Solitaire isn’t really called solitaire. It’s called Klondike. Solitaire is an umbrella term for a whole family of solo card games, including FreeCell, Pyramid, Golf, and so on. Klondike is just the most successful of these – by miles.
That’s why developers Darshan Somashekar and Neal Taparia have chosen to concentrate on Klondike for Solitaire Brain, their slick follow-up to acclaimed solitaire compendium Solitaired, which included all 500 or so versions.
Like Solitaired, Solitaire Brain combines impeccable solitaire gameplay with a dash of educational content in the form of various custom decks. Before we get onto those, here’s a refresher on Klondike for those who may have somehow missed it.
The aim is to take a shuffled deck of playing cards and sort them into suits, all in order with Aces low.
The first step is to deal them into seven columns of increasing length, with one card on the left up to seven on the right, and the top card on each column face up.
To move, you need to place a card onto another card of a different color and one value higher. For instance, Jack of Diamonds on a Queen of Clubs or Spades. The only cards you can move, of course, are the ones at the top of the columns, and one from the pack.
As soon as you uncover an Ace, you can place it at the top of the screen and then start building a stack by uncovering a 2, 3, 4, and so on in the same suit. You’ll win if you manage to uncover all of the cards without your hand getting tied up. Good luck with that.
No game has consumed more working hours than Klondike, and Somashekar and Taparia have clearly decided to wring some educational value out of that time by partnering up with institutions like MIT, NASA, and Encyclopedia Britanicca.
The result is five sets of gorgeously designed custom cards depicting subjects like Heroes of Civil Rights, The Women’s Suffrage Movement, and Famous Inventors.
To check them out, play Solitaire Brain for free right now online, or wait for the imminent mobile versions.
