One
for All Solitaires Collection by Paragon
Software, Price: $19.45
Reviewed August 2003, by Anime
One for All Solitaries Collection was developed
by Paragon software, who is also the maker of AnotherBall,
and the RifleSLUGS series. This game is available for high-resolution
screens as well as gray scale and low-resolutions PDAs. This
review was done on a high-resolution screen.
One for All Solitaires Collection is the
largest collection of solitaire games available in a single
game for Palm OS. With more than 200 different solitaire
games included, you can play a different game every day for
several months. All the most popular solitaire games are
included: FreeCell, Klondike, Black Hole, Calculation, Carpet,
Yukon, Joker solitaire and many more. You’re bound
to find one that ‘grabs ya’.
From the game menu, you have a choice of
13 different types of solitaire games such as Bakers Dozen,
Canfield, Carpet, Fan, Freecell and Klondike. Within the
different types of solitaire, there is a range of 8 to 24
variations of the game. You can view the list of rules and
a full-demo. The full-demo is a great feature because demo
runs at a good pace; the card is highlighted before the next
move, runs the length of a full game and terminates upon
your request. With all the different variations available,
you can easily add your favorite games to a ‘favorites’ menu
for easy access. You can also place the games in different
order on the ‘favorites’ menu.
The stylus is the only tool you’ll
need to play the game, to run a demo or to choose another
game. The game is however programmed for graffiti short cuts
to start a new game, return to the game menu, undo and redo.
Scoring is different from conventional solitaire games that
track the amount of money you’ve earned by clearing
the cards. One for All Solitaires Collection provides the
statistics of successfully completed games for each variation
of the game. Yes, you can reset the stats. Tracking money
would have been a nice option. Also, the games cannot be
modified to change the number of cards drawn or any other
game settings.
Eight different backgrounds and 8 different
card backs are easy to change. Though, the backgrounds and
deck design are a bit on the ordinary side and very flat:
no textures and no themes to match decks to backgrounds.
The images are good and very sharp. The animation for moving
cards is constant and fluid. I love the options of Fast Start
and Enable Auto play. Fast Start enables all the cards to
be stacked and ready to play. Without fast start, you’ll
see each card dealt out. Enable Autoplay will automatically
place them on the foundation pile once they are freed. Foundation
piles and free spaces are clearly labeled. Also, you can
adjust the speed of the card movements.
One for All Solitaires Collection has the
beeps when you have one or no moves left, add a new game
to favorite and other system messages. Otherwise, there is
no sound. The game is compatible with all devices based on
Palm OS 3.0-5.2 (except HandEra). The file size for the high-resolution
screen is 456k.
If you love Solitaire games, you’ll
be hooked on One for All Solitaires Collection because of
the large number of games available. Since each game is equipped
with list of rules and full-demo, it’s ideal for beginners
or solitaire ‘junkies’ who want to try something
new. Plus, you can always bookmark your favorite games.
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