simon Jester is a two deck variation and Simon Says is an easier variation with two free cells.

Simple Simon is one of the 600 solitaire games in Pretty Good Solitaire.  It can be downloaded from <http://www.goodsol.com/download.html>.

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Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - support@goodsol.com
Anne Warfield - Order Fulfilment - orders@goodsol.com

©2005 Goodsol Development Inc.
PO Box 9155, Springfield IL  62791
Pretty Good Solitaire, Action Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, FreeCell
Wizard, Spider Wizard, and more.  Visit us at <http://www.goodsol.com>.

List Archive: <http://www.goodsol.com/cgi-bin/news/mail.cgi?f=arc hive&l=news>
View past newsletters.

Goodsol Newsletter subscribe or unsubscribe:
<http://www.goodsol.com/cgi-bin/news/mail.cgi>

Millie

New tile matching layout for Pretty Good MahJongg:  Millie

Download Millie from http://www.goodmj.com/layouts.html

Space Tile Set

Improved Tile Set for Pretty Good MahJongg: Space Tile Set.

Download the Space Tile Set from http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html

Pretty Good MahJongg version 2.1

A new version 2.1 of Pretty Good MahJongg has been released.

What's New in version 2.1:

15 new tile matching layouts, bringing the total number of tile matching layouts to 175.   







Create your own tilesets - see <http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html#create>.

Now includes the Pretty Good MahJongg Screen Saver, a screensaver with the game winning animation.

Version 2.1 can be downloaded from <http://www.goodmj.com/download.html>.

Version 2.1 is a free update for registered users of Pretty Good MahJongg.

Goodsol Newsletter #87 - Primrose

Goodsol Newsletter #87
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http://www.goodsol.com 


Happy New Year
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2005 is the 10th anniversary year for Pretty Good Solitaire! The first version of Pretty Good Solitaire was released on July 19, 1995. It's hard to believe that it has been nearly 10 years already.

This year the big event of the year will be the 10th anniversary edition of Pretty Good Solitaire, to be released this summer. In the meantime, we'll have lots of new updates of our other games.


Improved Tile Sets for Pretty Good MahJongg
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http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html

The Flags of the World Tile Set, the Flowers Tile Set, and the Traffic Signs Tile Set for Pretty Good MahJongg have been improved for version 2. These tile sets have been made clearer and sharper and updated for the new graphics of version 2. You can download the new improved tilesets from <http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html>.  These new tilesets require version 2 of Pretty Good MahJongg, they will not work in version 1.

We will be updating more tilesets in the near future.


New Layouts for Pretty Good MahJongg
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http://www.goodmj.com/layouts.html

Nine new tile matching layouts are available for Pretty Good MahJongg at <http://www.goodmj.com/layouts.html>.  These layouts are in addition to the 160 tile matching layouts available in version 2.0 of Pretty Good MahJongg at <http://www.goodmj.com/download.html>.

Check the layouts page often as we will be adding new layouts regularly.



Featured Game - Primrose
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Primrose is a two deck solitaire game. It is a variation of the more popular game Interregnum, but Primrose may be the more interesting game.

At the start of the game, 8 indicator cards are dealt out across the top of the screen. The indicator cards indicate the top card for each of the foundation piles. Each indicator card will be the last card played to the foundation pile directly below it. If the indicator card is a Ten, for example, then the foundation pile below it must start with a Jack. The pile will then be built up regardless of suit, wrapping from King to Ace until a Nine is played. Then the Ten indicator card will be automatically played to the foundation pile to complete the pile. The object is to complete all of the foundations to win the game.

The remaining cards are dealt face up to 8 tableau piles. The top card of each pile is available for play on the foundations. There is no building or moving of cards within the tableau. The only plays are to the foundation piles.

You begin by making all possible plays to the foundation piles. You will often have choices of cards to move up. You should always choose the card that will free up the most possible moves of cards below it (since you can see all the cards in the tableau piles, you can plan moves ahead). Also, in general you should remove cards from the pile that has the most cards in it. If you have a choice between two different foundation piles, choose the one that has been built up the least.

When you have made all possible plays, you can click on the empty stock to redeal. The redeal in Primrose is unique. The first redeal will pick up all the remaining cards from the first (leftmost) tableau pile only. The cards are then dealt out one at a time to each pile across to the right, and then back again to the leftmost pile until the cards run out. The effect of this is that all the cards from the first tableau pile are distributed out across all the piles. After the first redeal there will be very few cards in the first pile and a couple of more cards in each of the other piles, with all the cards from the first pile being at the top of the other piles.

After the redeal, make all possible plays to the foundation piles again. When all possible plays are again done, the redeal process is repeated, except this time it will be the second tableau pile that will be picked up and distributed across all the piles. There are 8 redeals in total (one for each of the tableau piles).

The net effect of the redeals are that the leftmost piles will tend to get much smaller than the rightmost piles. While you are making plays, remember that you want to move up cards from the larger piles, but also all the cards from the large piles that haven't been redealt yet will get redistributed, making all of those cards more easily available later. Once a pile has been through the redeal the cards buried in it will never be accessible again unless you can play off all the cards above them. Be careful that no blocks develop among these piles where lower cards get buried below higher cards. Delicate balances have to be made, leaving wide areas of skill in the game.

Primrose is one of the 600 solitaire games in Pretty Good Solitaire.  It can be downloaded from <http://www.goodsol.com/download.html>.

---------------------------------------
Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - support@goodsol.com
Anne Warfield - Order Fulfilment - orders@goodsol.com

©2005 Goodsol Development Inc.
PO Box 9155, Springfield IL  62791
Pretty Good Solitaire, Action Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, FreeCell
Wizard, Spider Wizard, and more.  Visit us at <http://www.goodsol.com>.

List Archive: <http://www.goodsol.com/cgi-bin/news/mail.cgi?f=arc hive&l=news>
View past newsletters.

Goodsol Newsletter subscribe or unsubscribe:
<http://www.goodsol.com/cgi-bin/news/mail.cgi>

Solitaire Plus for Mac OS X

Solitaire Plus! for MacOS X offers 30 solitaire variations including the Klondike, FreeCell, and Spider favorites. Although Solitaire Plus! for MacOS X does not provide all the features available in our Pretty Good Solitaire product for Windows, it does provide several important core features such as unlimited undo/redo, statistics tracking, use of any image as a game background or card back, game selection by number, and comprehensive help. Plus the game is designed from the ground up for MacOS X.

Download or Order Solitaire Plus for Mac OS X

Rocket Temple

New tile matching layout for Pretty Good MahJongg: Rocket Temple

Download Rocket Temple from http://www.goodmj.com/layouts.html