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RISC OS 3.7 User Guide

29 - Patience

This version of Patience is probably the best-known version of the familiar solo card game.

Starting Patience

Patience is in the Diversions directory on your hard disc or network. To start the application, double-click on the !Patience application and it will appear on the icon bar.

To start the game, click on the Patience icon on the icon bar and the Patience window appears on the screen

There are seven columns of cards, with the bottom card in each column turned up. The columns range in length from seven cards (on the left) to one (on the right). The rest of the pack is in a face-down 'pile' on the righthand side of the screen. A number below the pile tells you how many cards are face down. At the top righthand corner of the screen are four card outlines, each marked with the symbol for one of the suits.

The rules

The object of the game is to place all four suits on top of their symbols in ascending order, starting with the ace and finishing with the king. To do this, you must reveal all the hidden cards by going through the pack and building chains of cards. Here are the basic rules:

• The chains you build downwards from each column must be in descending order (king, queen, jack, ten, nine, eight, seven, and so on) and must alternate between red and black suits (ten of hearts, nine of spades, eight of diamonds, seven of spades, for example). If you try to place a card incorrectly, the computer will refuse to move the card.
• When you move the top card from one column to another, the next hidden card is automatically turned up. You can move all or part of a chain to another column.
• There are only seven columns allowed in the game. If you have used up all the cards in one column you can only start a new column with a king.
• Once you have placed a card on one of the suit symbols (in ascending order) at the top righthand corner of the screen it cannot be taken off again.

Playing Patience

To play the game, proceed as follows:

• Look at the cards which are revealed at the bottom of each column. If a card can be moved, use the mouse pointer to drag it to the correct place. When you release the button, the card will be in its new place and the next card turned up in the column where it came from. Continue this procedure until you have no more cards that can be moved.
• Click on the pile of cards on the right, to reveal the next card (every third card in the pile is turned over). If you can use it, drag the card to the appropriate column. You may now be able to move one or more cards from one column to another. If you can't, click on the pile of cards again. If you can't use a card, continue clicking on the pack until one is revealed that you can use. When you use a card from the pack, the card beneath it is again revealed.
• As soon as an ace is revealed, drag it to its place at the top righthand corner of the screen (alternatively, clicking Adjust on a card that can be added to one of these stacks automatically moves it to the correct stack). You can then start building (in ascending order from ace to king) as the cards that follow come up.
• Continue going through the pack and moving cards. The number of cards left in the pack will continue to be indicated by the number below it. A grey rectangle indicates that you have gone through the pack once; click on it to go round again.
• If you can't go any further and want to see where the hidden cards were, click Menu and choose Resign. If there are any cards left in the pack, you can see what they are by clicking on the pack; this will display each card in turn.

If you want to start a new game, choose Deal hand from the menu. If you do not wish to continue playing Patience, click on the Close box on the top lefthand corner of the window to finish.

Varying the rules

You can vary the rules in two ways to make the game easier or harder, using two options displayed when Menu is pressed. These options are both on by default.

• Only Kings means that no cards other than Kings can be placed in empty columns. Switching this off makes the game very much easier; you can now move any card into an empty column.
• Rev. Cards refers to the process by which cards are turned over from the pack. The default is that when a group of three cards is turned over, their order is reversed as they are moved. This means that if you run through the pack twice, you will see two-thirds of the cards. Switching off Rev. Cards means that the cards are not reversed, so you will only see one-third of the cards, making the game much harder.

Varying the Pack

You can vary the picture on the reverse of the cards by clicking on New Pack at any time during the game.

Saving your choices

To save any changes permanently (such as the pictures on the backs of the cards, or whether only Kings can be placed in empty columns) choose Save choices from the icon bar menu.