SolSuite Solitaire is a Windows collection of more than 800 solitaire card games published by TreeCardGames. It gathers well-known patience games such as Klondike, FreeCell, Spider, Pyramid, La Belle Lucie and Forty Thieves. These sit alongside hundreds of lesser-known variants and a group of original games created by the SolSuite authors. SolSuite is paid software that can be tried before purchase; buying it provides an activation code that turns the downloaded trial into the full version.
Hundreds of solitaires and their deals
The collection covers whole families of related games. A player who likes Spider or FreeCell can move between dozens of variations that change the layout, the number of decks or the building rules. A fast search finds a game by name, favorites keep frequently played titles close at hand, and SolSuite can also pick a random game from a chosen group.
Each solitaire has a very large pool of numbered deals. Players can select a specific game number to replay or share a particular shuffle.
Beyond the built-in list, SolSuite includes a game editor for changing the rules of an existing solitaire and building custom variants of it.
Help while playing
The play controls aim to make long or difficult layouts manageable rather than to change the rules:
- Suggest a Move shows a legal move, and a demo mode plays the game automatically.
- Undo and redo can be set to unlimited levels, a single step, or switched off for a stricter game.
- Card counter and pile information show how many cards remain in a pile and how many redeals are left. SolSuite can highlight valid tableau positions and reveal hidden cards.
- Save, open and restart let players stop a game and resume it later or replay it from the start.
Autoplay moves cards to the foundations automatically. SolSuite can turn it on or off globally or per game and remember the last choice for each solitaire. It can also limit autoplay to the closing phase of a game, when the remaining cards only need to be gathered.
Cards move by drag and drop or by point and click. A per-game card size setting stores a preferred size for each solitaire, which helps with layouts that spread across many columns. A vertical scroll bar handles very long columns. A larger toolbar suits touch screens.
Scores, statistics and players
SolSuite records a Hi-Score for every solitaire. The Overall Score is the sum of these Hi-Scores, so it rises only when a finished game beats the existing best for that solitaire. Players can publish their Overall Score and Single Game Scores online and compare them with other SolSuite players in the SolSuite Champions lists.
The statistics work at two levels. For a single solitaire, SolSuite tracks games won and lost, the longest winning and losing streaks, the current session, and a graph of how the winning percentage has developed. A chance-of-winning view compares the player’s results with the average SolSuite calculates for that game.
Across the whole collection, the program counts solitaires won, lost and not yet played. A list view shows every game’s figures with filters such as unwon or unplayed titles. Players can launch a game straight from that list. This makes it a practical way to work through the parts of the collection still untouched. Statistics can be displayed with 3D graphics.
Players can create an unlimited number of player profiles. Multi-Player Mode lets family members or friends play under their own names and compare Hi-Scores and wins. A comparison chart shows up to five players side by side. Recording of new results can be paused without deleting existing statistics, or the statistics can be cleared.
A Series Manager groups games into a series, and the Hold and Exit command saves the series so it resumes with the current game the next time SolSuite opens.
Card sets, backgrounds and themes
SolSuite ships with a large library of card faces, card backs and table backgrounds, plus themes that restyle the overall look of the program. The free Graphics Pack included with a purchase adds more than 60 card sets, extra backgrounds and further themes.
Personal images can also be used. Players can load backgrounds from BMP image files. The Create a New Card Set wizard lets a player build a new deck or modify an existing one by placing their own pictures on the card faces. Card speed, card animation, sound effects and the winning animation can each be adjusted, and the game can run in full-screen view.
Where settings and results are kept
Configuration and statistics are stored in a Store Folder. By default each Windows account keeps its own settings and results. Users can point the folder to a shared location so several accounts use the same statistics. Copying this folder also backs up SolSuite statistics or moves them to another computer.
