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John! Do you memorize card positions?
What cards do you try to remember?
Are you a great MS Windows Solitaire player?
Have you gotten an "impossible" score in MSW Solitaire?
How did you achieve that "hardware cheat"?
Do you know any "cheat codes" for the Radica unit?
What about "cheat codes" for Windows Solitaire?
Do you ever make mistakes in play?
How long did it take you to get your first perfect score?
How can we thank you for all the work you put into these pages?

If you have any questions, feel free to e-mail me: [John (at) Mazes.com]. Here are some of the questions that you might ask, and their answers:

Do you memorize card positions, John?

  • No, I don't. I have a terrible memory for cards that have been played, and even when I try to remember what cards are where in the hand, I usually forget quickly.

When you can, what cards do you try to remember?

  • If I turn up the three cards from the deck, and can't play the top card, I'll try to remember it, just because I'll know I might be able to play it later. Let's say it's a red eight. If a black nine shows up on the tableau, I know that I'll have that play when I turn the deck over, so I might avoid playing from one tableau pile to another, just to get under that first card.

Are you a great Solitaire player on the Microsoft Windows program?

  • I don't find the Microsoft program as interesting or as fun as the Radica: game. I guess, for me, the Radica: game is more fun because I can click the buttons and move the cards almost instantly. I can't move the mouse that fast on.

Have you ever gotten an impossibly high score on the Microsoft Windows version of Solitaire?

  • Yes, but that involved a "hardware cheat". My computer was so busy running three programs, that the Solitaire Clock ran impossibly slow. After five minutes of play, the clock read 30 seconds, and I got a tremendously high bonus. I discovered that if you finish in less than 30 seconds, you don't get a bonus, so if you discover a way to get Solitaire running slowly on Microsoft Windows, be sure to wait until the clock gets to 30 seconds before you move the last King onto the Foundations.
  • My "high score" on Windows Solitaire was 24004 after a bonus of 23310 points in 30 seconds. As I said above, I cheated to make the computer think I did it in 30 seconds. You can see that I was running one of my custom DOS programs, two copies of WORD, and Solitaire all at the same time. Here is a snapshot of the "52 card pickup" part of my 24004 game.

Will you share that "hardware cheat" technique with us?

  • I suggest that you don't try to cheat with my method, but if you write to me, and tell me that you will not hold me responsible, I will tell you how I did it. Under Windows 3.0, the cheat method did not risk boot-up delays, and I wrote up an article about "How to Cheat at Windows Solitaire" for the SLUG (St Louis User's Group) newsletter. The problem with this method is that it overutilizes your resources, and will probably require rebooting your system, and under Windows 98, that requires an automatic scan of your system. In a nutshell, though, the technique is to run too many programs at once.
  • Actually, since I believe that no court would hold me responsible if you try my method, I'll give you this additional information, which I'm quoting from memory (meaning that it might not have been exactly this sequence):
      • <>I wrote a program in QBX 7.1 (Quick BASIC Extended) to find all the prime numbers, and let it run in the background (NOTE: Under Windows XP, DOS programs no longer run in the background). Here is one such program:
      10 DEFLNG A-Z: i = 1: CLS : PRINT " 2";
      20 i = i + 2: j = 1
      30 j = j + 2: IF j * j > i THEN PRINT STR$(i); : GOTO 20
      40 IF (i \ j) * j = i THEN 20
      50 GOTO 30
      I opened a large Microsoft Word document
    • I opened a large Microsoft Excel spreadsheet
    • I played Solitaire, and observed that the clock was running slowly.
    • When I was one card away from winning, I would look at the clock. If it was less than 30 seconds, I would wait until it reached 30 seconds
    • I played the final card, and got a huge bonus score when the clock said 30 seconds.

Do you know any cheat codes for the Radica: game?

  • No, I haven't discovered any yet, but if you discover one, I'll be glad to post it here for people to share. But if such a code exists, I hope that the Radica: programmers have also set it so that once you "cheat", you lose points. That would be only fair.

Are there any cheat codes for Windows Solitaire?

  • How to turn one card from the deck when you are playing a Draw-three game: (special thanks to Michael H and Brian C for reminding me this one exists):
    1. Hold down the Control, Alt and Shift keys
    2. Click the deck.
    3. One card will be dealt, even though you are in "Draw Three" game mode.
       
  • How to put a card into an illegal position: (special thanks to Brian C for alerting me to this one that I never knew about)
    1. Find a card that can be moved to a legal position and drag it over to the new position
    2. BUT ... instead of dropping it, press the esape key. That card will return to where you dragged it from.
    3. NOW ... double-click ANY card, and it will move into that position.
       
  • How to move all possible cards up to the Foundations: (Brian C alerted to me to this program feature)
    1. Just right-click anywhere on the game screen, and all cards that can move up to the aces will be moved there.
      (not really a cheat ... just a program feature in newer versions of Windows Solitaire. It does not work under Windows 95, I checked.)

  • .If you know any other methods to cheat while playing Windows Solitaire, please let me know, and I'll add it to this page.

Do you ever make mistakes while playing Solitaire, John?

  • Yes, all the time! My favorite mistake is seeing that I have a move from the deck onto the Tableau just as I click the button that turns up the next three cards. Man, do I hate that. I wish that they'd have an UNDO button to let me go back one move. Microsoft Windows Solitaire has such an option, and to the best of my knowledge, there is no penalty to use it. Of course, Microsoft won't let you use it if you have already seen the card that is under a tableau pile.

How many months did it take before you got your first perfect score?

  • It took me a hundred days to get my first score of 5999. I suspect the reason I'm getting them more often now is practice. Of course, bringing cards down to the Tableau as often as possible increases my chances of getting 5999.
Does practice make perfect?
Are high bonus scores luck or skill?
  • Yes, practice does make one a better player, and yes, I believe that high bonus scores are more skill than luck. After months of playing Solitaire on Radica's handheld unit, I've noticed that I'm getting scores above 6200 more often now than before.
  • I should point out that, in one way, we have to admit that high bonus scores are partially due to luck. For example, it's luck that you got the right cards to win the game. But the better you play, the faster you press the buttons to move the cards, the better your bonus score (which is theoretically determined by the length of time you played the game), and that's skill.
  • To give you an idea of how bonus scores can improve with practice, I give this summary:
    • I bought my latest Radica Solitaire handheld unit in mid-November 2004. I write down all my "perfect" scores, which I define to be any total score of 6000 or more. Starting November 18, I have earned at least one perfect score EVERY DAY (except for the days that the unit was not-in-use, which were November 19 (the unit was waiting for me to get out the camera and take a picture of the 6256 score) and December 22-31 (I deliberately did not take the unit to Tampa).)
    • During 12-days-in-a-row in November, I earned 22 perfect (at least 6000) scores. Approximately 14% of the games were at least 6100, and one was 6256.
    • During 21-days-in-a-row in December, I earned 45 perfect scores. Approximately 33% of them were at least 6100, and four were at least 6200.
    • During 31-days-in-a-row in January, I earned 73 perfect scores. Approximately 42% of them were at least 6100, and three were at least 6200.
    • During 28-days-in-a-row in February, I earned 104 perfect scores. Approximately 47% of them were at least 6100 and eight were at least 6200.

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