Believe it or not, the rules for playing each of the Solitaire games are not the same for all players! You might have been taught by a grandparent one way of playing, or learnt the game from a friend who plays differently.  Some people prefer the games to be a bit easier (deal one card at a time and have as many redeals as you like) or harder (deal 3, limited redeals) in order to make the game more of a challenge and so really feel the reward when they finally get to complete a game!


There are options for each of the games to be able to choose to play it according to the rules you want!


To adjust the rule set the game, tap on the title screen to start a game as usual, then select the Cog icon on the game screen so expand out the game settings.


Here's an example showing Pyramid, but it's similar for each game.




The Cog will open out the game settings, where you can choose any of the settings you'd like for that particular game.


Again, here's the settings for Pyramid:



Each of the games has a different set of rules, and so each game has different items that you can set to your own preference.


Easy, Classic and Expert

While you can choose every last rule exactly as you want it (which would make it "custom" settings), we've also selected commonly picked choices for games under the Easy, Classic and Expert groups. Some games don't have as many settings (for instance, Clock) so there isn't always an extensive option for this.


In the case of Klondike, Classic would be very similar to the default settings of the Solitaire app that used to be bundled with Microsoft Windows. 


We've also added Easy settings which make it a far more relaxing game, or ideal for kids.


The Expert settings are usually for more advanced players, and typically will be more difficult and unlikely to lead to a winnable game! 




Guaranteed Solvable


Most of the games have an option to make it Guaranteed Solvable. This means that the game will play through lots and lots of possible games using the settings you've chosen, until it finds one that it is possible to win.  Possible doesn't mean certain, though, as there may be different choices you could make and not all choices lead to you winning the game! However, it is nice to know that a game is potentially winnable, so you can always try an undo within the game (or redeal the same game) to try it again.

The more difficult you make the game settings, the more deals the app will need to play through in order to find one which it can beat. Usually this takes just a few seconds but in some games you can choose settings that make it an average of 10 seconds or more to find a game, in which case it will give you a warning first.  If you haven't got the time to wait, you can always tap through and start the game anyway, in which case you'll be right in and playing, but the game might not be winnable - but finding out is part of the fun!



Extra!


The game settings are saved for each game, and will be remembered next time you start that game, so you don't need to change them every time.  Next time you go into the game you can just select "Play" and it will start the game with the last settings you left it with.  At the end of a game, a New Game (or replay) will also use the same settings you chose.