Calculation Solitaire Help
Overview
While Calculation has the usual goal of arranging the entire contents of the deck in four stacks of thirteen cards, the suits of the cards in these stacks is irrelevant. Instead, the four stacks accept cards whose ranks differ by a specified interval. Even though the computer calculates the accepted sequences of cards, the game is still extremely challenging.
Layout
There are three areas of the screen:
- Deck The deck is spread out on the
left side under the button panel. Only the top card of the deck is
face up and accessible.
- Destination Stacks The destination
stacks are located in the middle column of the layout. The ranks
the top stack accepts differ by one, and the difference in the
lower stacks is two, three and four. A list of the ranks accepted
by the stack runs along the sides of the stack. The listing begins
at the bottom of the left side and continues at the bottom of the
right side. The rank which the stack currently accepts is
highlighted. The destination stacks accept any card with the
desired rank regardless of its suit.
- Waste Piles The four waste piles are located in the right column of layout. A waste pile can accept any card and can contain an unlimited number of cards. Transferring cards between discard piles is not allowed. The only way to remove a card from a waste pile is to move its top card to a destination stack.
Game Play
To move a card, click on the card (which will highlight it) and then click on the destination. The following are valid moves:
- A card can be moved from the top of
the deck or a waste pile to a destination stack if the card has
the desired rank. Rightclicking on a card will attempt to move it
to a destination stack.
- A card can be moved from the deck to any waste pile
Tips
- Play with a high number of cards
initially in the destination stacks until you have a feel for the
game's strategies.
- Try to build reverse sequences in
the discard piles.
- Consider reserving a waste pile solely for kings, because the cards under a king cannot be accessed until a stack is almost complete.
Click on the button labeled options to bring up a dialog box with the following settings:
Initial # of Cards
This sets the number of cards which are initially in the destination stacks. The default is one. Increasing this number will make the game easier to win.
