Hot Streak Solitaire – Cards + Fire = Ash. No wait, it’s AWESOME! That’s it. ^_^

If you enjoy solitaire games, then you should totally try Hot Streak Solitaire at Gamesville! It’s based off of tri-peaks solitaire, so named because of the three peaks (or pyramids) that form the playing field.

And deserts are REALLY hot.

This isn’t a new game for Gamesville, but it recently got a complete makeover! Now you’re helping Poke move through the worlds. (He’s trying to get back home, poor thing!) Right now there are three worlds, but 4 & 5 are coming soon. At least, that’s what the map says. ^_^

This map should help clear things up!

Will there be more worlds beyond that? I have no idea, but I kinda hope so.

Each world has 12 levels. Basically, when you finish a level Poke waddles a little bit across the screen. ^_^ And in order to complete a level you’ll have to clear all of the cards from the playing field. How do you do that? Well…

 

The Basics

If you’ve never played tri-peaks solitaire, don’t worry! This is a pretty simple game. ^_^

Each round you’ll start with 28 cards creating the pyramids, and 23 cards at the bottom that create a “deal” pile.

I’m with ya so far.

There’s also one card that’s face-up in the bottom right corner. This is the discard pile, and this is where you’ll play all of your cards!

To play a card from the pyramids you just click on it, and if it’s a legal play it will automatically move to the discard pile. You can play cards that are either one step higher OR lower than the current card. For example, I could play either a 2 or a 4 on that 3 of clubs!

If you reach a point where you can’t play anything on the discard pile, click the draw pile to flip a card over. Play on the new card, if you can!

To finish a level you must remove all of the cards from the pyramids. The draw pile is just there to help you clear the level, and there’s NO penalty for having draw cards left over! However, if you run out of draw cards and you can’t play anything else, you lose the round and have to try the level again.

 

Rewards

For each completed level you’ll get 500 GVs and 1 sweepstakes ticket. On levels 4, 8 and 12 in each world you’ll win 10 sweepstakes tickets instead of 1!

This means that if you played all the way through the (current) three worlds, you’d earn 18,000 GVs and 117 tickets!! (Once you reach the end you start back at world 1.)

The sweeps drawing occurs each day at 12 am GMT (That’s 7 pm EST.) and is for a $10 prize. The prize is automatically doubled for Gold members, which means they win $20!

If you aren’t a Gold member but you like the sound of doubled prizes, well I have good news! Non-Gold members can get double winnings for a month!

This is completely legit, btw. You can read about it on the Hot Streak Solitaire rules page. ^_^

You’ll need a business size envelope, a 3x5 index card, postage, and something to write with. (I suggest a pen.) Write ALL of the following information on the card.

• Your full name
• Gamesville account name
• Your mailing address
• Date of birth (mm/dd/yyyy)
• Daytime phone number and e-mail address

Seal the card in the envelope and mail it to:

"Gamesville Hot Streak Solitaire Automatic Prize Doubler "
c/o Lycos, Inc.
100 Fifth Ave.
Waltham, MA 02451-8703

As soon as they receive your entry you'll be eligible for a doubled prize for a MONTH!! Good luck to you! ^_^

 

Tips & Tricks

Score doesn’t affect how many GVs you’ll get, but the player with the highest score for the day is featured on the game page!

Congrats to houlygan2 & rotomojo!

I haven’t been lucky enough (yet) to be the daily high score, but I came darned close!

And no, I didn’t photoshop that. :P

Getting a HIGH score requires two abilities:

1. Successfully clear levels one after the other.
2. Create long streaks of cards.

Item #1 is the most important because you carry your score from one level to the next, but only if you clear the board. The first time you can’t finish a board, your score goes right back to zero and you start over. >_< (You only start over with score! You’re still on the same level, and Poke doesn’t take a step back or anything!)

Here are two tips for clearing the board.

 

1. Free the masses! Pick cards that reveal the most new cards.

Often in Hot Streak Solitaire you’ll have to choose between several paths. Whenever you have to choose between two (or more) cards, pick the card that will reveal the most cards directly below it.

In the picture below we can only play a 9 on that 10. (No Jacks around.) With two 9s on the board, which should we go for?

Oooh! Oooh! I know!!! *Waves hand*

The 9 of spades will reveal two new cards, whereas the 9 of clubs will only reveal one new card. Since we want to keep options open, we should pick the 9 of spades. Most likely we’ll use the 9 of clubs in a streak, but we still should use the 9 of spades first.

 

2. Free the populace! Pick cards that free up the lowest tier.

Sometimes your options will all reveal the same amount of cards. When that’s the case, go for the card that’s on the lowest tier.

In the picture below we have to choose between two 10s. Both will reveal only one card.

 Mmhmm. I see!

However, the 10 of spades is on the lowest tier, which means that more cards are “trapped” by it. (Three trapped cards, vs the 10 of diamonds’ two trapped cards.) In this case, I would definitely opt for the 10 of spades.

Take time to look at what’s below each card before you pick it. You don’t want to end up with a board that looks like this! *Points down*

“Uh-oh,” indeed.

That Jack has five cards pinned under it and no other cards to play off of. Even if we’re lucky and get a 10 or a Queen, it’s unlikely that we’ll get exactly what we need to clear the remaining cards.

And for the record, I lost that hand. XD

Let’s move on to streaks!

No, not hair streaks. Although… those look AWESOME!

A streak is when you play two or more cards in a row, without needing to flip a card over from the draw pile. The longer a streak is, the more points it’s worth!

I tried to figure the formula out, but I got confused. *^_^* (If someone else has figured it out, please tell me!)

In addition to the awesome points, creating a streak fills up the multiplier bar!

That thing.

Once your streak is over the multiplier bar stays where it is, so you can get the bonus on the next cards you play! However, the multiplier bar empties a little for every card you pull from the draw pile. Creating a new streak will fill it up again!

To give you an idea of how powerful streaks are, I have a little story for you. ^_^ (No pic because I didn’t think to take one. So sorry!)

I got on a roll with the cards and created a streak of 18! Then I looked at my score and nearly fell out of my chair. I had over 200,000 points, and that was my first hand!!! o_O Streaks are definitely worth taking time for!

So, how do you build better streaks? Well, the first step is to stop thinking of card order as linear.  (A2345678910JQK) Instead, think of the card sequence as a circle.

It looks like a clock.

It all connects! Every card has two other cards that it can be played on. And you can create streaks that move up and down. For example, you might play a streak similar to this: Q-J-Q-K-A-2-A-2-3

Here’s a simple streak for an example. We have a 3 on the discard pile and we also have a 4 and a 2 on the board. Which should we play?

Hmmmm….

If we play the 2 then the best streaks we could build are 2-3-4 or 2-A-K. But if we play the 4 we can make a streak that goes 4-3-2-A-K. That’s definitely the better option! And if we’re lucky, there might be cards underneath to extend the streak. *Crosses fingers*

Learning to build long streaks takes patience and practice. But you can’t forget everything that you learned about clearing the board too! If you ever have to pick between extending a streak over freeing buried cards, free the cards. The bonus points from the streak are useless if you can’t finish the board!

 

Final Rating

I’ll admit, I had a hard time writing about the new Hot Streak Solitaire. Why? Because whenever I sat down to play and get some pics I’d completely lose track of time. Seriously, hours would fly by before I remembered what I was supposed to do. Oops. *^_^*

So yes, I really enjoy this game! It’s addictive, easy to play, and looks great! I kinda want to finish this guide so I can play a few more rounds before bed. *Innocent whistle*

I rate Hot Streak Solitaire 5 out of 5 stars!

How about you? What would you rate it? Any tips to share? What other worlds should Poke visit?

For a glimpse of what it took to put Hot Streak Solitaire together, check out the Free2WinGames’ interview with the artist, Nick Sherman!

 

Similar Games

If you like solitaire-type games then you should give some of these a shot too!

• Pyramid Solitaire at IWON – Clear the pyramid by pairing up cards that equal 13! (It’s really freakin’ hard.)
• Treasure Hunter at Spigo – This is part tri-peaks and part bejeweled. Very fun!
• Rainy Day Spider Solitaire at Pogo – If you like Spider Solitaire you should definitely try the Pogo version. It’s really cute. ^_^

Rainy Day Spider Solitaire – Galoshes galore!

Rainy Day Spider Solitaire is a Pogo card game based on Spider Solitaire. I’m sure by the name you were expecting it to be based off of Spades, or Cribbage. ^_~

The itsy bitsy spider..

If you’ve never played Spider Solitaire, well, the rules are pretty simple. You have two decks of cards (104 cards total) and the first 54 cards are dealt into 10 piles at the top. These piles are called the foundation. The remaining 50 cards form the draw pile.

Whenever you have 13 cards of the same suit in descending order, all 13 cards go poof. (Descending order is King-Queen-Jack-10 and so on. Aces are the very last cards.) To win the game you must remove ALL of the cards.

With me so far? Good. ^_^

Unlike regular Solitaire, there aren’t any piles to put Aces and everything else. So in order to get cards in the same suit AND descending order, you have to move the cards around on the foundation.

This is where it gets tricky. You can stack cards in descending order, regardless of suit. (Example: A 5 of hearts could go on top of any 6 and nothing else.) BUT you can only move cards at the end of the stack if they’re sequential AND are the same suit.

If I have a 7 of hearts with a 6 & 5 of clubs on top of it, the only cards I can move are the 6 & 5. If I really need that 7 I’ll have to move the other cards before I can reach it.

Take a look at the picture below. The neon-green boxes highlight which cards can be moved around. Everything else is stuck for right now.

 I guess that’s not too bad.

Now remember the 50 cards in the draw pile? You have to get rid of those cards too. Not just one card at a time either, oh no. Whenever you draw cards it’s 10 at a time; one card for each stack in the foundation. So now you have a new mess on top of whatever you managed to organize.

Fudge. >_<

Empty stacks are good things because it gives you a little more freedom to move things around. But you have to have something in every stack before you can draw more cards. Boo. :(

That covers the basics of Spider Solitaire. It can be a brutal game, but luckily Rainy Day Spider Solitaire includes a few options to make things a little easier for us.

 

Why Rainy Day Spider Solitaire is Unique

First off, Rainy Day Spider Solitaire has 3 different modes.

• Easy – All of the cards are the same suit. Winning is pretty simple.
• Normal – All of the cards are divided into two suits. Winning the game is tougher, but not too bad.
• Hard – The cards are divided into four suits now. Winning is a challenge.

To be honest, I stay away from hard mode. I get really anxious when there’s a lot of chaos and disorder around me.

Ack!!

Normal mode is a lot more fun in my book. ^_^ But try each mode for yourself and see what you like best.

Rainy Day Spider Solitaire also includes six extra cards, bringing the total to 110 cards. Two of the cards are “free cells.”

Ooooh!

Free cells will temporarily hold one card for you. If you get in a tight spot a free cell can help you get things untangled. The downside is that each free cell is a 1-time use only thing. Also, they’re in the deck like regular cards, so you have to wait until you’re dealt a free cell before you can use it.

In other words, don’t count on a free cell being there when you need it. Keep it strictly an emergency use thing. You’ll also get a small token bonus for any free cells left at the end!

The other four extra cards are “scratchers.”

Big money! Big money!

As you can see, each one is divided into 4 squares. Pick a square to scratch and you get whatever prize is under it. (Always tokens.)

Woohoo!

The scratchers vanish as soon as you scratch them. They’re just a nice little bonus. ^_^

Rainy Day Spider Solitaire also includes an 11th “free” column.

Bonus!

You can put whatever you want in this column, as long as it’s a legal move. (Like putting a 10 on top of a Jack. You couldn’t put an Ace on top of a 4 though.)

If you manage to win without using the free column you get a bonus. It’s 5 tokens on easy, 25 in normal, and uh… more than 25 tokens in hard mode. I didn’t win a hard game, okay? *^_^*

Also, in the bottom right corner you’ll see 5 piles that say “Draw” on them. The card on top of each pile will land on the leftmost stack. You won’t know what the other 9 cards are in each pile until you click, but it’s still nice to at least know what one card is. ^_^

Still, I think the best feature in Rainy Day Spider Solitaire is the Undo button. There is no penalty for using it!! Whenever you have multiple choices you can use the Undo button to figure out the best option. For example, let’s say you have two 6s of diamonds and one 7 of diamonds. Which six should you move? Many times moving even just one card frees you to make other moves. You can follow the trail as far as you want, then use Undo to back up ‘til you have to pick a 6 of diamonds again.

It’s wonderful, but it has limits. You can’t undo a draw or clearing a set of 13. Look carefully before you commit!

 

Tips & Tricks

Start with the highest value same-suited cards and work your way down. Not sure wha tI mean? Let’s try a normal mode game together. ^_^

 Now what?

We have a few options here, but we’ll start with the easiest things first. We’ll click on the free cell card, move the 9 of diamonds to the 10 of diamonds, and the 6 of diamonds to a 7 of diamonds.

Hmmm.

Fewer options this time. We have two 3s of clubs and only one 4 of clubs. We’ll use the Undo button to try both options and figure out which one is best.

 Wait wait! I blinked and missed it!

Sorry, I didn’t want to show every single step along the way. *^_^* If you’ll notice, right now everything is still in suited groups. If we want to get to some of the cards buried at the top (and we do), then we’ll have to make some mix-suited stacks.

 Are you sure that’s safe?

Be very careful when making mix-suit stacks! Remember that you’ll eventually have to draw more cards, and they can throw your perfectly orchestrated hand into chaos.

Looking at the top card on the draw piles, I’m going to pick the one with the 8 of diamonds on top, since we already have three 9s of diamonds.

The aftermath.

Things are a little messy, but not too bad. You can probably see several new moves. ^_^ Just keep working with the suits as best you can. Try to “clear” a stack as soon as you can. You can put anything you want in an empty stack, so long as it’s a legal move. Use empty stacks to move card groups around.

If you’d like more help with Rainy Day Spider Solitaire, check out the Badge Hunters forum or these articles on BadgeHungry!

 

Final Rating

I’m not a huge fan of Spider Solitaire games in general. But I have to admit, Rainy Day Spider Solitaire is the cutest one that I’ve played. For every complete suit (13 cards) you remove, a ray of light appears. If you win the game the sun comes out and the spider is all happy.

Awww!

Come on! That stuff is CUTE! ^_^

I like that there are 3 difficulty levels and the bonus features (free cells and the free column) are quite nice, but… I still don’t love this game. I rate it 3.5 stars out of 5.

What would you rate it? Do you have any Spider Solitaire tips to share?

 

Similar Games

If you’re looking for fun card games, give some of these a try.

• Pyramid Solitaire at iWon – Remove cards by finding pairs that add up to 13. Can you beat the pyramid?
• Treasure Hunter at Spigo – An amazing cross between Tri-Peaks solitaire and Bejeweled!
• Kenoka at Slingo – Combining Keno + Poker = Brilliant

Treasure Hunter - A true gem.

Treasure Hunter is a beautiful game from Spigo. It's also incredibly addictive. The first time I played it I stayed up until 6 am!! *^_^*

Unlike Turbo 21, (which is addictive because it's so dang fast) Treasure Hunter is addictive because it's simple to play, but hard to master. It's an intriguing cross between Tri Peaks Solitaire and Diamonds. There is a clock, but you can play at your own speed. No rush. ^_^

Let's dig in, shall we?


The Cards (Part 1)

The deck is a standard 52 cards. You start with a pattern in front of you, a stack of cards face down, and one card face up all by its lonesome. This is the "waste" pile.

What a waste. *Ba-dum-bum CHING!*

The goal is to clear the pattern of all cards. Any card that is one rank higher or lower than the top card of the waste pile can be moved to the stack. Suit doesn't matter. It then becomes the *new* top card on the waste pile. ^_^

In the above picture I could put either a 5 or a 7 on that 6 of hearts. If I played a 5, then I could play either a 4 or 6 on top of it. With me so far? Good!

Now in this game, having the runs is a good thing! A run is when you play several cards in succession before you get stuck and have to flip over a card from the stack.

Just looking at the cards showing, I would play them like this:

5-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q

A run of eight isn't a bad start! As you keep playing you'll learn how to make longer runs. It takes practice. ^_^

If you remove all of the cards in the pattern before you run out of cards in the stack, you win the round! Woohoo!! But if you still have cards on the table when you flip over that last card in the stack, it's game over. Back to round 1 for you. :(

Oh, and did I mention that there are dozens of patterns?

Whoa...

Oh yes. ^_^ Dozens and dozens of different patterns. Some are harder than others, but I love the creativity!

Woof!

You never know what you'll get. It's great. ^_^


The Cards (Part 2)

Now that we've focused on the numbers and how to make runs, it's time to explain this part. You may have noticed it lurking in the upper right-hand corner.

What is that?

This is your jewel box, and this is where the colors of the cards come into play. You start out with four colors: Red, yellow, black, and blue. Any time you play two cards of the same color in succession on the waste pile, a jewel of that color falls into the jewel box.

For example, if you played a red Ace on top of a red King, a red gem would fall into the box. If you played a black Ace on top of that red King, no gems would appear.

Let's say you continue the run of red cards. For each additional red card you would get another red gem in the jewel box AND one swap! Swaps are used in the jewel game, which I'll explain in a moment. ^_^

As you progress through the rounds you'll get more and more colors to work with!

• Round 5 - Pink
• Round 9 - Grey
• Round 13 - Purple
• Round 17 - Green

Once your jewel box is full and after you finish the current round, you get to play the jewel game!


The Jewel Game

When the jewel game starts the jewel box will take center stage. It's much easier to see that way. ^_^ Your jewel box may look something like this.

Um.. Now what?

This is where the Diamonds aspect comes in. Your goal is to turn all of the tiles gold. And the only way to do this is by getting three (or more) same-color gems in either a row or a column. Diagonals don't count.

When you make a match the gems vanish, more gems fall down, and the tiles behind the match turn gold.

Ah. A work in progress.

And this is where the swaps come in! Every time you move a gem it's one swap. Unlike Diamonds, the gems don't have to create a match 3 in order to swap them. In fact, sometimes it may take 3+ moves to get gems in the right spots!

For each round of cards you complete, you'll get a few swaps. The amount of swaps you get depends on how many Big gems you have. (More on that in a moment.)

• 0 Big gems = 2 swaps per round
• 1 Big gem = 3 swaps per round
• 2 Big gems = 4 swaps per round

These swaps definitely help, but you'll usually get the most swaps from the cards. (Remember, each same-color card played after the 2nd earns a gem and a swap! A run of five same-color cards earns four gems and three swaps!)

Unless you have a ton of swaps banked, or a really awesome board, you'll probably run out of moves before the puzzle is completed. That's okay! Go back to the cards and try to earn more swaps. But most importantly, you must survive the round of cards to get back to the jewel box! If you lose then it's back to round one, and the jewel box empties.

Which really sucks. >_<

Let's be positive and say that you finish a jewel box. ^_^ What happens then?

Well, the most common gems left on the board will fuse into one BIG gem!

Pretty!!!

The new Big gem floats down the screen and settles into a piece of jewelry.

What is that? A decorative comb?

Once you have three Big gems you earn a jackpot spin!! Sometimes it takes a while to earn those Big gems. A long while.

Oh! And there are several jewel box patterns too.

Ooohh!!

Just to, ya know, keep you on your toes. ^_^

Nice!

That one is my favorite, but I rarely get it. =(

IMPORTANT: Once you make a Big gem you will not lose it! Even if you die on the next round, you'll still have that gem. *Whew!*


Jackpot

Once the jewelry is complete and you have three Big gems, you get a jackpot spin! The cash prize is a progressive jackpot with a max pot of $200. Spigo (like most sites) doesn't post the odds for winning, but you can assume the odds aren't great.

Since you probably won't win the cash prize, you want to win the most Spigos possible, right? But isn't the reward random?

It's true that the spinning is random and you don't know where it will land. However, the Spigo awards are not random! They're based on the the gems in your jewelry! It's a little tricky to explain, so just stick with me.

When you start the game and have zero Big gems, the jackpot "wheel" looks like this.

That's not very exciting.

That neon green box is the max Spigo award. When you get your first Big gem, the values change!

Oooh! That's much better!!

Here is the max Spigo award for having one of the following gems:

• Red gem = 10,000 Spigos
• Yellow gem = 12,500 Spigos
• Black gem = 15,000 Spigos
• Blue gem = 17,500 Spigos
• Pink gem = 20,000 Spigos
• Grey gem = 22,500 Spigos (unconfirmed)
• Purple gem = 25,000 Spigos (unconfirmed)
• Green gem = 27,500 Spigos (unconfirmed)

At the end if you have three different color gems, Treasure Hunter goes by the gem that is worth the most. For example, if you had a yellow, red, and blue gem, then your max Spigo award is 17,500.

If two of the gems are the same color, then the max Spigos are doubled! Two blue gems means a max pot of 35,000 Spigos!!

Sweet!

Now if you have three gems the same color, the Spigos are tripled! Three blue gems would have a max pot of 52,500 Spigos!! Sorry, no pictures of it. Getting three Big gems the same color is really hard. o_O

Remember, you're not guaranteed to win the max Spigos pot. But you have some control over what it will be!


Badges

All Spigo games have four different badges to earn. Each badge has a 1-time prize of Spigos. (Darn.) For Treasure Hunter, these badges are:

• Bling bling - Collect 20 large jewels for 10,000 Spigos
• The sophisticated jeweler - Get a jackpot spin with 3 identical gems in the jewelry for 25,000 Spigos.
• The persistent archaeologist - Get to round 35 and achieve a run of 20 for 50,000 Spigos!
• I want one of each! - Get a large jewel of each of the 8 possible colors for 200,000 Spigos!!

These are some tough challenges! On the upside, most of the challenges are spread across several games. Want to see my progress? ^_^

I guess that's not *too* bad.

Yes, despite my mad skills, I only have two of the badges. My longest run was 31, so "The persistent archaeologist" badge is halfway done. But I've never made it past round 17. Yipes.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. I love challenges!! ^_^


Tips & Tricks

1. The hard part about this game is learning to balance runs (5-6-7-6) with matches (red card-red card). If you focus on runs you'll fly through the rounds, but it will take ages to fill up that jewel box. Conversely, if you focus on matches you may not even survive the first round!

This is what most people get stuck on. Runs vs. matches. But really, there's a third factor that's extremely important. Revealing cards.

If you're almost out of flips and you have one card holding down a pile three cards deep, you're pretty much screwed. It's not impossible to win, but it's nearly impossible. ^_^

I now combine all three factors, in this order.

1. Revealing as many cards as possible.
2. Making matches that work for the jewel box pattern.
3. Clear as many cards as possible with each run.

Let me show you my least favorite pattern. ^_^

Eek!

As you can see, there are only two cards face up in this pattern. Each of those cards have a whopping fifteen cards pinned under them!

With this pattern I focus completely on revealing cards. I'm in complete survival mode. *^_^* Let's say I've worked through it a tiny bit and have revealed a few more cards. In this scenario I have two options. 1. A run of two, which would make a match AND reveal one card. Or: 2. Play a single card that would reveal one card which is also pinning other cards.

Option 2 is the better choice. The cards at the bottom of that pile are going to be hard to get to, and I don't want to wait until I'm almost out of flips!

Since I changed my strategy I haven't died on this pattern a single time. I don't get many matches, but I make it to the next level. Previously I focused solely on runs and matches, and this pattern killed me almost every time.


2. Making matches work for the jewel box is something that I'm still not great at. *^_^*

New gems fall from the left and fill to the right. This means you can plan your jewel box puzzle before you get to it! Making every match you see *will* fill the jewel box quickly, but the result may be such a mess that it takes 50 swaps to complete.

Look at the shape of the jewel box and think about where the next gems will fall. Maybe you want to avoid a match of red cards to wait for a match of blue cards. It's another aspect to consider.


3. Avoid speed clicking. When you're tired, it's very easy to absently flip through cards. Then omg, wait!! That was the card you needed!! But you flipped right past it and there's no undo button. It sucks. Get in the habit of flipping cards slowly, especially on troublesome patterns. That one card can make or break you.

However, if you're so tired that you can't hold your head up but you can't stop playing because you REALLY want that 3rd gem... Go to bed. You'll make silly mistakes and get frustrated if you push it. Get some sleep and tackle Treasure Hunter tomorrow. ^_^


4. The first three times you play Treasure Hunter, you'll get wonderful, helpful tips as you play.

To be honest, they usually annoy the tar out of most people. These helpful tips stay on the screen far too long and cover up the cards. (Tsk! Bad design!) Oh, and each time you clean out your cookies, you'll have to go through the annoying tips again.

The easiest thing to do is close and reopen the game four times. On the 4th try you'll be helpful-hint free and can actually play! ^_^


Final Rating

There is a reason that Treasure Hunter is Spigo's most popular game. It's difficult and yes, often frustrating. But when you finally get that jackpot spin... What a rush!!

Every time I sit down to play Treasure Hunter for "just a few minutes," I end up playing for well over an hour. The variety in patterns means that each game is a new experience and a unique challenge. I love that. ^_^

Graphically, there are several small details that really stand out. The steam from the cup of coffee, and the reflection from the glasses both amaze me. Those two items aren't used in any way, but they're beautifully rendered. Things like that are a really nice touch on an already great game.

I say it's 5 out of 5 stars. What would you rate it?


Similar Games

If you like Treasure Hunter as much as I do, then you might like some of these games too. ^_^

• Merry Poppings at Slingo - Make your way through 10 levels with 9 different types of balloons designed to help and hinder you! (Harder than it sounds.)
• Pyramid Solitaire at iWon - Find pairs that add up to 13 and clear the Pyramid!
• Diamonds at Spigo - Move gems into matches of 3+ and watch the Spigos fly!

Pyramid Solitaire - My brain just 'sploded.

Pyramid Solitaire at iWon is very simple. And addictive. Very very addictive. ^_^

The pyramid is made with 7 rows of cards. 

Once the pyramid is out, you get three more cards in front of you. They are in the "waste" piles. Undealt cards are in the "stack."

The goal of this game is to get rid of ALL 52 cards. (28 in the pyramid and 24 in the "stack.") You remove cards by finding pairs that add up to 13.  Here are the pairs to look for!

• Ace(1) + Queen(12)
• 2 + Jack(11)
• 3 +10
• 4 + 9
• 5 + 8
• 6 + 7
• King = 13

You probably noticed that the King isn't exactly a pair. ^_^ Since that card counts as 13 already, you just have to click it and it will go bye-bye. Freebie!

One last rule. A card is "free" to click ONLY if there are no other cards on top of it. If it's covered even a tiny bit by another card, you can't use it. Oh, and you get just one chance to go through the stack. ^_^

Sounds pretty easy, doesn't it? Well, get used to seeing screens like this.

Crap.

Pyramid Solitaire is one of the most challenging games I've played in a while. It's a true puzzle because you have to look at everything and plan your moves carefully! There is no "undo" or "erase" button. Luckily it isn't timed, so you aren't racing a clock. ^_^

Here are some tips to help you get started.


1. Look for the impossible.

Not every game of Pyramid Solitaire is solvable. It's annoying, but true. :( So before you start your game, take a good, hard look at the pyramid. Focus on the tip-top rows. If you see a 3 at the top, you know you'll need a 10 to match it. If all four 10's are also in the pyramid, then you have an unwinnable game. You will never be able to free up that 3 because it's pinned down by the cards it needs.

In the picture below, the reverse happened. The 3 was in a lower row, but all of the 10's were trapped above it.

Well that sucks.

It's up to you whether you want to play an impossible game or not. If you don't want to play, click the GIVE UP button at the top. The game will end and you can try again. NOTE: Giving up means you won't win any coins or jackpot spins, even if you already made a few matches.


2. Write stuff down!!

After my hundredth loss, I decided that something had to change. I read several guides, but none of them gave me any new information. As a last resort I grabbed some scrap paper and decided to write down what cards I flipped over. After the 5th failed game, I finally saw this:

It's about time!

Mere words cannot express the joy I felt. ^_^ Winning adds 100 points to your score, and then you get another pyramid to try. My 2nd one was impossible. (Boooo!)

But hey! I won one!! ^_^

The method that *finally* worked for me was to write down all 3 cards I flipped. Whenever I used a card I struck a line through it. Then I'd write down the next three cards, and so on. This list helped me remember what cards were buried in the waste piles and in what order. VERY useful!


3. Look for possibilities

This one combines the two tips above. ^_^ When I look for impossibilities, I also look to see what I will need to finish the game. Specifically, I look at the 3 topmost cards on the pyramid and I make a note of what will match them. As I flip cards over I think about the 3 cards I need, and I try to make sure they're on the bottom of the waste stacks.

If I'm lucky and get a card where I need it in a waste pile, I'll circle it on my list. This is a Big Flag for my stupid-brain, so I won't accidentally match that card up with something else.

Even with all this planning, sometimes you just can't win.

So close!!! GAH!

The last two cards were stacked on top of each other. I'm better at planning now, but sometimes that still happens. Dangit! :(


Fake Coins & Real Coins

The coin payout isn't very high with Pyramid Solitaire. It's far better than A New Leaf, but not by much. On an average game I pick up between 700-1000 iWon coins.

Pyramid Solitaire has a progressive jackpot, with a max pot of $2,000. On an average game I earned 4 spins, and only hit 10 spins when I won a hand.

The odds of winning the jackpot on iWon's Pyramid Solitaire are "no worse than" 1 in 60,000,000.
The odds of having an emergency-room worthy accident involving a pen or pencil are 1 in 13,300.


Final Rating

Pyramid Solitaire is VERY addicting! I had a hard time writing this review because I didn't want to stop playing! (I lamented that fact on Twitter too. ^_^)

The graphics are simple, but honestly, you don't need anything flashy here. The game is a solid challenge and I really like that. As an added plus, everyone in the chat room was friendly and encouraging! Awesome place to hang out. ^_^

5 out of 5 stars!