Patience Revisited

All of the games have the same controls; most of the time tapping on a card will move it a useful manner. When that doesn’t do what you want, you can always drag a card where you want it to go. Helpful Hints and 1024-level undo are always available.

Download the latest from the SourceForge project download page. Also see the SourceForge project page and the SourceForge home page.

Visual features include:

• Supports high resolution and devices that can hide the graffiti area for an even larger screen. Also supports portrait and lanscape modes (screen rotation, where supported by the device).
• The top card is drawn with a larger, centered suit bitmap (preference).
• Greyscale and color allow for prettier suits. B&W mode can be forced with a preference.
• If necessary, the “10” rank is drawn narrower, to avoid exceeding the card boundary or overlapping the suit graphic.
• Builds are highlighted, by compacting them vertically, and (on OS 3.5 and up) shading them grey.
• The background is drawn in a solid green color (the pattern can be restored with a preference).
• The cards are drawn with a border in all games (Montana and Spider, for example), and with rounder corners.
• New color () and monochrome icons (), including a small/list icon ().

• Add support for mapping hardware buttons to game actions. Buttons include the standard up/down and date book, address, todo, and memo buttons, as well as the 5-way controller buttons, if present. Game actions include Undo, Hint, Examine, Deal, Another Hand, New Game, and Restart Game.
• Create preference for game variant options (Golf 4-row vs 5-row, Klondike 1-card deal vs 3-card).
• Add a preference to ask for confirmation before starting a new game. Helpful if you accidently draw a ‘m’ (which would quit your current hand and start a new one).
• Add a preference for suit colored rank labels (i.e., red for hearts and diamonds, black for spades and clubs).
• Improve distinctness of clubs vs. spades on low resolution screens
• Updated the description of Towers to more accurately describe the game.
• Change “Another Game” menu item to “Another Hand” to avoid confusion
• A few minor improvements for non-volatile RAM PalmOS 5 devices.
• Implement a new random number generator, which should make the games a little more, well, random. The existing algorithm had a flaw that made roughly 1 in 16 games contain a non-random sequence. This changes the “game numbers,” but the “Select Game Number” form allows specifying game numbers compatible with Patience 5.0.
• No new games (no room on the game selection screen! :-)
• Note: Version 5.1 removes the special support for HandEra models (1.5x screen resolution). The HandEra bitmaps made the application larger, the 1.5x is a special case, and there are few HandEra users still out there. If you are a HandEra user and want support, please write me.
• Bugs fixed:
  • Tungsten models redraw correctly after a win.
  • Removed multiple redraws in many cases, general tidiness fixes to conform better to Palm UI guidelines. Many small visual enhancements.

• Support for Palm OS 5! Supports the latest devices, including Palm® LifeDrive™ mobile managers, Treo™ smartphones, and Tungsten™ and Zire™ handhelds. Continues support for other Palm and Sony models.
  
• Three new games: Baker’s Dozen, Gypsy, and Terrace.
• New hint logic to suggest the best move out of all possible moves (the old behavior was to take the first move of any type).
• Support “game numbers” so you can replay a given game. The game number identifies the initial “deal” (shuffle or card layout). For a given game number, the cards will play in exactly the same order, allowing you to play the same game at a different time or to compare with a friend. For FreeCell, supports the same game numbers as Windows FreeCell (see below).
• Added a menu and shortcut for “Another Hand”, that is, shuffle the cards and play another deal of the game you are currently playing. Shortcut is ‘m’ (for “saMe”; ‘s’ is already used to reStart the current game without shuffling).
• New entertainment when you win.
• Added a new song (Pop Goes the Weasel).
• Updated game rules, adding tips for many games.
• Patience Revisited is released as open source under the Artistic license (which to the best of my knowledge is compatible with Keith Packard’s license). Visit the SourceForge project page at http://sourceforge.net/projects/palmos-patience.
• Changes to specific games:
• Canfield, Eight Off, Picture Gallery: Show a reminder for which card fills certain empty card spots.
• Spider, Tarantula: Major upgrade to hints—if the move is not in suit, suggest the highest rank, and when moving piles, suggest the move that would make the largest combined (in-suit) stack.
• Golf: Change initial deal back to 4 rows :-)
• FreeCell: Use a different random number generator to match Windows game numbers. For example, game #11982 is impossible (but all others from 0 to 32,000 are solvable)! See http://www.solitairelaboratory.com/freecell.html for lots of details on FreeCell game numbers, including an excellent FAQ.

• Added six new games: Forty Thieves, Miss Milligan, Picture Gallery, Royal Cotillion, Stalactites, and Tarantula.
• Added face card graphics for high resolution. Some of the new games feature face cards prominently (Picture Gallery, Royal Cotillion) so it seemed appropriate to add them. See the high resolution screen shots for an example.
• If you are artistically inclined, the source images are included if you feel like experimenting. Contact me for card width information.
• Fixed a problem selecting the background pattern in black and white mode.
• Minor tweaks to layout and some game rules:
• Golf: initially deal 5 rows dealt instead of 4
• Klondike: in rare situations a hint wasn’t suggested

• By popular demand: statistics! Patience now keeps track of wins and losses (a loss is defined as starting a new game without winning—not always a real loss, but it’s the best I can do).
• HandEra 330 support Removed in version 5.1.
• Added preferences to allow configuring the up/down buttons to choose from undo, hint, examine, and deal.
• Added support for jog dial (up/down are the same as the up/down buttons, click is configurable).
• Fixed greyscale high resolution graphics.
• Fixed the code that plays a tune when you win, and added a volume preference.
• Thanks to Greg Koker for helping me test these improvements!

• Sometimes the screen redraws multiple times when moving between forms.
• No time to work on patience :-)

Here are some screenshots to give you an idea of the new look. There are also high res screenshots on a separate page, due to their size.
 

	Patience 2.52		Patience Revisited
			Mono	Greyscale	Color
Tabby Cat
Spider
Montana

The Games

Aces High

This is a very quick and simple solitaire, rarely winnable and generally driven by the deal rather than skill. Also known as Aces Up.

 

Baker’s Dozen (5.0)

A challenging game where empty stacks can’t be filled and there are no redeals.

 

Calculation

Keeps your mind working with modulo 13 arithmetic.

 

Canfield

Another classic. Foundations start at an arbitrary rank and empty tableaus are only filled from a reserve, which must be depleted to win. This doesn’t happen very often :-). Also known as Demon.

 

Eight Off

A precursor to FreeCell, but with eight tableaus and eight stocks. Almost always winnable.

 

Forty Thieves (2.6.2)

A two-deck game, somewhat similar to Eight Off without the stocks. It is difficult to win, and relies mostly on skill. Interesting at the end, as you hope there are enough spots to “unwind” the deck far enough to get the one card you need to continue. Also known as Napoleon at St. Helena.

 

FreeCell

Another classic. Make builds in alternating colors, with eight tableaus and four stocks to temporarily hold individual cards. 99.999% are winnable!

The game numbers in “Game Info” and “Select Game” are the same as used by Windows FreeCell (the so-called “Microsoft 32,000”). Only one of these (the famous 11982) is unwinnable. See http://www.solitairelaboratory.com/freecell.html for more information on individual FreeCell game numbers, including an excellent FAQ.

 

Golf

Count up and down, try to end with fewer than four cards showing. Patience supports two variants: choose between an initial deal of 4 or 5 rows. The 4 row variant is easier; the 5 row is the classic.

Because this is a very hard game to win (the 5-card variant has perhaps a 1% win rate), many people “play for par.” Count each game as a “hole,” and the number of cards left in the tableau at the end as the number of “strokes” you took to play the hole. Aim for 4 or fewer cards left over each game. Unfortunately, Patience does not have the means to track this “score” for you…
 

Gypsy (5.0)

Classic pile building game, somewhat like Spider with alternating color order instead of strict suit order. See Miss Milligan for a variant.

 

Klondike

The classic! In fact, Klondike is often what people mean when they say “solitaire”.

 

Miss Milligan (2.6.2)

Like Gypsy, but only Kings can fill empty spaces, and with an extra reserve stack that can be used to help finish up the end-game (after the dealing deck is empty). Using this reserve, called “weaving”, can often be used to win an otherwise lost game.

 

Montana

Line up all four suits from 2 to King. Tap empty spaces to highlight the card which goes there. Tap cards to highlight where they go. Plays nicely in landscape mode (on devices that support that).

 

Picture Gallery (2.6.2)

A two-deck game with three rows that build by threes (2,5,8,J; 3,6,9,Q; and 4,7,10,K). The payoff is a collection of all the face (picture) cards, thus the name. Patricularly nice on a high-res device, where the face cards have a little picture.

 

Royal Cotillion (2.6.2)

If you play your cards right, the royal couples will line up in a dance formation for you.

A Cotillion is an 18th century dance performed by eight people; a winning game will end with eight Queens and Kings paired up, thus the name.

 

Spider

One of the most popular two-deck solitaires. Very challenging; it’s estimated that 1 in 3 are winnable, but my win percentage hovers closer to half that (15%).

 

Spiderette

A single-deck version of Spider. It seems to be less affected by skill than spider.

 

Stalactites (2.6.2)

Build four piles in order regardless of suit, but each pile only holds 13 cards.

 

Tabby Cat

Something like a combination of a one-deck spider and FreeCell. Four tableaus and one “tail” (stock). This is my favorite single-deck game, and around 60% are winnable once you get the hang of it.

 

Tarantula (2.6.2)

A variant of spider. It’s identical regarding rules and layout, but only two suits are used, so it is easier to create builds in suit order. This is a good game to learn and practice spider.

 

Terrace (5.0)

Choose your “starter” foundation card carefully, then build the foundations, both from the deck and a supplemental row. Also known as Queen of Italy.

 

Towers

Similar to FreeCell, but with ten tableaus, and more difficult since empty tableaus can only be filled with Kings, and tableaus build in suit order (instead of rank order with alternating color). More than 10% of deals are unwinnable. Also known as “Seahaven Towers™”, a trademark of Art Cabral.

 

Vegas

Klondike solitaire using Vegas rules (draw one card).

 

Wish

A very easy game, pairs of cards matching in rank are discarded until no cards are left. Approximately 25% of deals are winnable.

 

Yukon

Yukon is somewhat similar to Klondike, with a significant difference in that a (face up) stack of cards can be moved without being in any order, so long as the starting and target cards are in rank order and alternating color. Also, there is no deck; all cards are dealt at the beginning.

This software is released as OSI Certified Open Source under the Artistic License (see LICENSE.txt). http://www.opensource.org/

THIS PACKAGE IS PROVIDED “AS IS” AND WITHOUT ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Source code derived from Patience 2.5.2 by Keith Packard, modified under the terms (below) of the source code as he released it. Note: Keith is not responsible for this version—please don’t contact him with problems.

Palm, LifeDrive, Treo, Tungsten and Zire are among the trademarks or registered trademarks owned by or licensed to Palm, Inc.

Copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999 Keith Packard

Permission to use, copy, modify, distribute, and sell this software and its documentation for any purpose is hereby granted without fee, provided that the above copyright notice appear in all copies and that both that copyright notice and this permission notice appear in supporting documentation, and that the name of Keith Packard not be used in advertising or publicity pertaining to distribution of the software without specific, written prior permission. Keith Packard makes no representations about the suitability of this software for any purpose. It is provided “as is” without express or implied warranty.

KEITH PACKARD DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES WITH REGARD TO THIS SOFTWARE, INCLUDING ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS, IN NO EVENT SHALL KEITH PACKARD BE LIABLE FOR ANY SPECIAL, INDIRECT OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES OR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM LOSS OF USE, DATA OR PROFITS, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE OR OTHER TORTIOUS ACTION, ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE USE OR PERFORMANCE OF THIS SOFTWARE.

Face cards derived from the PySol standard cardset, modified under the terms of the GNU General Public License. Originals included with this distribution. The originals are copyrighted under the GPL as follows:
Copyright (C) 1997 John Fitzgibbon
Copyright (C) 1997 Jochen Tuchbreiter <whynot@mabi.de>
Copyright (C) 1998 Markus F.X.J. Oberhumer <markus.oberhumer@jk.uni-linz.ac.at>
 
This code makes use of PalmResize: http://sourceforge.net/projects/palmresize

Copyright (c) 2004, Alexander R. Pruss
All rights reserved.

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