Copyright: Copyright © 1998 John Roger Taraldsen


Contents

Midnight Sunitaire 1.01 for Windows 95 / NT

Copyright © 1998 John Roger Taraldsen

 Introduction

 How to Play

 Scoring

 Find the Ghost

 Statistics

 Preferences

 Sounds

 Menu Commands

 Toolbar

 System requirements

 Acknowledgements

 Version History

 About Midnight Sunitaire


Introduction

Midnight Sunitaire is a classic solitaire game here in Norway. It's easy to play, but hard to win. I actually don't know the original name for it, (I don't know if it actually HAS an original name), so I had to come up with one myself. When I first started working on this game, I didn't have a clue about what to call it. Finally, I came up with the name Midnight Sunitaire. And why? Well, first of all, this game is made in Norway, the Land of the Midnight Sun. And second, it's a solitaire game. You get the point?

I have been working on this game for about five months now. I don't even wanna think about how many hours ,sometimes frustrating hours, I've spent on this game. So, why release it as freeware? Well, I have been downloading several hundreds of card games from the Internet lately, and there are so many buggy and miserable shareware games out there, and I can't imagine that people are actually paying for those. So, I hope I'm able to raise the standards for solitaire games with the release of Midnight Sunitaire.

Enjoy the game.


How to play Midnight Sunitaire

Getting Started

The game is begun by dealing all cards to the tableau, arranged as eight stacks. The first four stacks are dealt with six cards face up. The last four stacks are dealt with six cards down and one up. Four foundation piles will be formed in the upper right corner in the main game window.

Object

The object of the game is to arrange the cards into the four foundation suits, running from ace to king.

Moving Cards

The top card of each of the tableau stacks is always available for play onto one of the foundations and they will automatically be moved to the proper foundation. Tableau piles are built down in suit and spaces in the Tableau can be filled only by Kings. Face-down cards that are exposed, will be turned over automatically.

Blocks of cards may be moved from one tableau to another, provided that the destination card are of the same suit, and one higher in value.

To reveal a partially hidden card, use the right mouse button to click it.

Winning

If you manage to move all the cards to the foundations, you win!

Losing

If you come to an impasse, where no move moves are possible, select "New Game" from the "Game" menu (or click on the New Game - button in the toolbar) to abandon the current hand and start a new one.


Scoring

Scoring is based on the number of cards that are moved to the foundations and the time spent to complete a game. Scores will automatically be saved in the Top Ten score box, but only if your score is higher than 0. The authors best score is a completed game (52 points) in 25 seconds.


Find the Ghost

Somewhere in the game, there is a ghost hidden. This little guy is hiding approximately 90 winable games! Your mission is to find this ghost and thereby access his list of games. This is what you may call an Easteregg (An Easteregg is either something you eat during the Easter Hollidays OR a hidden/undocumented function in a program. To access an easter egg you'll often have to do some pretty strange things, but that's why they call it a HIDDEN function.)

Good luck!

PS! If you have REALLY tried, but just can't find that ghost, my fiancee will be glad to help you with a hint. Send an email to tortro@online.no.


Statistics

Midnight Sunitaire keeps track of a number of game statistics. These statistics can provide you with feedback as to how well you are playing, and give you an incentive for improvement.

Overall Statistics:

Number of games played

Number of games won

Winning percentage

Average score

Session Statistics:

In addition to the overall statistics, the game also keep track of session statistics (i.e. your statistics during the current game-playing session). The session statistics are displayed on the Session Statistics tab in the Midnight Sunitaire Statistics dialog box.

Best Player:

If the game once has been solved there will be another tab visible in the Statistics Dialog box; The Midnight Sunitaire Super Player. This one shows the very best player (the player that has solved the game fastest), the time used to complete the game, the precise moment when that game was played and the corresponding gamenumber.

Clearing The Statistics:

The statistics can be cleared by clicking on the "Clear Stats" button in the Statistics dialog box. If you answer "yes" to the "Are you sure?" question, all statistics will be reset, even the Best Player tab will be invisible.

Note: The Midnight Sunitaire Statistics and the Top Ten Score box is independent of each other. Even if the Top Ten score box is empty there can still be statistics available and vice versa.


Preferences

The Preferences dialog box allows you to set a number of options that dictate how the game operates. These options are saved to disk so that they are remembered between program runs. These are the configurable options:

General Settings

Enable Sound:

Check this to enable the sounds in the game. If you don't have a soundcard installed on your computer this checkbox will be disabled and grayed out.

Show Prompts:

Check this to show prompts when exiting game, aborting games and start a new game after finishing one.

Show Tips at Startup

Check this to show the Tip of the day-dialog box at startup.

Enter Player Name at Startup

Check this to show the "Your Name Please"-dialog box at startup. If you are the only one using this game, you can uncheck this one. If not, let the other users enter their name in case on of them reach the Top Ten Score box or maybe becomes a Midnight Sunitaire Superplayer.

Enable Autosaving

Check this to automatically save the current game when exiting. Next time Midnight Sunitaire is started it will automatically return to this position.

Advanced Settings

Pause game when minimized:

Check this to stop the game timer each time the game is being minimized. If you play Midnight Sunitaire at work (Heaven forbid!), and the Boss is approaching, just hit the [Esc] key and if this option is checked, Midnight Sunitaire mimimizes and the game timer stops. When restoring the window, you may click the Pause-button in the toolbar (or through the menu) to start the timer (and the game). Or you can simply start playing it again. (The timer start automatically when a card is being moved).

Show Hints in Toolbar

Check this to show the toolbar hints.

Textured Toolbar

Check this to add a texture effect on the toolbar.

Slow Animation on Finish

If you manage to solve the game, you can slow down the "animation" that are being showed at that point (Cards falling down and bouncing out of the window, similar to the finish in Windows' Solitaire) by checking this one.

Background Color

This tab in the Preferences dialog box allows you to select a background color for the main game screen. You can select the color by selecting one of the 16 standard colors.

Note: If a game is in progress, the background color change will not take effect until a new hand is begun.

Select Card Back

From this tab you can select between 6 different card backs. Use the left and right arrow-buttons to choose cardback.

Note: If a game is in progress, the Card Back change will not take effect until a new hand is begun.

The "Reset to defaults" button resets all options to settings that the author found appropriate.

The OK button closes the Preferences dialog box and saves any changes you have made.

The Cancel button closes the Preferences dialog box without saving any changes you have made.

The Apply button saves all the changes you have made without closing the Preferences dialog box.


Sounds

Midnight Sunitaire has the ability to play various sounds in response to your actions. This requires a Windows-compatible sound board.

Midnight Sunitaire uses the following sound files:

Shuffle.wav:	The shuffle sound
Dealcard.wav:	Successfully moving cards
Abort.wav:	Dragging of card(s) aborted
Wingame.wav	Winning sound
Clap.wav:	Applause
Select.wav:	Select Game sound
Undo.wav:	Undo sound
Fart.wav:	Return to Bookmark sound
Movecard.wav:	Moving card to foundation
Ghost.wav:	The Hidden Ghost :-)
If you don't have a way to play sounds on your computer, you may delete these files to save disk space.

If you don't like one of the sounds, you may delete it, or replace it with one of your own. To do this, simply rename the wave file you wish to use to the appropriate name above.


Menu Commands

Midnight Sunitaire has three different menu options:

Game:	New Game	[F2]
	Select Game	[F3]
	Restart Game	[F4]
	Undo	[U]
	Pause	[F5]
	Top Ten	[T]
	Statistics	[S]
	Exit	[Alt+F4]
Options:	Preferences	[P]
	Player Name	[N]
	Sound
	Auto Save
	Place Bookmark	[B]
	Return to Bookmark	[M]
	Background Color	[C]
	Card Back	[B]
	Refresh Screen	[F12]
View:	Toolbar
	Status Bar
Help:	Contents	[F1]
	Keyword Search
	How to Play
	Using Help
	Tip of the Day
	About
The menu has some kind of a MS Office 97 look and feel with images displayed for each item. A pretty cool menu, isn't it?


Toolbar

The toolbar gives quick access to functions such as New Game, Undo, Pause, and so on. Each toolbar button has an image assosiated with its function. This is a floating toolbar with the MS Office 97 look and feel.

The Toolbar defaults to on in resolutions of 800x600 or more, and off in 640x480.


System Requirements

General system requirements for Midnight Sunitaire:

IBM PC or compatible.

MS Windows 95 or Windows NT.

Microsoft (or compatible) mouse.

900 KB free disk space.

Sound card. (Optional).

At least 640x480x16 video capability. 800x600x256 or higher is highly recommended.

Midnight Sunitaire does NOT work in a Windows 3.x environment.


Acknowledgments
Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the following people for making Midnight Suitaire what it is today:

Stephen Murphy for QCARD32.DLL.

The guys on the IRC-channel #delphi on efnet.

My fiancee and primary tester, Torunn.


Version History

v1.0	13/04/98

First public release

v1.01	20/04/98

- Minor bugfixes.

- Changed some of the sound effects.

- Added the ability to choose whether you want textured effect on the toolbar or not.

- Added more games to the Ghosts secret game list :-)


Deal out a new deck. If you are in the middle of a game and,  your statistics will be updated.


Each game has a game number that identifies the starting position. By using the same game number, you can generate the same game
Each game has a game number that identifies the starting position. By using the same game number, you can generate the same game again and again. Simply type a new game number in the Select Game dialog box. Clicking cancel will cause the game number not to be changed.


Starts the current game over again from the beginning.


Undo last move.


Puts Midnight Sunitaire in pause mode and the game timer stops. A new click starts the game and the timer again.


Displays the Midnight Sunitaire Hall of Fame.


Displays the Midnight Sunitaire Statistics dialog box.


Exits Midnight Sunitaire


Displays the Midnight Sunitaire Preferences dialog box.


Shows the "Your Name Please…"-dialog box. In this you can change current Player Name.
Shows the "Your Name Please"-dialog box. In this you can change current Player Name.


Turn on or off the sounds in the game.


Turn on or off the Autosave option in Midnight Sunitaire.


If you get into a tough position with two or more likely choices of moves and you are not sure which to make, select "Place Book
If you get into a tough position with two or more likely choices of moves and you are not sure which to make, select "Place Bookmark" from the Options menu (or press "B"). Then continue playing. If you discover that you made the wrong choice and want to go back to try something else, select "Return to Bookmark" from the Options menu (or press "R"). Midnight Sunitaire will automatically return you to the position you were at when you placed the bookmark.


Displays the Midnight Sunitaire Preferences dialog box and let you choose background color.


Displays the Midnight Sunitaire Preferences dialog box and let you choose card back.


Refreshes the Main game window.


Show or hide the toolbar.


Show or hide the status bar.


Starts this helpfile.


Keyword Search in this Help file
Keyword Search in this Help file.


Starts this helpfile and displays the How To Play Midnight Sunitaire topic.


Display information about the Windows Help System
Display information about the Windows Help System.


Choose whether to show the Tip of the day-dialog box at startup or not.


Displays the About Midnight Sunitaire - dialog box. This one shows version-number and copyright notice.


Closes this dialog box and saves any changes you have made.


Closes this dialog box without saving any changes you have made.


Saves all the changes you have made without closing this dialog box.


Closes this dialog box.


Check this to enable the sounds in the game. If you don't have a soundcard installed on your computer this checkbox will be disa
Check this to enable the sounds in the game. If you don't have a soundcard installed on your computer this checkbox will be disabled and grayed out.


Check this to show prompts when exiting game, aborting games and start a new game after finishing one.


Check this to show the Tip of the day-dialog box at startup.


Check this to show the "Your Name Please…"-dialog box at startup. If you are the only one using this game, you can uncheck this
Check this to show the "Your Name Please"-dialog box at startup. If you are the only one using this game, you can uncheck this one. If not, let the other users enter their name in case on of them reach the Top Ten Score box or maybe becomes a Midnight Sunitaire Superplayer.


Check this to automatically save the current game when exiting. Next time Midnight Sunitaire is started it will automatically re
Check this to automatically save the current game when exiting. Next time Midnight Sunitaire is started it will automatically return to this position.


Check this to stop the game timer each time the game is being minimized. If you play Midnight Sunitaire at work (Heaven forbid!)
Check this to stop the game timer each time the game is being minimized. If you play Midnight Sunitaire at work (Heaven forbid!), and the Boss is approaching, just hit the [Esc] key and if this option is checked, Midnight Sunitaire mimimizes and the game timer stops. When restoring the window, you may click the Pause-button in the toolbar (or through the menu) to start the timer (and the game). Or you can simply start playing it again. (The timer start automatically when a card is being moved).


Check this to show the toolbar hints.


If you manage to solve the game, you can slow down the "animation" that are being showed at that point (Cards falling down and b
If you manage to solve the game, you can slow down the "animation" that are being showed at that point (Cards falling down and bouncing out of the window, similar to the finish in Windows' Solitaire) by checking this one.


Select Background Color from within this dropdown list
Select Background Color from within this dropdown list.


Show a sample of the selected color
Check this to add a texture effect on the toolbar.


Use the arrow keys to select between 6 different card backs.


Click here to reset all options to settings that the author has found appropriate.


Enter your name here.


Check this if you want this dialog box to show at every startup of Midnight Sunitaire.


Clear all scores. You will be asked to verify your choice before proceeding.


Starts the helpfile and displays the "Scoring" topic.


About Midnight Sunitaire

Midnight Sunitaire 1.01 for Windows 95 / NT

Copyright © 1998 John Roger Taraldsen

This application is freeware. No warranty is expressed or implied. The author is not liable for any loss of profit or damages, including incidental, consequential, or other damages.

The latest version and more information is always available at:

http://home.sol.no/~johnrt/solitaire

Please forward all suggestions or bug reports to:

johnrt@online.no