Solitaire Games

Goodsol Newsletter #100 - Thanksgiving Card Set

Goodsol Newsletter #100
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http://www.goodsol.com


Pretty Good Solitaire version 10.3.1 Now Available
--------------------------------------------------
http://www.goodsol.com/download.html

A new release of Pretty Good Solitaire is now available.  Version 10.3.1 is available for download from
http://www.goodsol.com/download.html .

Version 10.3.1 is a maintenance release with just bug fixes over version 10.3.0, primarily in the new games such as Anubis. Version 10.3.1 contains 640 games.


Thanksgiving Card Set
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http://www.goodsol.com/pgs/cardsets.html

Our latest new card set, the Thanksgiving Card Set, is now available. This card set features card face and back designs with holiday theme images for Thanksgiving. I think this might be the best looking holiday card set yet. The Thanksgiving Card Set can be downloaded from http://www.goodsol.com/pgs/cardsets.html .

This card set works in Pretty Good Solitaire version 8 or higher, FreeCell Wizard version 3, Spider Wizard version 2, or any versions of Action Solitaire and Most Popular Solitaire.


Pretty Good Solitaire Holiday Edition and Gift CD
-------------------------------------------------- ---------------------
http://www.goodsol.com/holiday.html

The holiday season is here again and it is time for the Pretty Good Solitaire Gift CD. The Pretty Good Solitaire Gift CD is a gift wrapped CD especially for holiday gifts. Order at http://www.goodsol.com/holiday.html for $31.95 (price includes shipping).  Multiple copy discounts are available.

Also available is the Pretty Good Solitaire Holiday Edition. This is a special download of the latest version 10.3.1 of Pretty Good Solitaire bundled with the Thanksgiving and Christmas card sets. This special download is available at http://www.goodsol.com/holiday.html along with individual download links for each of the holiday card sets.


Featured Game - Appreciate
-----------------------------------------

Appreciate is one of the 30 new games in Pretty Good Solitaire version 10.3.  It is a variation of the game One234.

At the start of the game, one card each is dealt to four foundation piles at the top of the screen. Then the remaining 48 cards are dealt out in 8 piles of 6 cards each. This makes Appreciate an open game with all cards visible at the start.

The first (leftmost) foundation pile is built up regardless of suit from the first card dealt, wrapping from King to Ace as necessary. The second foundation pile is built up by twos from the first card dealt, the third foundation pile is built up by threes, and the fourth pile is built up by fours. Each pile is built until it contains 13 cards and the game is won when all the cards are moved to the foundations.

Building in the tableau is based on the foundation pile that the tableau piles are underneath. The first two (leftmost) tableau piles are underneath the first foundation pile and are built down regardless of suit. The second pair of tableau piles are under the second foundation pile and are built down by twos. The third pair are built down by threes and the fourth pair are built down by fours.

Spaces in the tableau can be filled by the last card in the sequence for the foundation pile above it - for example, if the first foundation pile starts with a Four the 13th card in its sequence is a Three.

Play consists of moving cards up to the foundations as possible and then moving cards around in the tableau piles in order to free up cards to go to the foundations. The complicated building rules make Appreciate a difficult game and it is hard to win. So far, the few players who have tried this new game are averaging 2.3%. Despite the difficulty, Appreciate is actually an easier game than One234.

Tips: when stuck, right click on cards to see if they can be moved (or use the hint function). Note that cards in foundations can be moved between foundations (except for the first card dealt).

Appreciate is one of the 640 games in Pretty Good Solitaire.  Pretty Good Solitaire 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>

Goodsol Newsletter #99 - Pretty Good Solitaire v10.3

Goodsol Newsletter #99
-----------------------
http://www.goodsol.com


Pretty Good Solitaire version 10.3 Now Available
--------------------------------------------------
http://www.goodsol.com/download.html

A new release of Pretty Good Solitaire is now available.  Version 10.3 is available for download from
http://www.goodsol.com/download.html .

Version 10.3 adds 30 new games, bringing the total number of games to 640. The new games are Adelaide, Anubis, Apophis, Appreciate, Bath, Block Eleven, Carthage, Crazy Quilt, Double Minerva, Dumfries, Farmer's Wife, Four Stacks, Galloway, Golf Rush, Gotham, Indian Carpet, Interchange Puzzle, Kings in the Corners, Klondike Puzzle, Moosehide, Phoenix, Queen of Italy, Republic, Roslyn, Souter, Three Pirates, Triple Minerva, Willow, Winery, and Yukon Cells.

The new feature in version 10.3 is foundation shading. In many of the games with foundation piles, the piles are now shaded when they are complete, making it easy to see which piles are done. The shading color is adjustable (and this feature can be turned off).

In addition, version 10.3 adds 10 high quality new full screen background bitmaps. For screen shots of some of the new games and features, see http://www.goodsol.com/pgs/whatsnew.html .


TO DOWNLOAD 
You can download Pretty Good Solitaire version 10.3 from http://www.goodsol.com/download.html . If you already have version 7.0 or higher installed, you can also download from within the game by going to the Internet menu and selecting "Download Latest Version". Be sure to exit the game before you install.

UPGRADES 
Pretty Good Solitaire version 10.3 is a free update for those who originally registered versions 8 through 10 in 2002 to 2005 or those who have already paid for an upgrade. Full details on upgrading are at http://www.goodsol.com/upgrade.html . In short, if you purchased after the release of version 8 on January 25, 2002 or have already purchased an upgrade, this is a free update.

If you qualify for a free upgrade, your registration code will work in the new version. Normally Pretty Good Solitaire should register itself if it finds a registered copy of one of these older versions. If not and you have lost your code, you can request that your registration code be sent to you again from http://www.goodsol.com/regusers.html . 

If you originally registered Pretty Good Solitaire 97, 98, 99, 2k, or Quest Edition, and you have not yet paid for an upgrade, you can upgrade for only US$11.95 from http://www.goodsol.com/upgrade.html . See that page for more information. 

TO ORDER 
Pretty Good Solitaire version 10.3 is still only US$24, plus an optional $7.50 shipping for a CD-ROM. In addition to installing the basic game, the CD-ROM also installs all of the currently available extra card sets.

You can order online from http://www.goodsol.com/orderonline.html . 
Phone and mail order options are also available from that page. For those who purchase for the first time now or upgrade, you get free upgrades through the 2007 version.

MORE INFORMATION 
More information about Pretty Good Solitaire version 10.3: 
What's New: <http://www.goodsol.com/pgs/whatsnew.html> 
General: <http://www.goodsol.com/pgs/index.html> 


Submit your picture for the next Cat Card Set
-------------------------------------------------- ----------------
Download the Cat Card Set: http://www.goodsol.com/pgs/catcardset.html

Due to the success of the Cat Card Set, we are going to make another one! In fact we are also going to do a Dog Card Set. And this time your dog or cat can be on it. We are accepting submissions of pictures of dogs or cats for inclusion in the new card sets.

Here are the rules: we are looking for pictures of dogs and cats in electronic form. The picture you submit must be owned by you and be of your pet. By submitting you are giving us permission to use it in the card set and any promotion of the card set. The pictures need to be in either JPG or BMP format and be as high quality as possible, as they will be resized, cropped and otherwise manipulated to create a good looking playing card. Email the picture file to support@goodsol.com along with your name and physical address and the name of the pictured dog or cat. We can't guarantee that we will use every submission as there are only a limited number of cards in a deck, but if we get enough pictures we may do multiple card sets. Also if you are a registered user note that in the email as we will give priority to registered users.
 

Featured Game - Interchange Puzzle
-------------------------------------------------- ---

Interchange Puzzle is one of the 30 new games in Pretty Good Solitaire version 10.3. It is similar to the game Yukon Puzzle, except that it is like the game Interchange rather than Yukon. It is a 3 deck game.

The game consists of two areas. On the left side are 7 tableau piles, 8 foundations piles and a stock and waste. This area is identical to Interchange, where 7 cards each are dealt to 7 tableau piles, alternating face up and face down. The remaining cards form a stock. The stock is turned over to the waste pile one card at a time. The foundation piles are built up in suit from Ace to King. The tableau piles are built down in suit and groups of cards in sequence down in suit may be moved as a unit. Empty spaces may be filled only by a King.

On the right side, there are 13 piles of 4 cards each. Building in these piles is by the same rank (such as Jacks on Jacks), and a maximum of 4 cards are permitted in each pile.

The game is won when all the cards from 2 decks are built on the foundation piles, and all the cards from the 3rd deck are built in the 13 piles, 4 cards of each rank. There will be a pile of 4 aces, a pile of 4 Twos, and so on.

Play begins by building in the 7 tableau piles as is possible, pulling cards over from the 13 piles when you can. There is a special situation you need to be aware of in this game. Eight suits of cards are played to the foundations, but note that you do not necessarily have to play two piles of each suit to the foundations. Any 8 suits out of the 12 suits in the 3 decks may be played to the foundations based on the suits of the starting Aces. The remaining 4 suits are played to the 13 reserve piles. It is important to keep track of which suits are needed in the reserve piles so that you build the 13 piles of the ranks with the needed suits of cards that make the game work out.

While Interchange is a difficult game to win, Interchange Puzzle can be won virtually every time, although it takes time to work it out.

Interchange Puzzle is one of the 640 games in Pretty Good Solitaire.  Pretty Good Solitaire 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>

Goodsol Newsletter #98 - Modern Tile Set

Goodsol Newsletter #98
-----------------------
http://www.goodsol.com


New Pretty Good MahJongg Tile Set
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http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html

A new tile set for Pretty Good MahJongg is now available. The Modern Tile Set is a classic MahJongg tile set with a modern twist. This clean, sharp tile set is usable in all games in Pretty Good MahJongg, including the solitaire games.

The Modern Tile Set can be downloaded from http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html .  It requires version 2 or higher of Pretty Good MahJongg.  Pretty Good MahJongg can be downloaded from http://www.goodmj.com/download.html .



New Tile Matching Layouts Available
-------------------------------------------------- --
http://www.goodmj.com/layouts.html

Five new tile matching layouts for Pretty Good MahJongg are now available. The layouts Checkbox, Estate, Express, Fair, and Taiwan 4 can be downloaded from
http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html .  These layouts are in addition to the 215 layouts that come with version 2.2 of Pretty Good MahJongg.


Featured Game - Granada
----------------------------------------

Granada is a two deck variation of the classic game Alhambra. In Granada, 4 Aces and 4 Kings (one of each suit) are put out to form 8 foundation piles. The aces are built up in suit and the Kings are built down in suit. Then 4 cards each are dealt to 8 reserve piles. The remaining cards form a stock. In addition, the game begins with 4 empty cells.

The cards in the reserve piles can be played to the foundations (if possible) or moved to the cells. There is no building in the reserves. However, you can build on the cells up or down in suit, wrapping from Ace to King or King to Ace.

When play comes to a standstill, click on the stock to deal a card to the top of each cell.  There are two redeals.

Play consists of moving cards from the reserves to the foundations if you can. Then move cards from the reserves to the cells if that can free up a card to move to the foundations. When nothing more can be done, deal more cards to the cells. When the stock is empty, all the cards in the cells will be picked up to form a new stock in the redeal, therefore all the cards in the cells will become available again (until the last redeal).

Granada is a fairly easy game to win. Alhambra is a much tougher game. Alhambra is like Granada except there is only one cell (considered a waste pile), rather than four. A 2% winning percentage is a great percentage for Alhambra.

Granada and Alhambra are among the 610 games in Pretty Good Solitaire.  Pretty Good Solitaire 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>

Goodsol Newsletter #97 - Most Popular Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #97
-----------------------
http://www.goodsol.com

Most Popular Solitaire
--------------------------------
http://www.moposol.com

We have released a new game - Most Popular Solitaire is a collection of 30 of the most popular solitaire games. It can be downloaded from <http://www.moposol.com>.

We've been getting a lot of requests for a solitaire game from people who are a bit overwhelmed by the number of games in Pretty Good Solitaire. Some people just want a small number of games.

Most Popular Solitaire is a small collection of only the most played and classic solitaire games. The games were carefully chosen as the games that people play the most. You can see a summary of the features in Most Popular Solitaire at <http://www.moposol.com/features.html>. Most Popular Solitaire has almost all of the features from Pretty Good Solitaire for its 30 games.

If you already have Pretty Good Solitaire, obviously you won't be interested in Most Popular Solitaire. Most Popular Solitaire is intended for those people who don't want the full selection of games that Pretty Good Solitaire provides. Every game in Most Popular Solitaire is in Pretty Good Solitaire, except one. Most Popular Solitaire contains the new game Crazy Quilt, which is not in Pretty Good Solitaire (but Crazy Quilt will be in the upcoming new version of Pretty Good Solitaire).

TO DOWNLOAD
Most Popular Solitaire can be downloaded from <http://www.moposol.com/download.html>.

TO ORDER
Most Popular Solitaire regularly sells for the one time amount of US$19.95. As a newsletter subscriber, you can get 20% off Most Popular Solitaire by using this special newsletter coupon code: GOOD-NAMS-MPSX
This special charter offer expires September 30, 2005.  You can order Most Popular Solitaire at <http://www.moposol.com/orderonline.html>.  In order to get the discount, be sure to enter the coupon code GOOD-NAMS-MPSX on the final step of the order.

LIST OF GAMES
The games in Most Popular Solitaire are Klondike, Double Klondike, Lady Jane, Canfield, FreeCell, Sea Towers, Penguin, Eight Off, Spider, Spider One Suit, Spider Two Suits, Scorpion, Forty Thieves, Interchange, Thieves of Egypt, La Belle Lucie, Pyramid, Beleaguered Castle, Yukon, Russian Solitaire, Australian Patience, Demons and Thieves, Golf, Aces and Kings, Cruel, Gaps, Osmosis, Aces Up, Terrace, and Crazy Quilt.

All of these games (except Crazy Quilt) are also in Pretty Good Solitaire at <http://www.goodsol.com>.  Version 11.0 of Pretty Good Solitaire is coming later this year with Crazy Quilt and many other new games.


Connection Errors
--------------------------
http://scores.goodsol.com

A number of people have been having trouble submitting their solitaire statistics lately.  They are getting "code 0" errors.

A code 0 error occurs when the game cannot access the internet. This can happen either because there is no working internet connection or because a firewall is blocking the game from accessing the internet. As people get more concerned about computer security, more people are installing firewalls on their computer (in fact, the latest update of Windows XP includes one).

With most firewalls, you will need to tell the firewall to allow the game access to the internet before it will be able to submit scores. This applies to all of our games that allow you to submit statistics, which includes Pretty Good Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, Action Solitaire, and the new Most Popular Solitaire (Most Popular Solitaire scores are posted on the regular Pretty Good Solitaire scores lists at <http://scores.goodsol.com>).

If you get a code 0 error when submitting your scores, please first check to see if your firewall is blocking the game access. Most firewalls make it fairly easy to give individual applications access to the internet. Note that you can view submitted scores without giving the game access because the scores pages are regular web pages viewed in your internet browser rather than within the game itself.


Featured Game - Osmosis
----------------------------------------

Osmosis, sometimes also known as Treasure Trove, is an interesting and different solitaire game. Unlike most solitaire games, you do not build the foundation piles up in the usual way (such as up by suit).

In Osmosis, 16 cards are dealt 4 cards each to 4 reserve piles, with only the top card face up. This top card is available for play. Then one card is dealt out to the first foundation pile. The remainder of the cards form a stock, which will be turned over 1 card at a time to a waste pile.

The first card dealt to that first foundation pile is what starts the game. The other 3 foundation piles begin empty. On the first foundation pile, you can play any other available card of the same suit. So, for example, if the King of Hearts is the card played to the first foundation pile, you can play any other Heart to that pile. On the next foundation pile, you can start the pile by playing any card of the same rank (value) as the first card played to the first pile. So in the example, you could start the next pile with any other King. After the first card has been played to a pile, you can then play any other card of that suit that is of a rank that has already been played to the pile above.

Suppose in the example you are able to play the King of Clubs to the 2nd foundation pile. With the King of Hearts starting the first pile and the King of Clubs the 2nd, you can now play any Heart to the first pile, and then any Club of the same rank to the 2nd pile. So if you then play the 6 of Hearts to the first pile, you could then play the 6 of Clubs to the 2nd pile if it is available. The process filters down through 4 foundation piles, one for each suit. Eventually the goal is to get all of the cards into the 4 piles.

When you have no moves, you can turn over the top card of the stock to a waste pile. There are unlimited redeals. When the stock is empty, you just turn over the waste pile and run through it again.

The key to winning is to get the face down cards out of the 4 reserve piles. Since all of the cards in the stock will eventually become available, the only way to lose is to not be able to get a card out of the reserve.

The game Peek is a variation of Osmosis. The only difference between Peek and Osmosis is that in Peek you can see all the cards in the reserve (none of the cards are face down). Therefore in Peek you know where all the cards are buried. Diffusion is another variation of Osmosis where there are three waste piles to make more cards available.

Osmosis, Peek, and Diffusion are among the 610 games in Pretty Good Solitaire. Pretty Good Solitaire can be downloaded from <http://www.goodsol.com/download.html>.  Osmosis is also one of the 30 games in Most Popular Solitaire, which can be downloaded from <http://www.moposol.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>

Goodsol Newsletter #96 - Fred's Spider

Goodsol Newsletter #96
-----------------------
http://www.goodsol.com

Pretty Good Solitaire wins Peoples Choice Award
----------------------------------------------

Pretty Good Solitaire has won the Shareware Industry Awards Foundation's Peoples Choice Award for best shareware non-action game of 2005. This award is voted by the public at web sites such as download.com, Tucows, and Simtel. Pretty Good Solitaire previously won in 1999, 2000, and 2004. The full list of all winners is at <http://www.sic.org/peopleschoice.asp>.

Thanks to all the people who voted for Pretty Good Solitaire this year! 


Featured Game - Fred's Spider
--------------------------------------------

Fred's Spider is a two deck, easy variation of Spider.

At the start of the game 5 cards each are dealt face up to 10 tableau piles. Then remaining cards go face down and form a stock. There are eight foundation piles. The object is to build the foundation piles up in suit from Ace to King to win the game.

In the tableau, the piles are built down regardless of suit. But as in Spider, you can only move groups of cards if they are in sequence down in suit. You will want to prefer building down in suit then, when possible.

When all plays have been made, clicking on the stock deals one card to each tableau pile, burying the existing cards, as in regular Spider.

Fred's Spider is easy to play and can be won nearly every time, making it one of the easiest of the Spider type games.

Fred's Spider was invented by Fred Lunde. Fred's Spider 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>

Goodsol Newsletter #95 - Egyptian Card Set

Goodsol Newsletter #95
-----------------------
http://www.goodsol.com

New Pretty Good Solitaire Card Set - Egyptian Card Set
-------------------------------------------------- -------------
http://www.goodsol.com/pgs/cardsets.html#egypt

A new Pretty Good Solitaire card set is now available. The Egyptian Card Set features images of ancient Egyptian mythology on the cards. This card set can be downloaded from <http://www.goodsol.com/pgs/cardsets.html#egypt>.   To install the card set, download the file, run it and have it install the card set in the same folder as the game.   

This card set requires a registered copy of at least version 8 of Pretty Good Solitaire. It will also work in registered copies of Action Solitaire, FreeCell Wizard, and Spider Wizard, be sure to change the installation folder to the folders where those games are installed.

This card set will not work in trial versions of Pretty Good Solitaire.  Pretty Good Solitaire can be ordered from <http://www.goodsol.com/orderonline.html>.


Updated Download and Support Pages
-------------------------------------------------- -----

http://www.goodsol.com/download.html
We've recently updated our game download page at <http://www.goodsol.com/download.html> to make it easier than ever to download. All of our games are now available for download from this one page with easy to find download now buttons. We have also updated our How to Download tutorial at <http://www.goodsol.com/howtodown.html> to give step-by-step instructions for how to download using the two most popular browsers, Internet Explorer and Firefox.

http://www.goodsol.com/support/index.html
Our customer service page at <http://www.goodsol.com/support/index.html> has also been updated to include upgrade information, what to do if you lose your registration code, how to enter your registration code, how to download older versions, and how to contact us.



Featured Game - Alaska
------------------------------------

Alaska is a one deck variation of Yukon. Alaska is actually most similar to Russian Solitaire, the variation of Yukon where tableau building is down in suit rather than by alternate color.

At the start of the game 28 cards are dealt into 7 tableau piles, face down as in Yukon. Then the remaining 24 cards are dealt face up in the rightmost 6 piles, 4 in each pile. Within the tableau, building is up or down in of suit. Groups of cards can be moved regardless of any sequence, as in Yukon. An empty tableau pile can be filled only by a King or group of cards headed by a King.

There are four foundation piles.  The object is to build the foundation piles up in suit from Ace to King to win the game.

The play is like Russian Solitaire, except you have additional move options because you can build up in suit as well as down in suit. Strategy is to play like Russian Solitaire first, making all the down in suit moves that you can until you get stuck. Down in suit moves should generally be preferred since that sets up the cards to move up to the foundations later. One exception is when an up in suit build will uncover a face down card when a down in suit move will not.

Once all possible Russian Solitaire type down in suit moves have been made, then start looking for up in suit moves. After some up in suit builds have been created, it is helpful when you can reverse up in suit builds and play them down in suit on another pile.

Because Alaska gives more options that Russian Solitaire, it is won on average 10% of the time in comparison to Russian Solitaire's 5% average.

Alaska was suggested by a Pretty Good Solitaire user in 1996 and made its first appearance anywhere in Pretty Good Solitaire version 2.2. Alaska 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>

Goodsol Newsletter #94 - Spiderette

Goodsol Newsletter #94
-----------------------
http://www.goodsol.com

New Custom Pretty Good MahJongg Tileset
-------------------------------------------------- -------------
http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html#nature

A new custom Pretty Good MahJongg tileset is now available. The Michigan Nature Scenes tileset features pictures of woods, beaches, and lakes taken near Lake Michigan. This tileset can be downloaded from <http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html#nature>. To install the tile set, download the file, unzip it and place it in the C:\Program Files\Pretty Good MahJongg 2\tilesets folder.

This tileset requires at least version 2.1 of Pretty Good Mahjongg.  Pretty Good MahJongg can be downloaded from <http://www.goodmj.com/download.html>.

This is a custom tileset, which means it is simply an image file. You can create your own tilesets with your own images using the instructions at <http://www.goodmj.com/tilesets.html#create>.


Featured Game - Spiderette
-----------------------------------------

Spiderette is a one deck solitaire game of the Spider type. It is a sort of one deck version of Spider, with a bit of Klondike thrown in.

There are seven tableau piles. At the start of the game, one card is dealt to the first pile, two cards are dealt to the second pile, and so on until seven cards are dealt to the seventh pile. Only the top card of each pile is face up. This gives a tableau like Klondike. The remainder of the cards form a stock.

Within the tableau, building is down regardless of suit. Groups of cards can only be moved if they are in sequence down in suit, like Spider. An empty tableau pile can be filled by any card or legal group of cards. When no more building is possible, one card is dealt to each tableau pile as in Spider (the last deal from the stock will only have 3 cards, these are dealt to the leftmost three tableau piles).

The object is to build 13 card sequences from King down to Ace in suit, as in Spider. The game is won if you can get the tableau to just contain the 4 13-card suit sequences. In this objective it is like the game Scorpion.

Strategy in Spiderette is much like Spider. Because you can only move cards in suit sequences, building by suit in the tableau is always preferred. Spaces should be created as quickly as possible and used to bring more cards into play.

Using these rules Spiderette can be won 5-10% of the time. A common variation is to allow moving of groups of cards regardless of suit (a sort of one suit Spiderette, often called Baby Spiderette). With these relaxed rules the game can be won nearly every time.

Spiderette was named by Albert H. Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith in the first half of the 20th century, but was apparently already a well known game at that time.

Spiderette 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>.

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Goodsol Newsletter #93 - New Pretty Good MahJongg

Goodsol Newsletter #93
-----------------------
http://www.goodsol.com


New Version of Pretty Good MahJongg
--------------------------------------------
http://www.goodmj.com

A new version of Pretty Good MahJongg has been released. Version 2.2 adds 40 new tile matching layouts to bring the total number of layouts to 215. There are also some small changes, including elimination of the "sudden death" rule in all Great Wall games, the addition of a Quick Play option in the Pelmanism games, and
some updates to the right click hint feature of the solitaire games.

Pretty Good MahJongg version 2.2 can be downloaded from <http://www.goodmj.com/download.html>. Version 2.2 is a free update for anyone who has purchased a previous version of Pretty Good MahJongg. Just download the trial version and it will use your Pretty Good MahJongg registration code (the new version should find it automatically if a registered copy of the old version is already installed).

You can order Pretty Good MahJongg from <http://www.goodmj.com/orderonline.html>.

More information about Pretty Good MahJongg is available at <http://www.goodmj.com>.


Shareware Industry Award Nominations
-------------------------------------------------- -----
http://www.asharewarelife.com/2005/05/shareware-in dustry-awards.html

Pretty Good Solitaire has been nominated for the Shareware Industry Award for best non-action game for the 5th time! It won previously in 1999 and 2001. The Shareware Industry Awards are awards voted by members of the shareware industry for the best shareware programs of the year. The winners will be announced in July.

This year Action Solitaire was also nominated for the best action game.  Action Solitaire can be downloaded from <http://www.actionsol.com>.


Featured Game - Two Castles
--------------------------------------------

Two Castles is an original variation of the classic game Beleaguered Castle. The game begins with one card dealt to each of ten tableau piles. One card is dealt to the first foundation pile. The rank of this card will become the base rank of the foundation piles. The foundation piles are built up in suit from the rank of this first card dealt, wrapping from King to Ace until each pile contains 13 cards. The game is won when all cards are moved to the four foundation piles.

The remainder of the cards are placed face down in the stock. The tableau piles are built down in suit. Only one card at a time may be moved. When all building in the tableau is complete, click on the stock pile to deal one card to each tableau pile. When the last group of cards have been dealt to the tableau, the stock will contain one remaining card that will be available for play on the foundations or tableau.

Two Castles is essentially Beleaguered Castle without all the cards dealt out at the beginning. Instead you can deal them out to the piles one by one as you go. This makes the game a bit easier in that you don't have cards deeply buried at the beginning of the game.

You want to build sequences as much as possible and to avoid having lower ranked cards buried below high ranked cards (note that what is a high ranked card depends on what the foundation base card is). Creating spaces is very helpful as it will allow you to use the empty tableau piles as cells to move cards around.

Two Castles 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.

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Goodsol Newsletter #92 - New Action Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #92
-----------------------
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
-------------------------------------------------- ----
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
-------------------------------------------------- ----
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
------------------------------------------------

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>.

---------------------------------------
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.

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<http://www.goodsol.com/cgi-bin/news/mail.cgi>

Goodsol Newsletter #91 - Playing Card Tile Set

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


Playing Card Tile Set for Pretty Good MahJongg
-------------------------------------------------- ------------------
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
-------------------------------------------------- -

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.

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<http://www.goodsol.com/cgi-bin/news/mail.cgi>