Getting Started

This chapter explains how to start up Solitaire Till Dawn, and the basics of playing a game.

Starting Solitaire Till Dawn

Start Solitaire Till Dawn by double-clicking its icon. If this is the first time Solitaire Till Dawn has run on your computer, then it will automatically start up a game of Klondike.

Playing a Game

Moving Cards. Cards can be moved from one pile to another by dragging them with the mouse. Only available cards (those that can be legally moved according to the rules of the game) can be dragged; if you try to drag anything that’s not available, the program will just beep at you.

You can also move cards by clicking on them. A clicked card will immediately fly off to a legal destination, if there is one. This feature is called “smart cards” and it can be turned on and off in the Card Shark Options window. If it doesn’t seem to be working, select Card Shark Options from the Card Shark menu and make sure the Smart Cards box is checked. 

You can also move cards without clicking at all; see the chapter Magnetic Mouse for details.

Dealing from the Hand. The hand (also called the “deck”) looks like a face-down card, but it has a number displayed in a small white rectangle, and with some card designs it may show other differences as well. The number is usually the number of cards in the hand, although in some games it is the number of deals remaining instead.

When you want to deal, just click on the hand. (Don’t double-click!) You can also deal by choosing Deal from the Card Shark menu, or by typing ⌘D, if you prefer.
	
(See picture: The Hand.)
		
When the game rules don’t allow dealing, the hand is disabled. In the default card design, the card table is dark and the card player has left; in other card designs, the hand will darken or alter in some other visible fashion. If the number of remaining cards or deals vanishes also, then no more deals will be allowed. But if the number is still showing, then dealing is only temporarily disabled and may be enabled again later on according to the rules of the game.

You can also deal without clicking the mouse or typing; see the chapter Magnetic Mouse for details.

Undo and Redo. Solitaire Till Dawn remembers all the moves you make during a game. You can undo your latest move by choosing Undo from the Edit menu. In fact you can undo as many moves as you like, one at a time, all the way back to the start of the game if you wish.

If you undo some moves, and then change your mind before making any new moves, you can redo some or all of those moves by choosing Redo from the Edit menu. You may undo and redo, back and forth, as much as you like; but if you make a new move by clicking or dragging a card or by dealing, then Redo is disabled and any old moves past that point are forgotten.

Keyboard shortcuts: Pressing ⌘Z, F1, or the ESC key is the same as choosing Undo; pressing ⌘R or the space bar is the same as choosing Redo.

The Undo All command in the Edit menu will begin undoing moves continuously until the beginning of the game is reached, or until you stop it by clicking the mouse or by pressing any key. The Redo All command does the same thing by redoing moves until the last move made is reached. 

Finding Cards. To find cards, type the rank of the card you want. For example, typing 5 will highlight all visible fives, making them easy to spot. To find Aces, type a or 1 (one); to find tens, type 0 (zero); to find Jacks, Queens, or Kings, type j, q, or k.

You can restrict the highlighting by suit by typing h, s, d, or c for Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, or Clubs. For example type 3s to highlight the 3 of Spades.

The highlighting will vanish the next time you use the keyboard or click the mouse.

You can highlight all movable cards (that is, all cards that can legally be picked up and moved elsewhere) by holding down the Shift key or the Caps Lock key. 

Hidden Cards. In some games, the fans or columns of cards can get quite long. To compensate, Solitaire Till Dawn may squeeze the cards closer together. This can make it hard to see what the cards are. To see the rank and suit of any card,  press the command (⌘) key while clicking on the card. Keep holding down the mouse button until you’re done reading the card.

While still holding down the mouse button, you can sweep the mouse up and down the column or back and forth across the fan to see what cards are there. Sorry, it doesn’t work on cards you’re not supposed to be able to see!

Winning. Solitaire Till Dawn will tell you when you have won a game, by displaying a “Congratulations” notice and playing a sound effect.

In some games, this notice may appear sooner than you expect, because you have done so well that your win is guaranteed even though you haven’t finished moving all the cards yet. You can still keep playing after the “Congratulations” if you want the satisfaction of really finishing, or you can start up a new game right away. If you prefer, you can turn off these behaviors by unchecking the appropriate boxes in the Card Shark Options window.

Losing. Solitaire Till Dawn will tell you when you’re stuck and can’t possibly win the game, by displaying a red X in the status bar. See the chapter Score and Statistics for details. If you prefer, you can turn off this behavior by unchecking the “Tell Me When I’m Stuck” box in the Card Shark Options window.

Starting a New Game

To start a new game of the same kind you’ve been playing, choose New Game from the File menu.

To start a new game of a different kind, choose a game from the Games menu.

Rules

Choose Rules from the Card Shark menu to see a very brief summary of the rules for the game you are playing. For a full description of the rules of each game, and for definitions of the special terms used in solitaire, see the Solitaire Till Dawn Games Guide.