What am I doing wrong? What is the definition of ‘winning’ this game? I know how to play it but I am making wrong moves sometimes and running out of potential moves without undoing something. Anyone have any tips?
There are many different kinds of solitaire. Which kind are you referring to?
The most common kinds, I believe, are variants of Klondike solitaire. And with those (and other) sorts of solitaire, it’s just the nature of things that you end up winning a relatively small percentage of the games you play. Sometimes, due to the way the cards are dealt, there’s no way to win no matter what you do. Other games are winnable if you make all the right choices while playing, but there’s not always any way of knowing which choices are the right ones as you’re making them. Wikipedia says
If you’re referring to Windows computer Solitaire, it’s just the classic single-player card game with the aim of collecting all the cards in runs of alternating red and black suit colors, from ace to king. I used to play that a lot but now prefer Freecell, with 6,834 wins to date. One reason I won’t upgrade from W7 to W10 is because Freecell is apparently not available on W10.
If you’re referring to the computer-free version, it’s similar but without the computer.
FreeCell, meanwhile, is almost always winnable, and if it’s winnable, it’s possible to figure out how, since there are no hidden cards. Of course, “possible” is not the same as “easy”, and it can sometimes be difficult for a puny human to figure out the winning path.
Pretty much referring to the one on Windows. I swear one game I can almost cascade all of them perfectly and the next, I get 3-4 moves in and its over… its almost pointless to play it. I will in the meantime check out Freecell. I usually play an Xbox One for my gaming needs but when I am near a computer and need a distraction I pop open Solitaire and its so frustrating that it feels not worth it sometimes.
What you’re doing wrong is that you’re not playing a version of Solitaire that guarantees a winnable hand. They just aren’t all winnable. This is why my Mobilityware Solitaire game on my tablet is the only app I let run ads. (They’re just a simple screen I can close very quickly, often before they have time to fully load). It’s worth it to maybe see an ad for this feature.
You also increase the likelihood of winning if you are in draw 1 mode, and allow infinite times through the deck. I don’t know if it still works, but if you hold Ctrl-Alt-Shift (or similar–it’s been a while), you can even draw just one card in 3-card mode, so you can play in 3 card mode first.
And, finally, don’t play every move just because you can. Think about whether you can easily come back and do it later. If so, skip it and make sure there’s not a better option. Move cards in the stack before those in the deck.
Oh, and be willing to take cards off the Ace row and bring 'em back. And, again, don’t just put them up there because you can.
That’s all I’ve got for ya.
Wish I would have seen this post earlier lol, would have saved time. I just won a few games, 2 on windows and one I found on Google Play. I was making a dumb dumb move by largely ignoring the ace row until it was too late, I suppose I just needed to stop midway and take an overall look, then proceed, it worked! I will definitely try out what you suggested BigT, thanks! I frequently have periods of time of about 20 minutes or so in breaks/down time during the day so this is the perfect filler for it. Its brief and casual enough that 20 minutes is plenty of time. Thanks again for the responses and ideas!
Are you talking about the “classic” Windows Solitaire (XP version or maybe Windows 95 or so) or the “new improved” (NOT!) version?
In the classic version there are different options you can choose. There is Vegas scoring, standard scoring, or no scoring. Then you can choose either - card draw or 1-card draw.
Vegas only lets you run through the deck once, a single card at a time. If you play Vegas with 3-card draw it lets you go through the deck 3 times. One-card Vegas is pretty hard. 3-card Vegas isn’t much better. But if you play 1-card draw with standard or no scoring you can go through the deck as many times as you want, a single card at a time. That’s the easiest way to win in Windows classic solitaire. I win it more than 50% of the time. Maybe 70%.
TL-DR You can change around the settings to make it easier to win.
I was playing the Windows 7 Solitaire, and it was total crap… I played a version on linux and another on my phone and I won, following the same rules by setting up cards myself yielded pretty good odds of winning too, is the Windows 7+ version rigged against the player Nintendo style?
Why is it that we can’t have the good old Windows solitaire and minesweeper games like there used to be? Why is nobody maintaining these games for new versions of Windows?
My win rate at the ‘old’ Windows Solitaire on draw 3, Vegas is just over 10%. I too find the proportion of totally unwinnable games frustrating. I’m not sure which are worse - those that let you get almost to the end but then mess you up by hiding (say) both black nines under a black ten (or whatever), or those where you literally have no moves at all (i.e. you can scroll through the deck three times and not be able to move any cards). I suppose it is a realistic representation of how the game actually works in a casino - do any casinos still give it table room? I’m guessing not, since it’s not very likely to make loads of money from bad players, it could lose money to good players who get a bit of luck, and its hourly rate probably isn’t very good.