Patience classifies each of its 15 games as either a short game or a long game. When you launch Patience it displays a game selection screen listing each of the short games at the top and the long games at the bottom. Tap on the name of any game then either tap on the Okay button to play that game or the Rules button to view the rules of that game.
The six short games in the collection are Aces High, Golf, Vegas, Canfield, Klondike, and Wish. The nine long games are Calculation, Montana, Tabby Cat, Eight Off, Spider, Towers, Freecell, Spiderette, and Yukon.
The cards used in each game vary, and many have been improved from earlier versions. The biggest improvement comes in the Montana implementation. In previous versions, the cards in Montana consisted of a small number or letter and the relevant suit symbol. The cards seemed to blend together, and I found it very difficult to play Montana for any length of time. Although these cards still have no borders, the numbers are larger and the suit symbols stick out more. There also seems to be more white space between the cards, making it easy to determine the boundaries between cards.
The same menus and menu items are available in every game. The Patience menu allows you to obtain a hint, autoplay, undo your last move, restart the current game, or select a new game. The Settings menu allows you to choose whether you play in examine cards mode, where tapping on a card displays the entire card, whether autoplay is always on, and whether to use a left-handed or right-handed layout for games where it matters. The Help menu allows you to view short instructions on how to move cards, the rules of the current game, and an info screen providing contact information for the author.
One of the games (Tabby Cat) is an original card game written for the Macintosh solitaire collection "Solitaire Till Dawn." The other games are generally true to the official rules of the provided games, as specified by Hoyle. The only drawback of Patience is that it allows no minor tweaking of the rules. You must turn over three cards at a time in Klondike, you must play three rounds per game of Montana, etc. But considering the price, this is a minor limitation. Fellow solitaire addicts, Patience is a worthwhile addition to your collection.
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