 The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group BVS Solitaire Collection Ian McDowell |
The BVS Solitaire Collection (Version 2.6) offers about two hundred card
games which are different from ones with which we are familiar. Readers may download the entire suite from http://www.bvssolitaire.com and play about ten of them for thirty
days. The next step is online registration at a cost of $US15.
This frees all the games to the user, provides free updates, and gives access to technical support via
e-mail. The writer has played Alternations, Canfield, Topsy Turvy Queens, Troika and WindMill with enjoyment.
Degrees of difficulty vary.
The programmer, Boris Sandberg, has a Russian address, and drew the games from the book "Solitaires" (B.I.
Jakushenkov, Moscow, 1976). He seeks feedback and provides an e-mail address. The programming is
near-perfect, but not wholly so; I sent him a saved game showing a significant flaw in WindMill, to which he
responded promptly.
The games have a strong system in common:
- online rules are provided for all games, and accessed readily
- graphics are fast and attractive, with some modifications possible, e.g. sound on or off, warning of illegal move on or off, even put your own picture on the backs of the cards
- moves are by point and click or double-click, as usual
- moves may be undone at any selected level, or the next move may be suggested if required
- all shuffles are numbered and any shuffle may be selected by number (it would be interesting to compare the playability of a given shuffle applied to each of the various games)
- games may be saved at any point
- certain moves may be automated, ie. they happen if they are possible
- score and time taken are recorded for each game against name of player, then best results shown, past history graphed, and a log kept if required
- achievements may be posted to the BVS Solitaire Web site.
Reprinted from the November 2000 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
