Solitaire Games

Action Solitaire 1.1

New Version of Action Solitaire
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http://www.actionsol.com

A new version of Action Solitaire has been released. Version 1.1 contains 18 new games, bringing the total number of games in Action Solitaire to 52. The new games are Aces and Kings, Australian Patience, Beleaguered Castle, Canfield, Cruel, Demons and Thieves, Double Klondike, Eight Off, Forty Thieves, Interchange, La Belle Lucie, Lady Jane, Osmosis, Penguin, Russian Solitaire, Sea Towers, Scorpion, and Thieves of Egypt.

Action Solitaire is a little different from regular solitaire. In Action Solitaire, the games are played in timed rounds for points. You try to build up the highest score possible. Each round has a goal score and you must score at least the goal score in order to advance to the next round. Registered users can submit their scores to the high scores web site at <http://scores.actionsol.com>.  It's an exciting and fast paced way to play solitaire.

Action Solitaire version 1.1 can be downloaded from <http://www.actionsol.com/download.html>. Version 1.1 is a free update for anyone who has purchased the previous version of Action Solitaire. Just download the trial version and it will use your Action Solitaire registration code (the new version should find it automatically if a registered copy of the old version is already installed).

You can order Action Solitaire from <http://www.actionsol.com/orderonline.html>.

More information about Action Solitaire is available at <http://www.actionsol.com/>.

Goodsol Newsletter #92 - New Action Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #92
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http://www.goodsol.com


New Version of Action Solitaire
--------------------------------------------
http://www.actionsol.com

A new version of Action Solitaire has been released. Version 1.1 contains 18 new games, bringing the total number of games in Action Solitaire to 52. The new games are Aces and Kings, Australian Patience, Beleaguered Castle, Canfield, Cruel, Demons and Thieves, Double Klondike, Eight Off, Forty Thieves, Interchange, La Belle Lucie, Lady Jane, Osmosis, Penguin, Russian Solitaire, Sea Towers, Scorpion, and Thieves of Egypt.

Action Solitaire is a little different from regular solitaire. In Action Solitaire, the games are played in timed rounds for points. You try to build up the highest score possible. Each round has a goal score and you must score at least the goal score in order to advance to the next round. Registered users can submit their scores to the high scores web site at <http://scores.actionsol.com>.  It's an exciting and fast paced way to play solitaire.

Action Solitaire version 1.1 can be downloaded from <http://www.actionsol.com/download.html>. Version 1.1 is a free update for anyone who has purchased the previous version of Action Solitaire. Just download the trial version and it will use your Action Solitaire registration code (the new version should find it automatically if a registered copy of the old version is already installed).

You can order Action Solitaire from <http://www.actionsol.com/orderonline.html>.

More information about Action Solitaire is available at <http://www.actionsol.com/actsol.html>.



Top Ten Most Downloaded Card Sets
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http://www.goodsol.com/pgs/cardsets.html

We have added a new list of the most downloaded card sets for Pretty Good Solitaire. This week's top ten most downloaded card sets are:

1. Cat Card Set
2. Traditional Card Set
3. Tarot Card Set
4. Royal Card Set
5. Kids Card Set
6. Science Fiction Card Set
7. Christmas Card Set
8. Patriot Card Set
9. Number Card Set
10. St. Patrick's Day Card Set

All of these card sets can be downloaded from <http://www.goodsol.com/pgs/cardsets.html>.


Top Ten Most Downloaded Tile Sets
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http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html

We also have a new list of the most downloaded tile sets for Pretty Good MahJongg. This week's top ten most downloaded tile sets are:

1. Playing Card Tiles
2. Japan Tiles
3. Taiwan Tiles
4. Flower Tiles
5. Kids Tiles
6. Black Tiles
7. Flag Tiles
8. Traffic Signs Tiles
9. Space Tiles
10. Antique Tiles

All of these tile sets can be downloaded from <http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html>.  They require at least version 2 of Pretty Good MahJongg, which can be downloaded from <http://www.goodmj.com/download.html>.


Featured Game - Aces and Kings
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Aces and Kings is one of the new games in Action Solitaire.  It is also in Pretty Good Solitaire.

Aces and Kings is a two deck game. At the start of the game, 13 cards are dealt out face up to two reserve piles. One card each is dealt to four tableau piles. The remainder of the cards form a stock, which is turned over one card at a time to the waste pile.

There are eight foundation piles. Four piles are built up in suit from Ace to King and four piles are built down in suit from King to Ace. The game is won if all cards are moved to the foundation piles.

Play consists of moving cards from the waste, tableau, or reserves to the foundation piles, and also moving cards between the foundation piles. There is no building in the tableau. Spaces in the tableau are filled automatically from the stock. Only the top card of each reserve pile is available.

You begin play by founding any Aces or Kings that are available to the foundation piles, then playing any Twos or Queens and so on upon them. Turn over cards from the stock until you can play a card. When a pile that is built up meets a pile that is built down, you can transfer cards between them. For example, suppose one foundation pile building up has an Eight on it and a foundation pile building down has a Nine on it. There is a Six in the tableau. You can play the Eight from one foundation onto the Nine, then move the Seven that was under the Eight onto the Eight. Then you can play the Six from the tableau onto the foundations. This allows you to play cards to the foundations that could not otherwise be played.

In Pretty Good Solitaire, there are no redeals. Aces and Kings is a difficult game, the average player wins it only 16% of the time.

In Action Solitaire, where the game is played in rounds for points, the game is a little different. First of all, since you are playing for points you don't necessarily have to win to do well. You score 500 points for each card moved to the foundations, so again moving as many cards to the foundations as possible is important. You also get a game winning bonus of 20,000 points if you move all of the cards to the foundations. You lose 500 points for each undo. However, in Action Solitaire you can redeal the stock at a cost of 20,000 points. This can be worth doing once in a round if you are close to getting all the cards out. It probably will not be worth doing a second time. It isn't yet known what a good score in Action Solitaire Aces and Kings is, but I've started things out with a score 898830 in 25 rounds at <http://scores.actionsol.com/topscores/scores/actso l/acesandkings.html>.  This should be fairly easy to beat.

Aces and Kings is one of the 610 games in Pretty Good Solitaire, which can be downloaded from <http://www.goodsol.com/download.html> and one of the 52 games in Action Solitaire, which can be downloaded from <http://www.actionsol.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/newsletter.html#archive>
View past newsletters.

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

Playing Card Tile Set

The new Playing Card Tile Set for Pretty Good MahJongg is now available.  Download the Playing Card Tile Set from http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html

Note that this tile set requires version 2 of Pretty Good MahJongg, which can be downloaded from http://www.goodmj.com/download.html

Goodsol Newsletter #91 - Playing Card Tile Set

Goodsol Newsletter #91
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http://www.goodsol.com


Playing Card Tile Set for Pretty Good MahJongg
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http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html

A new tile set for Pretty Good MahJongg is now available. The Playing Card Tile Set features playing card suits on the tiles. A MahJongg tile set only has 3 suits, therefore the Playing Card Tile Set has Spades, Hearts, and Clubs. The Diamonds are Dragon tiles and the Flowers and Season tiles are Jokers. You can download the Playing Card Tile Set for Pretty Good MahJongg from <http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html>. Note that this new tile set requires Pretty Good MahJongg version 2.0 or higher. Version 2.1 of Pretty Good MahJongg can be downloaded from <http://www.goodmj.com/download.html>.

The last old tile set, the Taiwan Tile Set, has been updated for version 2.  It can also be downloaded from the tile set page.

The Layout of the Day for Pretty Good MahJongg continues throughout March.  You can download the new layouts at <http://www.goodmj.com/layouts.html>.  There are now over two dozen new layouts to add to version 2.1.

Featured Game - Ukrainian Solitaire
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Ukrainian Solitaire is a variation of Yukon. At the start of the game the tableau is dealt by first dealing cards as in Klondike (1 card to the first pile, 2 cards to the 2nd pile, and so on to the 7 piles) with the top card face up. Then the remaining cards are dealt out to the piles all face up. The first four piles have seven cards, the last three have eight.

Like Yukon, you can move groups of cards in the tableau regardless of any sequence. This means that any face up card, no matter how deeply buried, can be moved by picking it and all the cards on top of it up together. The tableau is built down by suit, except that you can also build a King on an Ace of the same suit.

The objective of the game is a little different than Yukon. Unlike most regular games, you do not move cards up the foundations one at a time. Instead, you build sequences of 13 cards from King to Ace in suit in the tableau. Once such a sequence is completed, you then move the entire 13 card sequence up to a foundation pile and out of play. The objective is to create all four sequences and move them up in this way.

The key to Ukrainian Solitaire is to uncover all the turned over cards and get them into play. Once you can do that, you will win. Therefore you need to choose moves that will uncover turned over cards. It is also quite helpful to create a space. Once you have a space, avoid losing it. Try to map out a sequence of moves where you move something into the space and then move it back out again. For example, an easy two step sequence is to find if there is a card that the top card of a column could be played on. Move all the cards covering the card that can be played on into the space. Then move the column onto the newly available card, creating a new space. With practice you can find longer sequences that start with an empty space and end with an empty space. If a sequence doesn't work out and end with a space, undo back and try something else.

Also, although this is not documented, you don't have to create the 13 card sequences in the form King down to Ace. You can start the sequence with any card down to Ace, then a King, then continue the sequence until all 13 cards of the suit are included. You can then move this sequence out of play.

Ukrainian Solitaire is one of the 610 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/newsletter.html#archive>
View past newsletters.

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