Spider solitaire

  • Thread starter Thread starter Bill Ridgeway
  • Start date Start date
B

Bill Ridgeway

Is the level "Difficult: Four Suits" of Spider Solitaire winnable? I've
played it many many times (yes, I know I've got better things to do) and not
won once!

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
 
Is the level "Difficult: Four Suits" of Spider Solitaire winnable? I've
played it many many times (yes, I know I've got better things to do) and not
won once!
Click to expand...


Yes, it's winnable.
 
Bill Ridgeway said:
Is the level "Difficult: Four Suits" of Spider Solitaire winnable? I've
played it many many times (yes, I know I've got better things to do) and
not won once!

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
Click to expand...


Of course you silly human.

: O
 
Personal experience Ken?? <vbg>

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

| On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:11:37 +0100, "Bill Ridgeway"
|
| > Is the level "Difficult: Four Suits" of Spider Solitaire winnable? I've
| > played it many many times (yes, I know I've got better things to do) and
not
| > won once!
|
|
| Yes, it's winnable.
|
| --
| Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
| Please Reply to the Newsgroup
 
Personal experience Ken?? <vbg>
Click to expand...


Actually yes! ;-)

I play very few computer games, but I do play Spider Solitaire once in
a while, usually while waiting for something else to take place.

Interestingly, the Vista version of it seems to be considerably harder
than the XP one, and I win far less often

Ken
 
I don't play it much, but my Mom will be pleased to hear it's "winnable".
Thanks Ken.

--
HTH,
Curt

Windows Support Center
www.aumha.org
Practically Nerded,...
http://dundats.mvps.org/Index.htm

| On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:21:10 -0500, "Curt Christianson"
|
| > Personal experience Ken?? <vbg>
|
|
| Actually yes! ;-)
|
| I play very few computer games, but I do play Spider Solitaire once in
| a while, usually while waiting for something else to take place.
|
| Interestingly, the Vista version of it seems to be considerably harder
| than the XP one, and I win far less often
|
| Ken
|
|
| > | > | On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:11:37 +0100, "Bill Ridgeway"
| > |
| > | > Is the level "Difficult: Four Suits" of Spider Solitaire winnable?
I've
| > | > played it many many times (yes, I know I've got better things to do)
and
| > not
| > | > won once!
| > |
| > |
| > | Yes, it's winnable.
| > |
| > | --
| > | Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
| > | Please Reply to the Newsgroup
| >
|
| --
| Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
| Please Reply to the Newsgroup
 
I don't play it much, but my Mom will be pleased to hear it's "winnable".
Thanks Ken.

YW.




| On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 15:21:10 -0500, "Curt Christianson"
|
| > Personal experience Ken?? <vbg>
|
|
| Actually yes! ;-)
|
| I play very few computer games, but I do play Spider Solitaire once in
| a while, usually while waiting for something else to take place.
|
| Interestingly, the Vista version of it seems to be considerably harder
| than the XP one, and I win far less often
|
| Ken
|
|
| > | > | On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 17:11:37 +0100, "Bill Ridgeway"
| > |
| > | > Is the level "Difficult: Four Suits" of Spider Solitaire winnable?
I've
| > | > played it many many times (yes, I know I've got better things to do)
and
| > not
| > | > won once!
| > |
| > |
| > | Yes, it's winnable.
| > |
| > | --
| > | Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
| > | Please Reply to the Newsgroup
| >
|
| --
| Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP Windows - Shell/User
| Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Click to expand...
 
Ken Blake said:
Yes, it's winnable.
Click to expand...

Ken,

The first two levels of Spider Solitaire are easy. If the "Difficult: Four
Suits" level is winnable? What proportion of success do you have and what's
your strategy?

Regards.

Bill Ridgeway
 
Ken,

The first two levels of Spider Solitaire are easy.

Yes.


If the "Difficult: Four
Suits" level is winnable?
Click to expand...


Much harder, but definitely winnable, at least some times. Not every
deal can be won, afaik.

What proportion of success do you have
Click to expand...


I'm running Vista now, and I find that winning the difficult level is
much harder in Vista than it was in XP's version. I win 2% in Vista,
but I can't remember what my XP win percentage was.

and what's
your strategy?
Click to expand...


No special strategy. I don't have any real guidance to give anyone.
 
This thread is a little old, but perhaps the many hours I have wasted on
Spider Solitaire can do someone some good...

The difficult level is very winnable, especially in Vista. If you are
willing to be a little obsessive about it. On XP, my win rate hovered around
75% (with over a hundred games played...let's not say how far over). In
Vista, I'm still at 100% with about 35 games played so far. The strategy is
simple: Undo, Undo, Undo, then Undo some more. Undo is your friend. The
reason my win rate is higher in Vista is because in all previous versions you
could only undo to the last deal (or the last time you completed a suit,
whichever was more recent); now you can undo right back to the very beginning
of the game. It may take me over a thousand moves, but I need never lose a
game again!! (Well, maybe there are some unwinnable deals--I haven't done the
math to prove it one way or another--but they must be rare.) Typically it
takes me more like 500-600 moves to win a game. My scores are all really
low--highest in XP was just over 1000 and now it's just under; more typical
scores are in the 700 range. But I win, dadgummit.

One other thing--I also prioritize moving high cards first (Queen onto King
before 2 onto 3), moving cards where I have a choice first (only 3 onto one
of three 4s before one of two queens onto only king) and moving matching
suits first (spade onto spade over heart onto club). After I see where all
this leads, if I don't feel I've made enough progress (cleared out at least
one or two piles) I undo and try another option branch. These rules don't
matter nearly as much with Vista, since you can ALWAYS undo, so you can
really just try things in whatever order you want. In XP, though, you have to
get things into the best order you can before hitting that "DEAL" button and
hope for the best, so the rules matter more.

Honestly, I kind of hate the new Vista version--it feeds more into my
obsession with winning (I long ago gave up Freecell for Spider because I
didn't want the pressure of maintaining that 100%) and because the new
graphics slow things down so much. I haven't noticed that the deals are
actually harder, but I can imagine that the annoyingness of the whole thing
would make people try to play through faster (undoing less) and therefore win
less. I also hate the scaleable cards, making it very hard to see what suits
you've got in a big pile--another factor that could make the game harder to
win, even if the initial deals aren't any different.

HTH!
 
Back
Top