Goodsol Solitaire Blog

Goodsol Newsletter #398 - Cruel Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #398 Cruel Solitaire This newsletter looks at the game Cruel. Also, new versions of Pretty Good Solitaire for both Mac and Windows are coming soon. The Mac game is in testing and the Windows game will soon be in testing. Note for Australian users: It seems we can not ship CDs to Australia right now. Therefore, if you buy any of our games, the CD option will show a price of zero. This is because we were unable to find a way to get the option deleted entirely for Australia. It just means that if you are in Australia and select the CD option while ordering, the shipping fee will not be added to the order and no CD will be shipped, since we can't send one there. You can of course still order the game and download it, since downloading is still allowed in Australia. This will continue until such time that we are able to ship to Australia again (and who knows when that will be). - - Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows - Goodsol.com/download Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows is currently at version 20.1 with 1040 games and Daily Quests. If you haven't downloaded the new version yet, give it a try! Download Now!   Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition - Goodsol.com/mac Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition is currently at version 3.56 with 750 games. If you have the full version installed, just go to the Internet menu, select Download Latest Version to update.   Our iPad Games - Goodsol.com/iPad Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad recently updated to version 1.61 with 750 games.   Pretty Good Solitaire Mini - Goodsol.com/iPhone Pretty Good Solitaire for iPhone is currently at version 1.0 with 720 games.   Pretty Good MahJongg - Goodsol.com/pgmj Our companion game to Pretty Good Solitaire is Pretty Good MahJongg, solitaire with MahJongg tiles. Pretty Good MahJongg for Windows and Mac currently have 410 games and layouts.   Lost Codes - Lost Code Lookup If you lost your registration code or you need it to install on a new computer, request your code again from our site at: https://www.goodsol.com/regusers.html.   Featured Game - Cruel Cruel is an entertaining 1 deck game with twelve piles in the tableau. Four cards are dealt to each pile at the beginning of the game and the four aces are placed as bases for the foundations. Only the top card of each tableau pile is visible or available for play. The twelve piles are built down by suit. The object is to move all the cards to the foundations. To do this, you have to build on the twelve piles to free up cards for the foundations. When you get stuck, you can redeal to the twelve piles. You can redeal as many times as you like, but there's a catch. Cruel's redeal is not a reshuffling of the cards. All the cards in the twelve piles are picked up and redealt essentially in order, so that if you do not make any changes to the twelve piles between redeals, the order of the cards will not change. This is what makes the game cruel. Just when you think you are making progress and are going to win, you run out of moves and do a redeal and the cards come out with no moves to made. When that happens, you are out of luck. An average player can win Cruel about 20% of the time. A good player can win 50% or more, however. The key is to take steps to avoid a loss by having a redeal come up with no possible moves. Remember that you don't have to play a card to the foundations even if you can. Sometimes you may want to hold cards back from the foundations, so that you can make moves in the tableau and avoid getting caught with no moves to make in the tableau, which loses the game. Cruel is one of the 1040 games in Pretty Good Solitaire (for Windows), one of the 750 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition and Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad, and one of the 720 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mini for iPhone. For more featured games, see the Solitaire Guide. -- Contact Us - Goodsol.com/contact.html Lost Code - Goodsol.com/regusers.html -- Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - [email protected] Anne Warfield - Order Fulfillment - [email protected] ©2021 Goodsol Development Inc. PO Box 9155, Springfield IL  62791 Pretty Good Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, and more.  Visit us at Goodsol.com. List Archive:  View past newsletters.

Goodsol Newsletter #397 - La Belle Lucie Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #397 La Belle Lucie Solitaire This newsletter looks at the classic game La Belle Lucie and its close variant, Three Shuffles and a Draw. I'm back to working on the next Windows update of Pretty Good Solitaire. I was further along when everything happened than I remembered, so it is moving along well. - - Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows - Goodsol.com/download Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows is currently at version 20.1 with 1040 games and Daily Quests. If you haven't downloaded the new version yet, give it a try! Download Now!   Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition - Goodsol.com/mac Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition is currently at version 3.56 with 750 games. If you have the full version installed, just go to the Internet menu, select Download Latest Version to update.   Our iPad Games - Goodsol.com/iPad Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad recently updated to version 1.61 with 750 games.   Pretty Good Solitaire Mini - Goodsol.com/iPhone Pretty Good Solitaire for iPhone is currently at version 1.0 with 720 games.   Pretty Good MahJongg - Goodsol.com/pgmj Our companion game to Pretty Good Solitaire is Pretty Good MahJongg, solitaire with MahJongg tiles. Pretty Good MahJongg for Windows and Mac currently have 410 games and layouts.   Lost Codes - Lost Code Lookup If you lost your registration code or you need it to install on a new computer, request your code again from our site at: https://www.goodsol.com/regusers.html.   Featured Game - La Belle Lucie La Belle Lucie is an old, classic game of solitaire. It is also known under many other names, including Fair Lucy and Midnight Oil. It is the most popular of the fan type games, where cards are dealt out in small groups of usually three cards. At the start of La Belle Lucie, the single deck of cards is dealt out in 17 packets (or fans) of three cards each (except for the last fan, which will have only one card). These fans constitute the tableau. The top card of each fan is available and all the cards are face up so that they can be seen. As Aces become available, they are moved to the four foundation piles, which are built up in suit from the Aces to Kings. The game is won when all the cards are moved here. Within the tableau, cards are built in descending sequence by suit. No card may be played to an empty fan. You must be very careful not to block yourself when moving cards about the fans. It is very easy to block play by moving a card onto a fan where a lower card of the same suit is already buried. When all available moves have been played, all the cards in the fans are taken up, shuffled, and then redealt again in fans of three cards. There are two such shuffles allowed, resulting in three deals in all. Some sources allow a grace during the last deal. This grace permits one buried card in one fan to be moved to the top of its fan during the last deal. This variant is often called "Three Shuffles and a Draw" rather than La Belle Lucie. The two main 20th century solitaire book sources disagree about whether this draw is allowed in La Belle Lucie. Albert H. Morehead & Geoffrey Mott-Smith allow the draw (on the last deal only) in their 1949 book "The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience Games". David Parlett does not allow a draw at all in his comprehensive "The Penguin Book of Patience." This disagreement in the rules in La Belle Lucie goes way back. William B. Dick, in his 1883 solitaire book, allowed the draw. Mary Whitmore Jones did also in her solitaire book from the 1890s. But Lady Cadogan in her "Illustrated Book of Patience" from 1870 does not. So the best solution is probably to just consider the draw another (very similar) game. Without the draw, an average player can win La Belle Lucie about 40% of the time, but there is wide latitude for skill, and actual scores can be much better (or worse) than this. Using the draw, an average player can win about 60% of the time. La Belle Lucie is one of the 1040 games in Pretty Good Solitaire (for Windows), one of the 750 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition and Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad, and one of the 720 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mini for iPhone. For more featured games, see the Solitaire Guide. -- Contact Us - Goodsol.com/contact.html Lost Code - Goodsol.com/regusers.html -- Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - [email protected] Anne Warfield - Order Fulfillment - [email protected] ©2021 Goodsol Development Inc. PO Box 9155, Springfield IL  62791 Pretty Good Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, and more.  Visit us at Goodsol.com. List Archive:  View past newsletters.

Goodsol Newsletter #396 - Fifteen Puzzle Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #396 Fifteen Puzzle Solitaire This newsletter looks at a classic game that I invented called Fifteen Puzzle. I have started tweeting again - you can follow me on Twitter @goodsolitaire. - - Pretty Good MahJongg - Goodsol.com/pgmj Our companion game to Pretty Good Solitaire is Pretty Good MahJongg, solitaire with MahJongg tiles. Pretty Good MahJongg for Windows and Mac currently have 410 games and layouts.   Lost Codes - Lost Code Lookup If you lost your registration code or you need it to install on a new computer, request your code again from our site at: https://www.goodsol.com/regusers.html.   Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows - Goodsol.com/download Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows is currently at version 20.1 with 1040 games and Daily Quests. If you haven't downloaded the new version yet, give it a try! Download Now!   Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition - Goodsol.com/mac Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition is currently at version 3.56 with 750 games. If you have the full version installed, just go to the Internet menu, select Download Latest Version to update.   Our iPad Games - Goodsol.com/iPad Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad recently updated to version 1.61 with 750 games.   Pretty Good Solitaire Mini - Goodsol.com/iPhone Pretty Good Solitaire for iPhone is currently at version 1.0 with 720 games.   Featured Game - Fifteen Puzzle Fifteen Puzzle is a one deck game that is rather different from the usual solitaire game. I created the game back in late 1996 for Pretty Good Solitaire. The game is based on a small plastic game consisting of numbers of 1 to 15 that slid around a 4x4 square. The numbers would be all jumbled up and the object was to put them in order. Fifteen Puzzle is solitaire card game on the same concept, with cards of the same rank sliding around 15 piles. It begins by dealing four cards each to 13 tableau piles. All of the cards are face up, making Fifteen Puzzle an open game. There are two additional tableau piles that start the game empty. Cards may be played on other cards of the same rank. For example, Jacks can be played on Jacks. But there is a limit of only four cards in any one tableau pile. The object is to get all four cards on each rank into the same piles, so that you have 13 piles of four cards of the same rank. When you do that, the game is won. Like most open games, Fifteen Puzzle is a challenging game. It can be won most of the time, although it is not known if all games are winnable. An average player wins 70% of the time, but good players can win nearly every time. I also created a number of other games using these rank piles, mixed with standard play, such as Klondike Puzzle, Yukon Puzzle, and Interchange Puzzle. Fifteen Puzzle is one of the 1040 games in Pretty Good Solitaire (for Windows), one of the 750 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition and Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad, and one of the 720 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mini for iPhone. For more featured games, see the Solitaire Guide. -- Contact Us - Goodsol.com/contact.html Lost Code - Goodsol.com/regusers.html -- Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - [email protected] Anne Warfield - Order Fulfillment - [email protected] ©2021 Goodsol Development Inc. PO Box 9155, Springfield IL  62791 Pretty Good Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, and more.  Visit us at Goodsol.com. List Archive:  View past newsletters.

Goodsol Newsletter #395 - Aces Up Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #395 Aces Up Solitaire In this newsletter we have the first new version of game in awhile, Goodsol Solitaire 101. We will also be updating our other small games, Most Popular Solitaire and FreeCell Plus, and of course both the Windows and Mac Pretty Good Solitaire will also be updating as well. Everything was delayed a few months because of health events, but these new versions are starting to come out now. - - Goodsol Solitaire 101 New Version - Goodsol.com/101 A new version of Goodsol Solitaire 101 is now available for both Windows and Mac. Goodsol Solitaire 101 is a collection of 101 of the most classic solitaire games. It is smaller than Pretty Good Solitaire, intended for those who just want the most played games. The new Windows version is version 2.4 and contains bug fixes and improvements for Windows 10 (and the upcoming Windows 11). The new Mac version is version 3.2 and contains bug fixes and improvements for macOS, including the latest Big Sur. Both versions can be downloaded from Goodsol.com/101 or from within a previous version of the game by going to the internet menu, select "Download Latest Version". The iPad version of Goodsol Solitaire 101 will be updating soon.   Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows - Goodsol.com/download Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows is currently at version 20.1 with 1040 games and Daily Quests. If you haven't downloaded the new version yet, give it a try! Download Now!   Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition - Goodsol.com/mac Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition is currently at version 3.56 with 750 games. If you have the full version installed, just go to the Internet menu, select Download Latest Version to update.   Our iPad Games - Goodsol.com/iPad Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad recently updated to version 1.61 with 750 games.   Pretty Good Solitaire Mini - Goodsol.com/iPhone Pretty Good Solitaire for iPhone is currently at version 1.0 with 720 games.   Pretty Good MahJongg - Goodsol.com/pgmj Our companion game to Pretty Good Solitaire is Pretty Good MahJongg, solitaire with MahJongg tiles. Pretty Good MahJongg for Windows and Mac are currently have 410 games and layouts.   Lost Codes - Lost Code Lookup If you lost your registration code or you need it to install on a new computer, request your code again from our site at: https://www.goodsol.com/regusers.html.   Featured Game - Aces Up Aces Up is a simple but fun and popular solitaire game. At the start of the game, four cards are dealt in a row. Any card that is of lower rank and the same suit of another top card can be removed from play. Aces are considered to be of the highest rank. For example, if among the first four cards dealt there are a Two of Hearts and a Nine of Hearts, the Two of Hearts can simply be removed from play as it is of the same suit as the Nine of Hearts but is of lower rank. When all possible cards are removed, deal four more cards on top of the four piles. If one of the four piles should become empty, you can move any top card from any of the other piles into the empty space to create more possible plays. The object is to remove all of the cards except for the Aces. Aces Up is an easy game to play, but it is not easy to win. As you can see from the Aces Up statistics, the average player wins only about 4% of the time. A good player can increase this rate. The primary area of choices in Aces Up is deciding what card to play into an empty space. It is best to try to find a card that will allow you to remove many other cards. Note that the only way to get at cards beneath an Ace is to move the Ace to an empty pile. Aces Up is one of the 1040 games in Pretty Good Solitaire (for Windows), one of the 750 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition and Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad, and one of the 720 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mini for iPhone. For more featured games, see the Solitaire Guide. -- Contact Us - Goodsol.com/contact.html Lost Code - Goodsol.com/regusers.html -- Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - [email protected] Anne Warfield - Order Fulfillment - [email protected] ©2021 Goodsol Development Inc. PO Box 9155, Springfield IL  62791 Pretty Good Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, and more.  Visit us at Goodsol.com. List Archive:  View past newsletters.

Goodsol Newsletter #394 - Family Plot Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #394 Family Plot Solitaire I hope everyone is doing well in these troubled times, especially down in Australia where from what I have heard things are really difficult. I am recovering from my open heart surgery very well. In this newsletter we continue the reruns of classic games with an original game from Pretty Good Solitaire, Family Plot. It is an easier variation of the very difficult game The Plot. - - Pretty Good MahJongg - Goodsol.com/pgmj Our companion game to Pretty Good Solitaire is Pretty Good MahJongg, solitaire with MahJongg tiles. Pretty Good MahJongg for Windows and Mac are currently have 410 games and layouts.   Lost Codes - Lost Code Lookup If you lost your registration code or you need it to install on a new computer, request your code again from our site at: https://www.goodsol.com/regusers.html.   Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows - Goodsol.com/download Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows is currently at version 20.1 with 1040 games and Daily Quests. If you haven't downloaded the new version yet, give it a try! Download Now!   Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition - Goodsol.com/mac Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition is currently at version 3.56 with 750 games. If you have the full version installed, just go to the Internet menu, select Download Latest Version to update.   Our iPad Games - Goodsol.com/iPad Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad recently updated to version 1.61 with 750 games.   Pretty Good Solitaire Mini - Goodsol.com/iPhone Pretty Good Solitaire for iPhone is currently at version 1.0 with 720 games.   Featured Game - Family Plot Family Plot is a two deck game, a variation of the game The Plot. The Plot is an extremely difficult game, Family Plot has easier rules that make it possible to win a reasonable percentage of the time. At the start of the game, one card each is dealt to 12 tableau piles. 13 cards are dealt to a reserve pile. One card is dealt to the first foundation pile to be the foundation base card. The remainder of the cards form a stock. The object of the game is to move all the cards to the eight foundation piles. At first, though, you can only build on the first foundation pile. You have to build all 13 cards up in suit on the first foundation pile before you can play any cards to the other seven piles. In the tableau, building is down by suit, wrapping from Ace to King if necessary. However, until the first foundation pile is completed, any card that is of the same rank as the first card dealt to the first foundation (the foundation base card) is a dead card - it cannot be played on nor can it be played on another card. For example, in game #1, the first card dealt to the first foundation is a Four of Hearts. In the tableau, you cannot build on any Four or build a Four on any Five until the first foundation pile is completed. Cards from the reserve may be played on any non-empty tableau pile or to the foundations. Play consists of dealing through the stock one card at a time. There is one redeal. At the beginning of the game, it is important to complete the first foundation pile as quickly as possible. Therefore it is best to try to get as many cards of the same suit as the first foundation card in the tableau as you can. In game #1, build as many Hearts as possible in the tableau. Since there are two times through the deck, ignore cards of other suits unless they can be played on other cards in the deck. Reserve spaces for Hearts. Also, try to always keep at least one space in the tableau. Spaces can be used to build at the top of a sequence. For example, if the top card of a pile is the Jack of Diamonds, if the Queen of Diamonds comes up, play it to an empty space then move the pile with the Jack of Diamonds to it. You can only do this as long as you keep a space available. Once the first foundation pile is complete, you can then start playing to build the cards of the other suits. An average player wins Family Plot 50% of the time. Good players can win nearly every time. Family Plot is one of the 1040 games in Pretty Good Solitaire (for Windows), one of the 750 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition and Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad, and one of the 720 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mini for iPhone. For more featured games, see the Solitaire Guide. -- Contact Us - Goodsol.com/contact.html Lost Code - Goodsol.com/regusers.html -- Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - [email protected] Anne Warfield - Order Fulfillment - [email protected] ©2021 Goodsol Development Inc. PO Box 9155, Springfield IL  62791 Pretty Good Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, and more.  Visit us at Goodsol.com. List Archive:  View past newsletters.

Goodsol Newsletter #393 - Russian Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #393 Russian Solitaire - - Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows - Goodsol.com/download Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows is currently at version 20.1 with 1040 games and Daily Quests. If you haven't downloaded the new version yet, give it a try! Download Now!   Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition - Goodsol.com/mac Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition is currently at version 3.56 with 750 games. If you have the full version installed, just go to the Internet menu, select Download Latest Version to update.   Our iPad Games - Goodsol.com/iPad Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad recently updated to version 1.61 with 750 games.   Pretty Good Solitaire Mini - Goodsol.com/iPhone Pretty Good Solitaire for iPhone is currently at version 1.0 with 720 games.   Pretty Good MahJongg - Goodsol.com/pgmj Our companion game to Pretty Good Solitaire is Pretty Good MahJongg, solitaire with MahJongg tiles. Pretty Good MahJongg for Windows and Mac are currently have 410 games and layouts.   Lost Codes - Lost Code Lookup If you lost your registration code or you need it to install on a new computer, request your code again from our site at: https://www.goodsol.com/regusers.html.   Featured Game - Russian Solitaire Russian Solitaire is a challenging and popular one deck solitaire game that is a close variation of the game Yukon. The cards are dealt out exactly as in the game Yukon. The deal begins by dealing cards out to seven tableau piles as in Klondike (one card to the first pile, two cards to the 2nd pile, and so on to the seven piles) with the top card face up. Then the remaining cards are dealt out to the 2nd to 7th piles, all face up. Like Yukon, in Russian Solitaire 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, rather than by alternate color as in Yukon, which makes the game considerably harder than Yukon. The objective is to move all the cards up to the foundations. It is very important to uncover the face down cards, because only the face up cards are in play. Once a card becomes face up, it can be accessed, so getting the cards face up is the key. Russian Solitaire is extremely challenging and you will find yourself getting blocked (not able to make any moves) at some point in most games. The average player wins only about 5% of the time. Good players can win 10-20% of the time. Because it is common to get blocked very quickly, it doesn't take long to play (and lose) a lot of Russian Solitaire games. Since you can play so many games so quickly, Russian Solitaire is the seventh most played game on the Most Played Games list in Pretty Good Solitaire. There are several Russian Solitaire players who have played the game tens of thousands of times. Russian Solitaire is addictive in that you will want to keep playing until you win a game. The origin of Russian Solitaire is not known. It is likely that it was created about the same time as its sister game Yukon, sometime in the first half of the twentieth century. Russian Solitaire is one of the 1040 games in Pretty Good Solitaire (for Windows), one of the 750 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition and Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad, and one of the 720 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mini for iPhone. For more featured games, see the Solitaire Guide. -- Contact Us - Goodsol.com/contact.html Lost Code - Goodsol.com/regusers.html -- Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - [email protected] Anne Warfield - Order Fulfillment - [email protected] ©2021 Goodsol Development Inc. PO Box 9155, Springfield IL  62791 Pretty Good Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, and more.  Visit us at Goodsol.com. List Archive:  View past newsletters.

Goodsol Newsletter #392 - Interchange Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #392 Interchange Solitaire - - Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows - Goodsol.com/download Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows is currently at version 20.1 with 1040 games and Daily Quests. If you haven't downloaded the new version yet, give it a try! Download Now!   Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition - Goodsol.com/mac Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition is currently at version 3.56 with 750 games. If you have the full version installed, just go to the Internet menu, select Download Latest Version to update.   Lost Codes - Lost Code Lookup If you lost your registration code or you need it to install on a new computer, request your code again from our site at: https://www.goodsol.com/regusers.html.   Our iPad Games - Goodsol.com/iPad Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad recently updated to version 1.61 with 750 games.   Pretty Good Solitaire Mini - Goodsol.com/iPhone Pretty Good Solitaire for iPhone is currently at version 1.0 with 720 games.   Pretty Good MahJongg - Goodsol.com/pgmj Our companion game to Pretty Good Solitaire is Pretty Good MahJongg, solitaire with MahJongg tiles. Pretty Good MahJongg for Windows and Mac are currently have 410 games and layouts.   Featured Game - Interchange Interchange is a two deck Forty Thieves type game. It is very difficult to win. Interchange has seven tableau piles. At the beginning of the game seven cards are dealt to each pile, interchanging between face up and face down (hence the name). The piles are built down in suit. An empty space can be filled by any card (if you are lucky enough to actually be able to create an empty space). The foundations are built up in suit as usual. The rest of the cards form the stock and are dealt one by one to the waste. There are no redeals. This makes the game difficult because there are very few places to put cards and the cards buried in the tableau often never come out. There is little strategy in Interchange because there are so few choices to make. Nevertheless Interchange is one of the most popular difficult solitaire games. Because Interchange is so difficult, a number of easier variations exist. The most popular of these is called Unlimited. Unlimited is just like Interchange except that you get unlimited redeals instead of no redeals. This gives the player a fighting chance to win, although it still isn't easy. There are also one deck and three deck variations of Interchange. Interchange is one of the 1040 games in Pretty Good Solitaire (for Windows), one of the 750 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition and Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad, and one of the 720 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mini for iPhone. For more featured games, see the Solitaire Guide. -- Contact Us - Goodsol.com/contact.html Lost Code - Goodsol.com/regusers.html -- Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - [email protected] Anne Warfield - Order Fulfillment - [email protected] ©2021 Goodsol Development Inc. PO Box 9155, Springfield IL  62791 Pretty Good Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, and more.  Visit us at Goodsol.com. List Archive:  View past newsletters.

Goodsol Newsletter #391 - Rouge et Noir Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #391 Rouge et Noir Solitaire - - Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows - Goodsol.com/download Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows is currently at version 20.1 with 1040 games and Daily Quests. If you haven't downloaded the new version yet, give it a try! Download Now!   Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition - Goodsol.com/mac Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition is currently at version 3.56 with 750 games. If you have the full version installed, just go to the Internet menu, select Download Latest Version to update.   Our iPad Games - Goodsol.com/iPad Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad recently updated to version 1.61 with 750 games.   Pretty Good Solitaire Mini - Goodsol.com/iPhone Pretty Good Solitaire for iPhone is currently at version 1.0 with 720 games.   Pretty Good MahJongg - Goodsol.com/pgmj Our companion game to Pretty Good Solitaire is Pretty Good MahJongg, solitaire with MahJongg tiles. Pretty Good MahJongg for Windows and Mac are currently have 410 games and layouts.   Lost Codes - Lost Code Lookup If you lost your registration code or you need it to install on a new computer, request your code again from our site at: https://www.goodsol.com/regusers.html.   Featured Game - Rouge et Noir Rouge et Noir is a challenging solitaire game. It is one of the most interesting of the Spider type games. It is a two deck game. What makes Rouge et Noir unique is its special way of building on the foundations piles. The leftmost two foundations begin with red Aces and are built up in color to Kings. The next two foundations begin with black Aces and are also built up in color. The rightmost four foundations, however, are not built up a card at a time at all. In these foundations, you must drop an entire 13-card sequence of cards. For the left two foundations, these sequences must be headed with a red King, the last two a black King. These sequences must be built in the tableau and transferred to the foundations as a 13 card sequence when they are completely built. The average player wins Rouge et Noir about 10% of the time. It seems that a good player can win about 25-30% of the time. The strategy in Rouge et Noir is to build as many cards into sequences in the tableau as possible. You want to get the buried face down cards out into play as quickly as possible. Move single cards up to the leftmost four foundations only if they cannot be built into sequences in the tableau or if you need to move them up in order to move up higher cards. Once you complete a 13 card sequence in the tableau, move it up to one of the rightmost foundations to free up more building space in the tableau. When you have a choice, you generally want to move a card on the leftmost piles as these have more buried cards underneath. Also, start building higher ranked cards into sequence first as the lower ranked cards are more likely to be able to be played up to the foundations. Rouge et Noir is one of the 1040 games in Pretty Good Solitaire (for Windows), one of the 750 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition and Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad, and one of the 720 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mini for iPhone. For more featured games, see the Solitaire Guide. -- Contact Us - Goodsol.com/contact.html Lost Code - Goodsol.com/regusers.html -- Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - [email protected] Anne Warfield - Order Fulfillment - [email protected] ©2021 Goodsol Development Inc. PO Box 9155, Springfield IL  62791 Pretty Good Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, and more.  Visit us at Goodsol.com. List Archive:  View past newsletters.

Goodsol Newsletter #390 - Antares Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #390 Antares Solitaire - - Lost Codes - Lost Code Lookup If you lost your registration code or you need it to install on a new computer, request your code again from our site at: https://www.goodsol.com/regusers.html.   Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows - Goodsol.com/download Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows is currently at version 20.1 with 1040 games and Daily Quests. If you haven't downloaded the new version yet, give it a try! Download Now!   Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition - Goodsol.com/mac Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition is currently at version 3.56 with 750 games. If you have the full version installed, just go to the Internet menu, select Download Latest Version to update.   Pretty Good Solitaire Mini - Goodsol.com/iPhone Pretty Good Solitaire for iPhone is currently at version 1.0 with 720 games.   Pretty Good MahJongg - Goodsol.com/pgmj Our companion game to Pretty Good Solitaire is Pretty Good MahJongg, solitaire with MahJongg tiles. Pretty Good MahJongg for Windows and Mac are currently have 410 games and layouts.   Featured Game - Antares Antares is a cross between the popular games FreeCell and Scorpion. I invented it for Pretty Good Solitaire in the late 1990s. At the start of a game, the deck is dealt out almost exactly like FreeCell. There are eight tableau piles. Six cards are dealt face up to the leftmost four piles, seven cards are dealt face up to the rightmost four piles. As in FreeCell, there are four cells and four foundation piles. At most one card is allowed in each cell. The foundation piles are to be built up in suit from Ace to King. The game in won when all of the cards are moved here. The tableau is divided into two parts: the four left side piles are the Scorpion piles and the four right side piles are the FreeCell piles. The Scorpion piles are built down in suit. Groups of cards (regardless of any sequence) can be moved. Fill spaces with Kings or groups of cards headed by a King. The FreeCell piles are built down by alternate color. Move groups of cards if they are in sequence down by alternate color and if there are enough free cells that the cards could be moved individually. Spaces can be filled by any card or legal group of cards. Groups of cards may be moved from one tableau pile to another, if they form a legal sequence in their current pile. For example, a sequence down by alternate color (if there are a sufficient number of empty cells available to store the cards individually) may be moved from the FreeCell piles to the Scorpion piles, since that is the legal sequence for the FreeCell piles. Also, any group of cards may be moved from the Scorpion piles to the FreeCell piles (assuming the head card of the group can be moved there). These kinds of groups transfers are called "shifts". Shifts of groups down by alternate color are allowed from FreeCell piles to Scorpion piles, while shifts of any group of cards are allowed from Scorpion piles to FreeCell piles. Once a shift has been made from Scorpion piles to FreeCell piles, the cards in the groups cannot again be moved as a group unless they are of sequence down by alternate color. In short, the Scorpion piles have the same building rules as in the game Scorpion, and the FreeCell piles have the same building rules as in the game FreeCell. Note that groups of cards in the FreeCell piles of the tableau can only be moved as a group if there are a sufficient number of empty cells available to store the cards individually. The ability to move cards as a group is only a shortcut to moving the group one card at a time. In the Scorpion piles, groups of cards may be moved regardless of any sequence. Antares is one of the 1040 games in Pretty Good Solitaire (for Windows), one of the 750 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition and Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad, and one of the 720 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mini for iPhone. For more featured games, see the Solitaire Guide. -- Contact Us - Goodsol.com/contact.html Lost Code - Goodsol.com/regusers.html -- Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - [email protected] Anne Warfield - Order Fulfillment - [email protected] ©2021 Goodsol Development Inc. PO Box 9155, Springfield IL  62791 Pretty Good Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, and more.  Visit us at Goodsol.com. List Archive:  View past newsletters.

Goodsol Newsletter #389 - Double Klondike Solitaire

Goodsol Newsletter #389 Double Klondike Solitaire - - Pretty Good Solitaire on the iPad AppStore - 30% OFF Sale! Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad is 30% off in the iPad AppStore until June 27th. Get it on your iPad at Pretty Good Solitaire on the iPad AppStore. The iPad version currently has 750 games. More information about the iPad version is at Goodsol.com/iPad. iPad Version Tip - Touch the big gamename/gamenumber button at the top of the screen to access many features, such as new game, restart game, statistics, select game, and more. -- Lost Codes - Lost Code Lookup You lost your registration code and you need it to install on a new computer - it happens! You can always request your code again from our site at: https://www.goodsol.com/regusers.html.   Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows - Goodsol.com/download Pretty Good Solitaire for Windows is currently at version 20.1 with 1040 games and Daily Quests. This version has 10 new games. If you haven't downloaded the new version yet, give it a try! Download Now!   Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition - Goodsol.com/mac Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition is currently at version 3.56 with 750 games. If you have the full version installed, just go to the Internet menu, select Download Latest Version to update. Version 3.56 works in the latest macOS 11.0 Big Sur.   Pretty Good Solitaire Mini - Goodsol.com/iPhone Pretty Good Solitaire for iPhone is currently at version 1.0 with 720 games.   Pretty Good MahJongg - Goodsol.com/pgmj Our companion game to Pretty Good Solitaire is Pretty Good MahJongg, solitaire with MahJongg tiles. Pretty Good MahJongg for Windows and Mac are currently have 410 games and layouts. Pretty Good MahJongg for Mac works in macOS 11.0 Big Sur.   Featured Game - Double Klondike Double Klondike is a two deck variation of the standard seven pile solitaire game Klondike. To see how to play Double Klondike in a video, go to How to Play Double Klondike Solitaire (YouTube). Double Klondike looks and feels like regular Klondike. Instead of seven piles in the tableau, there are nine piles. The cards are dealt out as in Klondike, one card to the first pile, two cards to the 2nd pile, and so on, until nine cards are dealt out to the 9th pile. Only the top card is face up. The remainder of the cards form a stock, which will be turned over to a waste pile. Like regular Klondike, there are two variations. Either one card is dealt from the stock at a time, or 3 cards are dealt at a time. There are unlimited redeals. There are eight foundation piles, two for each suit, with each pile built up in suit from Ace to King. The object of the game is to move all of the cards to these piles. The seven tableau piles are built down by alternate color. Usually empty spaces in the tableau may only be filled by a King or a group of cards headed by a King, but some variations allow any card to be played to a space. Play goes exactly as in the one deck Klondike. Under these rules Double Klondike can be won pretty much every time. Playing strictly Kings in empty spaces makes it a bit more challenging. Double Klondike is a popular game and can be a nice change of pace from one deck Klondike, but unless you are a big Klondike fan the game is fairly mechanical. Several variations of Double Klondike are a bit more interesting, such as Gargantua, which limits the redeals to one and is therefore more challenging. Double Klondike is one of the 1040 games in Pretty Good Solitaire (for Windows), one of the 750 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mac Edition and Pretty Good Solitaire for iPad, and one of the 720 games in Pretty Good Solitaire Mini for iPhone. For more featured games, see the Solitaire Guide. -- Contact Us - Goodsol.com/contact.html Lost Code - Goodsol.com/regusers.html -- Thomas Warfield - Software Designer - [email protected] Anne Warfield - Order Fulfillment - [email protected] ©2021 Goodsol Development Inc. PO Box 9155, Springfield IL  62791 Pretty Good Solitaire, Pretty Good MahJongg, and more.  Visit us at Goodsol.com. List Archive:  View past newsletters.