Want to waste a lot of time? No, I'm not talking about watching infomercials on late-night TV. This is the best kind of time waster - solitaire! I checked out Sierra's Hoyle's Solitaire and found I could do little more than play it. The laundry hasn't been done, the bills haven't been paid, and it's all because of this terribly engrossing game.
Of course, it helps if you actually like card games - if you do, God help you, because you're not getting away from this one. I found myself alone in a dark office playing Triplets and yelling expletives at the screen every time I had to re-deal. If I was dealt a losing hand, I'd hit re-deal right away and the whole thing would start all over again.
One of the greatest things about Hoyle's is that it features a whopping 28 game variations, nothing like the namby-pamby solitaire game preloaded into your PC. In addition, you can change the card backs, the “wallpaper,” and the music to suit your individual style. Card backs range from traditional patterns to variations of the Sierra logo. Backgrounds run the gamut from rainforest to hardwood to Las Vegas-card-table green. The music can be an annoying urban jazz or a tranquil classical, but don't expect to be wowed: Most of the soundtracks are nothing more than 60-second sound bites in a perpetual loop.
When it came time for gameplay, I went the traditional route with Klondike, which was fun, but I've been playing this particular version of solitaire since I was 10, and it isn't much of a challenge. I moved on to Yukon, which is played with all of the cards dealt to seven columns from one card to 11 in length, and from one card to six face down. You move the cards from column to column. The objective is similar to Klondike: build four foundations up from ace to king. Without a pile of cards to flip through, it makes for a more formidable challenge.
I didn't much care for Bowling. Here you set up the cards like bowling pins and pick them off in order from front to back:
7 8 9 10 6 5 4 3 2 1 I started out by throwing away too many cards in the waste pile; then I just got bored.
The real fun and excitement came with games like Fortress and Pyramid. Both are very engrossing, and with a game like Pyramid, you really need to be able to “count” at a glance.
One thing that threw me for a loop is how difficult it was to learn some of the games. My advice here: Read The Instructions! I know this sounds kind of silly, especially for a card game, but when you mess up (and you will), you'll be clicking that instructions button - trust me.
In addition to regular card table play, you can also play an arcade-style game called Card Flick. It's fairly self-explanatory. With a virtual hand you flick virtual cards into a virtual hat for, yup, virtual points. Any time you win one of the solitaire games you'll also get a chance to “flick.” Although this game doesn't unlock the mysteries of the universe, it does offer hours and hours of gameplay. Take a break from the shoot-‘em-ups and God games - play a little solitaire!
