Astraware Deals a Winner with Solitaire

Last month I saw a blog post by Astraware developer Katherine Gordon about their upcoming Solitaire release. While it looked interesting, I can't say I was on the edge of my seat waiting to play it. A couple of weeks ago I got the chance to preview the game. Since I love mobile devices and games I thought I'd give it a try, not expecting too much. Sure I have played an occasional game of solitaire - it's a "standard" Windows Mobile game. When I'm really bored I may fire it up for a quick game... but with so many other good games out there it's very rare. I have to admit, I became hooked on Astraware Solitaire.

The Games

Astraware Solitaire includes 12 games: Klondike, Pyramid, Spider, Clock, Yukon, Canfield, Four Seasons, Sultan's Harem, Idiot's Delight, Golf, Calculation, and Freecell. I have played the standard game, Klondike, and a little bit of Freecell previously, but the rest of the games were new to me. The nice thing about this suite is that every game includes the ability to be customized. For example, with Klondike you can configure whether the foundation is playable, how many cards are dealt, how many redeals, what card should move to the tableau (empty spaces) and change which cards are face up. This gives you an additional 12 settings that basically make this a completely new game.

Overview

Yellow color theme (VGA)

The first thing that impressed me with this game was the sharp, professional graphics. It is visually appealing, yet different from other games. Game selection is done by tapping on the arrows to navigate between the various icons representing each game. For each game animated text is displayed to the left of the game icon showing the difficulty of the game, your chance of winning, and the time to play. There are instructions for each game that include the aim of the game, the starting layout, how to play, and how the game ends. There is also a tutorial which explains all the elements on the screen as well as other useful bits of information.

The game supports numerous screens sizes/layouts. For the Smartphone you have native 240x320 (QVGA) as well as 320x240 (landscape QVGA). On the Pocket PC the following is supported (all native): 240x240, 240x320 (QVGA), 320x240 (landscape QVGA), 480x640 (VGA), and 640x480 (landscape VGA).

I tested this on an iPAQ hx4700 (VGA) as well as an iPAQ hw6900 (240x240). While the VGA looked outstanding, I was very pleased at how well it looked and played on the 6900.

Trophies and Prizes

Winning a trophy

At various points when you win (or even lose) games you'll get a trophy. In addition to the trophies you can also win some "prizes" such as card backs.

Unlocking a card back

You can view all your trophies by going to the Trophy Room from the main screen menu.

Trophy room

Customization

As I mentioned earlier each game can be customized, but there are other aspects that can be changed. First off is the color theme. There are 9 very nice themes to choose from. You can also change the card backs and fronts as well as the background.

Choosing a different card back

In addition to the game customizations you can also configure the following:

• One-touch control
• Auto flip cards
• Animate card movements
• Mirror table layouts
• Reverse toolbar button order
• Auto move to foundations
• Move highlighting (helpful or all moves)

Helpful Moves highlighted

Let's Play

So the configurations and screens all look great - but how does it play. As I said at the beginning of this article I wasn't a huge solitaire fan. I really got hooked on Astraware Solitaire though. The game play is very easy, especially using one-touch control. My favorite game by far is Golf. It's a quick game that is a good balance between skill and luck. I also really like Spider and an occasional game of Pyramid. Idiot's Delight is one game I can't seem to stop playing. Not because I love it so much, but because it's one of those I feel I have to conquer. The win chance is listed as "virtually none!" - all the more reason to try to beat it! Since I have yet to win I guess I am an Idiot Delighting in losing.. :)

Summary

Falling cards after winning Golf

Astraware has really hit a homerun with their Solitaire game! This is a very professional and incredibly fun game. If you like solitaire at all I'm sure you'll be very happy with this game. It provides plenty of games as well as a lot of customizations to provide hours of fun. With the trophies and prizes there is incentive to keep striving for that next win.

If you are like me and not a major solitaire, it's worth downloading and playing the demo. You might be surprised!