The Best of Select: Games 3

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┌──────────────────────────────────────────────┐ │ Solitaire Suite Version 1.08 │ ├──────────────────────────────────────────────┤ │ Copyright 1992-1994 By Randy Rasa │ │ 18215 Troost │ │ Olathe, KS 66062-9208 │ └──────────────────────────────────────────────┘ Introduction ------------ Solitaire Suite is a collection of seven challenging and addictive solitaire card games. It consists of: - SOLSUITE.EXE: This is a graphical front-end for all the games in this collection. It makes running the games as easy as pointing and clicking on an icon. - Calculation: Also known as "Broken Intervals", this game requires the utmost in skill and logic. It offers challenging but rewarding play, and special on-screen assistance to make things a little easier. - Concentration: This is one of the classic solitaires, popular with all ages. It is easy enough for children to play, but offers enough challenge for adults. - Idiot's Delight: Also known as "Aces Up", this game is extremely simple to play, quite addictive, but maddenly difficult to win. Success depends on skill and strategy, but even more on the luck of the cards. - Midnight Oil: Also known as "La Belle Lucie" and "Three Shuffles and a Draw", this game is one of the best solitaires, offering both challenging play and a reasonable chance to win. It is also highly addictive; once you get into it, you'll be "burning the midnight oil" more often than not. - Monte Carlo: Also known as "Weddings" and "Double and Quits", this game is easy to learn and simple to play, yet challenging and addictive as well. The game offers a reasonable opportunity for skill, yet winning often depends as much on luck as making the right moves. - Osmosis: Also known as "Treasure Trove", this solitaire offers an attractive layout and a decent chance of success, but requires skillful play and a bit of luck to win consistently. - Royal Cotillion: This is a two-deck solitaire that requires a bit of skill and a bit of luck, along with a good measure of concentration. Legalese -------- Solitaire Suite is shareware. As such, you can play it, copy it, and give it away as you wish. In fact, you are encouraged to distribute the program to friends, family, and strangers alike. This includes distribution via electronic bulletin board systems (BBS), user's groups, and disk-distribution services. All that I ask is that the package remains unaltered and complete, consisting of the following files: SOLSUITE.EXE ... Solitaire Suite main menu SOLSUITE.DOC ... Solitaire Suite documentation (this file) * SOLSUITE.FRM ... Solitaire Suite registration form SOLSUITE.HLP ... Solitaire Suite help file SOLSUITE.PIF ... Windows PIF (Program Information File) * SOLSUITE.ICO ... Windows icon * SOLSUITE.PX1 ... Solitaire Suite graphics SOLSUITE.PX2 ... Solitaire Suite graphics SOLSUITE.PX3 ... Solitaire Suite graphics CARDS.CD1 ...... Card Graphics CARDS.CD2 ...... Card Graphics CALC.EXE ....... Calculation CONCEN.EXE ..... Concentration ID.EXE ......... Idiot's Delight MC.EXE ......... Monte Carlo MO.EXE ......... Midnight Oil OSMOSIS.EXE .... Osmosis RC.EXE ......... Royal Cotillion BRUN45.EXE ..... Run-Time library HISTORY.TXT .... Program histories * FILE_ID.DIZ .... Program description * BBS.LST ........ List of Support BBS's * VENDOR.TXT ..... Shareware Distribution Information * All of the files except those marked with an asterick (*) are required for proper operation of Solitaire Suite. Refer to the VENDOR.TXT file for more distribution information. Standard Limited Warranty: This software is sold "as is", without any warranty as to performance or any other warranties whether expressed or implied. Because of the vast number of possible hardware and software environments in which this software may be used, no warranty of fitness for a particular purpose is offered. The user assumes the entire risk of using this program. Any liability of the author will be limited to product replacement or the refund of the registration fee. Hardware Requirements --------------------- Solitaire Suite requires: 1. An IBM PC or compatible computer (80x86) with at least 512K of free conventional memory. To see if you have enough memory, simply type "MEM" from the DOS command line. 2. EGA or better graphics capability with at least 256K of video RAM. This includes EGA, VGA, Super VGA (SVGA), and XGA adapters. Note that IBM's original VGA video card did not include enough memory to run at 640x350x16. 3. A Microsoft mouse or 100% compatible pointing device. I have tested this program with both Microsoft and Logitech mice, with excellent results. I have received reports of other "off-brand" pointing devices causing problems. If you have a mouse problem, try the following: - Make sure your mouse driver is being loaded from your AUTOEXEC.BAT file when your system powers up. This is required even if you run the program under Windows (which uses its own mouse driver for Windows programs). - Make sure you have the latest driver for your mouse. Check with the mouse manufacturer for details. As of this writing, the latest Microsoft driver is 9.01, and the latest Logitech is 6.23. Even if you have a third-party mouse, these drivers will often work fine. They can be acquired from most BBS's, or from the companies themselves. Registration ------------ Solitaire Suite is shareware. If you enjoy it, please support it. Registration is only $15 for all seven games, which gets you the latest registered versions on the diskette of your choice, plus registration codes good for all future updates of the programs included in this collection. The registration codes allow you to change a program from a shareware version to a registered version. Essentially, what this buys you is unlimited FREE updates. If you acquire a newer version of Solitaire Suite from a bulletin board (BBS) or through a shareware disk distributor, you can convert the shareware versions of all the games to registered versions for your own use. To register, print the registration form from the initial shareware screen and send it in. To print the form, first make sure that your printer is on-line and ready, then simply click on the "Print Registration Form ..." button. If you prefer, the registration form can also be printed manually by entering the following command from the DOS prompt (with your printer connected and ready): COPY SOLSUITE.FRM PRN Then just fill out the form and send it, along with cash, check or money order, to: Randy Rasa 18215 Troost Olathe, KS 66062-9208 Users in Germany and Northern Europe may register thru a registration service called "Der PD-Profi", which will take care of monitary conversions and mailing to the United States. Please contact: Der PD-Profi Gerd Zöttlein Schulstrabe 13 D-86666 Burgheim Germany Tel. 0 84 32 / 12 96 Fax. 0 84 32 / 86 74 How To Contact The Author ------------------------- I can be contacted via US mail at the address above, or via modem at one of the locations listed in the BBS.LST file. General Instructions -------------------- The following section describes features and options common to all the games. Specific game-by-game instructions are explained later. The mouse pointer will appear as a white arrow with black edges. In general, the left button is used to select the object being pointed to (a card or a button), while the right button is used to exit menus or prompts. If you have a three-button mouse, the middle button will blank the screen. This can also be accomplished by pressing the left and right buttons simultaneously. The "Help" button brings up several pages of information about how to play the games, which you can view by clicking on the single- or double-arrow buttons to scroll the display by one line or page at a time. When you are finished reading the help, click on the "OK" button to exit. The "Options" button brings up the options menu, which you can use to set your preferences for both generic and game-specific options. The generic options are: Sound: Select "Off" to disable the beeps, clicks, and various other noises the programs make. Select "On" to enable the sounds. Session Statistics: When this option is set to "On", the program will keep track of your statistics (games played, games won, change in average score) throughout the game and then display them when you quit. (Note: During play, you can also display the session statistics by clicking on the score box.) This option does not apply to Concentration. Background and Border Colors: Click on the up & down arrows to step through the available choices. Card Back: Click on the card back graphic to bring up a menu of available card backs to choose from. This option does not apply to Midnight Oil. Clear Stats: This button will clear your statistics (i.e. games played and games won). The change will be displayed immediately, but will only be written to disk if you click the "OK" button. If you click the "Cancel" button, your stats will not be cleared. (Note: In Concentration, the "Clear Stats" button only clears the stats for the current player -- all other player's stats are not disturbed.) Once you've set things to your liking, you may click on the "OK" button to save your preferences to disk, or on the "Cancel" button to exit the Options menu without changing anything. The "New Game" button will end the current game, update your statistics, and start a new game. Note that the stats will only be updated if you have made moves that increased your score. This allows you to evaluate the layout of the cards and, if you don't like what you see, to begin a new game without having it count against you. Use the "Quit" button to exit the program. If you have made any moves that increased your score, your statistics will be updated and displayed briefly before returning you to DOS. Another way to exit the game is to press the "Abort" key (F10). If you press F10 (and select the "Exit This Program" option in the pop-up dialog box or press F10 again), the program will quit to DOS without saving the data file (and thus not giving you a low score if you have to quit the program in the middle of a game). Of course you realize this is cheating, don't you? SOLSUITE.EXE - The Main Menu ---------------------------- The SOLSUITE.EXE program is a graphical front-end menu for all the games in this collection. It is possible to play the games without the menu (by simply running each game from the command line), but the menu makes it a bit easier. To play a game, just point at one of the game icons and click the left mouse button. The "About" and "Help" buttons work as you would expect. The "Options" menu allows you to set the command line that is used for each game, as well as providing a way to enter the registration codes to convert each of the games from shareware to registered versions. Once all of the games have been converted, the "About" box will no longer come up automatically, though you can still view it by clicking the "About" button. Each game has it's own registration code that you enter by using the mouse to select six digits, then pressing "OK" when the number is complete. If the number is correct, the game will be converted, and a check-mark will appear in the appropriate button in the option menu. Formore details refer to the last page of this document. How To Play ... --------------- Calculation ----------- Calculation uses a standard 52-card deck (no jokers). To begin the game the deck is shuffled, then any ace, two, three, and four are pulled from the deck and form the start of four foundations. These foundations are built up according to the following sequence, regardless of suit or color: A,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K 2,4,6,8,10,Q,A,3,5,7,9,J,K 3,6,9,Q,2,5,8,J,A,4,7,10,K 4,8,Q,3,7,J,2,6,10,A,5,9,K Cards are turned up from the deck one at a time, and can be played on the foundations or on any of four wastepiles located just below the foundations. The top of the wastepiles are always available for play to a foundation, but once a card is played to a wastepile, it cannot be moved again, except to a foundation. The game is won by building all four foundations up to king. The skill involved in playing Calculation, in addition to just keeping track of what card goes next on each foundation, is in avoiding covering up a card you'll need soon with a card that cannot be used for some time, if at all. Kings are especially troublesome, since they cannot be moved until at least one foundation has been fully built up. If the "Easy Mode" option is enabled, you can place cards onto the three extra card spaces that appear to the right of the four main piles. Each of these extra spaces can hold only one card each -- they're meant to be used as a temporary holding area only. Use of this option should improve your chances! The general strategy is to build on the wastepiles in descending order, but the cards are seldom so kind as to allow this to any great degree. Calculation Options: Assist: When this is set "On" the next card in each sequence will be displayed above each foundation to help you keep track of what comes next. Easy Mode: When this is set 'On' then four extra card spaces will be available for play (see discussion above). Calculation Buttons: Same Hand: By clicking on this button you can abandon the current game and redeal the same hand if you want another crack at it. Undo: This button allows you to undo (ie: take back) up to ten moves. You can take back all the moves at once by clicking with the right mouse button. Concentration ------------- The object of the game is to remove all the cards, two at a time, by pairs. You may select any two cards. As you do so, they will be turned over (face-up). If they match (that is, if they are of the same rank, regardless of suit), then they will be removed, otherwise they will be turned back over. Some people select cards at random, others move sequentially from one card to the next in row or column fashion. Either method will certainly work. Note that this game is the opposite of most in that a low score is desireable -- you want to be able to remove all cards in as few attempts as possible. Though becoming proficient at this game is dependent to a large degree on strengthening your short-term memory, luck plays a role as well. A good score requires both skill and luck. Concentration Options: Multi-Player Mode: Concentration has a option called "Multi- Player Mode", which enables up to ten people (or one person playing under ten names) to keep their statistics in the same data file. When this mode is enabled, you will be presented with a menu at the beginning of each game, from which you may select an existing player, add a new player, or delete an old player from the list. Each player's name can be up to fifteen character long. In addition to keeping separate statistics for each player, this mode allows a different setup for each player as well. This means that each player can have his or her own screen color, card back, and sound selection. When multi-player mode is disabled, the game will not bring up the player list for each new game. The configuration options set in this mode will serve as defaults for any new players which are added in multi-player mode. Quick Deal: When this is turned on the cards will be dealt a bit faster. Idiot's Delight --------------- Idiot's Delight uses a standard 52-card deck (no jokers), with aces ranked high, above kings. The game is begun by dealing four cards in a row. You may discard any card that is lower than another card of the same suit. When no more cards can be removed, deal four more cards onto the remainder of the previous deal and remove all possible cards. If a pile is completely depleted, you can move a card from the top of another pile into the space. If the "easy mode" is enabled, you can also discard a card if it is lower than the card it is stacked on (and if the cards are of the same suit). For example, if a pile contained 6,9,K, and Q, the Q could be discarded because it is lower in value and of the same suit as the K which it partially covers. This option really increases the strategy required, and gives you a much better chance to win ... try it! The game continues in this way, dealing four cards at a time, then removing all possible cards. The game is won if only the four aces are left at the end of the game. Be very careful of which card you move into spaces. The natural inclination is to move aces into spaces as soon as possible, but often it is advisable to consider other possibilities, depending on what cards can be freed up with each move. If the "Assist" option is enabled, a box will appear above the cards saying "More Moves Possible" is there is at least one more move available. It might be a good idea to enable this feature if you find yourself missing obvious moves once in a while. Note: The four cards are dealt from the deck by clicking on the card back (there is no "Deal" button). You can also right-click in an empty area of the screen to deal. Idiot's Delight Options: Assist Option: When this option is turned "On", you will be alerted when more moves are possible. Easy Mode: Allows you to remove 'stacked' cards (see discussion of this option above). Idiot's Delight Buttons: Same Hand: By clicking on this button you can abandon the current game and redeal the same hand if you want another crack at it. Undo: This button allows you to undo (ie: take back) up to ten moves. You can take back all the moves at once by clicking with the right mouse button. Monte Carlo ----------- Monte Carlo uses a standard 52-card deck (no jokers). To begin the game the deck is shuffled, then dealt face-up, one card at a time, into five rows of five cards each (the tableau), with the remainder of the deck held in reserve for later play. The object of the game is to remove pairs of cards from the tableau. These cards can be any combination of colors, but must be of the same rank (eg: a 3 of hearts and a 3 of spades), and must be located adjacent to each other in a row, column or diagonal. Note that the removal of a card does not make the two cards beside it "adjacent". After removing all possible pairs, the tableau must be consolidated, which means that the remaining cards in the tableau must be "backed up" (moved to the left, then up, keeping the original order) to fill in the blank spaces created by the removed pairs. Cards from the reserve are then dealt into the newly- created spaces and the process of removing pairs begins again. The tableau can be consolidated and re-dealt as many times as necessary. The game is won when the entire deck has been removed, or lost when no more moves can be made. The Undo feature can be used to "un-remove" cards (that is, to return them to the screen sfter they've been removed). The program keeps an undo buffer that contains all the cards that have been removed since the last deal. You can pull these cards back into play by pressing the right mouse button or clicking on the "Undo" button. The buffer is "last-in-first-out" -- the last cards you've removed from the screen will be the first cards returned. The only limitation to the undo feature is that it cannot go back further than the last deal. So once you remove some cards and press "Deal", they're gone for good. Monte Carlo Buttons: Deal: This button will initiate a re-deal, in which the cards remaining in the tableau are consolidated, and new cards are dealt from the reserve. Hint: Selecting this button will cause the program to step through all the possible pairs in the tableau. After each pair is displayed, you will be asked to continue (press the left mouse button), or exit (right mouse button). If no pairs can be made, a "No more pairs" message will be displayed. Same Hand: By clicking on this button you can abandon the current game and redeal the same hand if you want another crack at it. Undo: This button allows you to undo (ie: take back) up to ten moves. You can take back all the moves at once by clicking with the right mouse button. Midnight Oil ------------ Midnight Oil uses a standard 52-card deck (no jokers). To begin the game the deck is shuffled, then dealt face-up, one card at a time, into seventeen piles of three cards each. The last card is placed by itself as an eighteenth pile. These piles are also known as "fans". The object of the game is to move all of the cards from the eighteen fans into four new piles, arranged by suit, in order from Ace (low) to King (high). These four destination piles are known as the "foundations". Only the top card of each fan is available for play. In addition to moving cards from fans to foundations, cards can also be moved from one fan to another, building down in suit. In this way submerged cards can be freed up for play to the foundations or to other fans. Once a fan becomes empty (which will be represented my a dashed line where the fan was), no moves can be made to that fan. When you have made all the moves you can, from the fans to the foundations and from fan to fan, the remaining cards in all the fans may be reshuffled and re-dealt in the same manner as at the beginning of the game (three cards to a fan). In all, the deck may be shuffled three times (once to begin the game, and twice more during the game). At some point during the game, you may draw one submerged card from a fan and play it on any valid foundation or fan. It is generally better to save this draw for as long as possible. You can point to one of the foundations and click the mouse button to initiate "manual-auto" mode. This function is, as the name inplies, a cross between manual mode and automatic mode. When you click on a foundation, the fans are scanned for possible moves, and any valid moves to that foundation will be made automatically. Midnight Oil Options: Auto Mode: When this is set to "On", the program will attempt to move cards from the fans to the foundations automatically. This will relieve you from having to worry about missing obvious moves, so that you can concentrate on strategy. When this is set to "Off", the game is essentially in manual mode, and you will need to make all moves to the foundations by yourself. This option is provided for those traditional- minded souls who might consider auto mode to be cheating. Auto Speed: This allows you to adjust how fast the cards are played in auto mode. Click on the left and right arrows to move the pointer along the scale from "Slower" to "Faster". At the fastest setting, cards are moved as fast as possible (a blur of action). The slowest setting is "single-step" mode, in which you will be prompted before each automatic move. You will need to experiment to find an acceptable setting for your computer. Trefoil Option: 'Trefoil' is the name of a variation of Midnight Oil in which all the aces are placed on the appropriate foundations at the start of the game. This is supposed to make the game a little easier to win, since there are four fewer cards to move to foundations. If you change the Trefoil option while a game is already in progress, you'll have to finish the current game before the change takes effect. Replay Option: When this option is turned "On", you will have the choice of whether or not you want to replay a game that you have lost. Easy Mode: When this option is set "On", then a special algorithm will be used when shuffling the deck. Essentially, it will prevent lower cards of a particular suit from being buried by higher cards of the same suit. This will have the effect of removing most of the potential blocks in the game. in this mode you will still not win every game, but it's the closest thing I've seen to a sure thing. This mode is set as the default the first time the program is run. Challenge Scoring: When this option is turned "Off", the program will use the standard scoring method, where each card is worth one point. When set "On", an alternate scoring method is used, where you get five points for each card played to a foundation, plus an additional five points for each card in a "run" of more than one card. Bonus points are also awarded for winning the game without using all the shuffles and draws: Shuffles Left Draws Left Bonus ------------- ---------- ----- 0 1 250 1 0 500 1 1 750 2 0 1000 2 1 2000 As you can see, this significantly changes the strategy of the game from simply removing as many cards as you can, to lining up runs whenever possible. If you enable challenge scoring, you may want to disable auto mode so you'll have a better chance of creating runs. Midnight Oil Buttons: Shuffle: This button will initiate a shuffling of the deck, in which all of the cards in the fans are picked up, shuffled, and then re-dealt. If no shuffles are left, the program will display the message "No shuffles left". Draw: When you select this button, you will be asked to select a pile (fan) to draw from. When you select a fan, it will be displayed in the lower right corner of the screen, and you will be allowed to select one card from that fan to draw. If you change your mind and decide that you don't want to draw a card after all, press the right button to exit draw mode. If you select a card, it will be removed from the fan and displayed in the lower right corner of the screen, and you will be prompted to select a destination. Point to the desired fan or foundation and press the left mouse button to move the drawn card to the selected fan or foundation. Peek: This is similar to a draw, in that an entire fan will be displayed in the lower left corner of the screen, but you are only allowed to look, not touch. To exit peek mode press the right mouse button twice. You can also peek at a pile by clicking the right mouse button while pointing at the desired pile. Undo: This button allows you to undo (ie: take back) any number of moves from one fan to another, from a fan to a foundation, or a draw. You cannot undo a shuffle. You can take back all the moves at once by clicking with the right mouse button. Osmosis ------- Osmosis uses a standard 52-card deck (no jokers). To begin the game the deck is shuffled, then four piles of four cards each are dealt at the left. The piles form the reserve, and the top card of each is available for play. One card is dealt to the right of the first reserve, forming the first foundation. As the other cards of the same rank become available, they may be played in a column below the first foundation, forming the other three foundations. Cards are dealt from the deck three at a time, with only the top card available for play to the foundations. Foundations are built in suit, regardless of order. On the first foundation, any card of the same suit may built as soon as it becomes available. On each lower foundation, a card may be built only if a card of the same rank has been built on the foundation above it. For example, if the first foundation card is a three of hearts, then any heart can be played on the first foundation as soon as it becomes available, say, for illustration, the seven and nine. Now suppose the second foundation is the three of clubs. If the seven or nine of clubs become available, they can be played on the second foundation, but no other club can be played until the corresponding heart has been built. When all cards have been dealt from the deck, you may redeal as often as you like, until either the game is won (by moving all cards to the foundations) or lost (no more moves can be made. When the "peek" option is enabled, the reserves will be spread out so that all of their cards can be seen. This allows you to spot any potential blocks before beginning the game. The situation to look out for is two cards of the same rank in the same reserve pile, especially is the lower card is of the first foundation suit. If this is the case then the game is hopeless, at least as far as winning, though you can still play it and perhaps even reach a respectable score. Note: to deal cards from the deck, simply click on the card back. When the deck is exhausted, click it again to gather the cards back up in preparation for a redeal. Osmosis Options: Peek: When this is set "On" the reserve piles will be spread out so that all cards can be seen, thus helping you spot and perhaps avoid blocks. Darken Filled Foundations: When this option is set to "On", a filled foundation will be "darkened", otherwise, if it is set "Off", the foundation will be overwritten by the word "COMPLETE". Either way, the purpose is to show that all necessary cards have been moved to that foundation. Which method you want to use is up to you. Move Alert: When this option is turned on, the program will alert you to any available moves by displaying a message above the deck saying "Move Possible". Note that this is only an information message -- you are not required to make a move when one is available. The lay of the cards in the reserve piles may make some available moves ill-advised; use your own judgement. Osmosis Buttons: Same Hand: By clicking on this button you can abandon the current game and redeal the same hand if you want another crack at it. Undo: This button allows you to undo (ie: take back) up to ten moves. You can take back all the moves at once by clicking with the right mouse button. Royal Cotillion --------------- Royal Cotillion uses two standard 52-card decks (no jokers) dealt together. The game is begun by dealing twelve cards in three rows of four cards each, forming the left tableau. The right wing of the tableau is formed by dealing four rows of four cards each. The foundations are formed in two columns between the left and right tableau. Foundations are formed in the following sequences for each suit: A,3,5,7,9,J,K,2,4,6,8,10,Q 2,4,6,8,10,Q,A,3,5,7,9,J,K In the left wing of the tableau, only the bottom card of each column is available for play, and spaces are never filled. In the right wing, all cards are available, and spaces are filled immediately from the wastepile, or, if there is none, from the deck. Cards are turned up from the deck one at a time, and may be played either to the foundations or the wastepile. The top card of the wastepile is always available for play. The game is one if all eight foundations are completed, or lost if a block is reached. It is advisable, if you have a choice, to play from the left wing first, thus freeing up additional cards. In the right wing, you should not make a move merely because you can. It is better to wait to make a space until a desirable card to save turns up. Royal Cotillion has a "semi-automatic" mode that you can invoke by clicking on one of the foundations when no card is selected. The program will then look through the left and right wings of the tableau, plus the wastepile and top card of the deck, and make any moves it can to the foundation you select. Take care when using this feature, though -- the program may not always make the optimal choice. Royal Cotillion also has a "peek" feature, which can be used to view the contents of the deck or wastepile. Simply position the mouse pointer over the deck or wastepile and click the right mouse button. Royal Cotillion Options: Automatic Dealing: If this is set "On", then cards will be turned from the deck automatically. Otherwise, if this option is "Off", you must click on the deck to turn up new cards. Move Alert: When this option is turned on, the program will alert you to any available moves by displaying a message next to the deck saying "Move". Note that this is only an information message -- you are not required to make a move when one is available. Royal Cotillion Buttons: Undo: This button simply "takes back" one move (deck-to- wastepile, tableau-to-foundation, etc.). The number of times that this can be done defaults to ten. A command-line option can be used to set the number of undo levels to any number up to 200, though you may run out of memory at higher values. Use the command-line option "/Uxxx", where "xxx" is a number from 1 to 200. For example, to set Royal Cotillion to use a 100-level undo, use "/U100" on the command line. You can take back all the moves at once by clicking with the right mouse button. Same Hand: By clicking on this button you can abandon the current game and redeal the same hand if you want another crack at it. Running Under Windows --------------------- Solitaire Suite, while not a Microsoft Windows program, can be run from Windows. The program must be run in full-screen mode and if you're running in 386 enhanced mode the "High Graphics" (under Advanced Options ... Display Options ... Monitor Ports in the PIF editor) should be turned off. The included SOLSUITE.PIF file should help. In addition, adding the following two line to the [386enh] section of the SYSTEM.INI file may help improve performace of Solitaire Suite under Windows: TrapTimerPorts=off SyncTime=on I've also included a Solitaire Suite icon (SOLSUITE.ICO) which you can use in the Program Manager. There's not room for all the details of setting up this program for Windows, but you should be able to figure it out. Command-Line Options -------------------- All of the individual games share common command line options: /NC -- "No Cheat" option disables the F10 (abort) key. Use this if you find yourself unable to resist temptation. /LCD -- This option may improve the screen display on monochrome LCD displays. This option simply changes a few color combinations to improve contrast on LCDs. filename.ext -- This option is for alternate data files (see discussion below). In addition, SOLSUITE.EXE has the following command line options: /Rxxxxxx -- Converts the appropriate game from shareware to registered version. The codes may be strung together to convert more than one program at a time. /SW -- Converts all the games back from registered to shareware versions. Statistics ---------- Each of the games keeps track of the score (the number of cards you've moved to foundations) and the number of shuffles and draws you have left during the course of the game. Also displayed are the total number of games you've played, the number of games you've won (expressed as both a number and a percentage, and your average score. At the end of each game, the statistics are written to disk, either in the default filename.DAT (where "filename" is CALC, CONCEN, ID, etc.) or in the data file specified on the command line. The data file also contains the preferences you set in the options menu. To specify a data file on the command line, start up a game with the following syntax (for example, using Calculation): CALC filename.ext This allows several different people to use the same copy of the game on the same machine, yet keep separate statistics for each person. For example, suppose three people (Tom, Dick, and Harry) played the game at various times on the same machine. They could each easily keep personalized data files, containing their scores and preferences. Tom would use his data file by typing: CALC TOM.DAT Likewise, Dick and Harry could have data files called DICK.DAT and HARRY.DAT. Note that the "DAT" extension could be "SCR" or "HGH", or whatever, as long as it is three letters or less. Note: Use of this capability pretty much precludes using the SOLSUITE.EXE menu program. If you're really intent on keeping separate scores for two or more players, you might be better off simply running the game from separate directories on your hard disk. A Note To Registered Users -------------------------- Effective with the version 1.07 release, the registration procedure has changed from a command-line to a menu-driven method of entering the codes. I'm aware that this may cause a bit of confusion among long-time users, but it allows me to provide a little easier and friendlier way of entering the codes for inexperienced users, plus it reduces the program sizes a bit as well. You can still enter the registration codes via the command line, but now only SOLSUITE.EXE will accept the registration codes. The syntax is the same (/Rxxxxxx), and you can string together as many codes as you want on the SOLSUITE.EXE command line (i.e. "SOLSUITE /Rxxxxxx /Ryyyyyy /Rzzzzzz" etc.). If you find the command line more convenient than the menu-driven method, use it. The registration procedure has the following limitations: 1. The name of the EXE files must be correct (i.e. as specified at the beginning of this document). 2. You cannot perform the registration procedure on a compressed version (i.e. an EXE file processed with PKLite, Diet, or LZEXE). The EXE file may be compressed after the registration procedure, but not before. 3. Please do not distribute registered versions of the programs. Note: You can also change the programs back to shareware versions by right-clicking the registration buttons in the SOLSUITE.EXE options menu or running SOLSUITE.EXE with the "/SW" command line argument (this converts all programs at once). Please use this option to "un-register" the programs if you wish to pass them along to anyone. Also, please include all of the files listed under the "Legalese" section of this document. Thanks.