Scorpion Solitaire

Scorpion Solitaire is a challenging card game related to the Spider Solitaire and Yukon. There are no foundations in this game. Forty nine cards are dealt into seven columns at the start of the game. The top three cards for the first four tableaus are dealt face down. The object of the game is to build four sequences down in suit within the tableau, each running from King to Ace. The most important strategy tip is to expose all twelve face-down cards as soon as possible.

Solitaire – Over 400 great games!

Unique variations of solitaire is one of the things a solitaire lover seeks! I recently came across the BVS Solitaire Collection  and… you have to see it to believe it! This challenging software offers an amazing collection of about 400 unique solitaire games and includes many game variations you will not find anywhere else. You can even modify rules of almost any of the included games, thus creating your own solitaire variations.

After installation, I tried out Topsy-Turvy Queens and before I knew it, three hours had passed! I might add that those were three very enjoyable hours as I pitted my many (ahem) skills against the computer. I played a total of 33 games and I won…(whisper) 12. But dont think I have given up because I will continue to play and hone my now doubtful skills!

Of course, Topsy-Turvy Queens is only one of the multitude of different games you can play. There are some very intriguing titles like Toad, Blondes and Brunettes”, Eight Sages and Twelve Sleeping Maidens as well as old-time favorites like Spider Solitaire, Freecell, Klondike and  Pyramid Solitaire. The various games have difficulty ratings of Easy, Average, and Difficult and use either one or two decks of cards. Individual game rules are nicely written, easily understood, and can be printed out as well.

Playing cards are resized automatically when the size of game window is changed. They look very nice on my 23″ wide screen LCD.

The interface can be changed to suit your personal color and background preferences, as well as your choice of card backs and card sets. You can also use any BMP or JPEG image to create personal card backs.  I especially like some of the features like You Are Stuck that lets you know if there are no more legal moves to be made. You can utilize the multi-level undo/redo menu to make your game play as challenging as you like. You can view the history of your played games very easily with the many statistical and scoring screens available in BVS Solitaire Collection so you’ll be able to keep track of your performance and progress. And you can publish your personal statistics on the BVS Solitaire Collection web site and see where you rank in the top scores list.

Spider Solitaire

Spider Solitaire is probably the most popular office time waster and the number one most played solitaire game around the globe. When you play spider solitaire, both skill and luck are equally significant. It makes this game much more fun to play then ordinary solitaire.

The Spider Solitaire rules are quite easy to understand: You can build tableaus in descending order regardless of suit. You can move both single cards and groups of cards in suit sequence from one tableau pile to another. The object of the game is to build eight descending in suit sequences from King to Ace within the tableaus.  Completed sequences are removed to one of the 8 foundations.

Complexity of Spider Solitaire depends on how many suits are used. Classic Spider is played with four suits.  You can also play one or two suits version of this game to make game easier.

Decpite being less popular, other spider-like games like Scorpion, Black Widow and Spiderette are also worth trying.