Clock Solitaire

I've been really good - I haven't mentioned the words cards or solitaire in months. No streak can last forever, and I decided it was time to inflict you once again with my love for cards. This time I chose Clock Solitaire, another fine solitaire game from the folks at Seahorse Software.

Apparently Clock Solitaire is a fairly popular solitaire game, but I must admit I'd never heard of it before it popped up in a solitaire package I bought for my Mac a few years ago. It is definitely well suited for electronic formats since it can be a very messy deal with real cards (and, yes, I did try it - every once in a while I still like to use real cards - nothing beats the sound of the cards shuffling or the feel of redealing cards by rote).

The initial deal uses all 52 cards positioned in a clock pattern - four cards each are placed face down at one o'clock, two o'clock, etc. with the final four cards placed in the middle. Game play commences when the top card of the middle pile is turned up. That card must be moved to the position of its value; one o'clock for an ace, two o'clock for a two, eleven o'clock for a jack, twelve o'clock for a queen, and the middle pile for a king. The top card of that pile is turned over and must in turn be moved to its corresponding clock position. Game play continues until all cards are in the proper place or the fourth king is played.

To make life even more interesting, this version of Clock Solitaire awards points for correct placements and removes points for trying to put a card in the wrong pile. It also offers some variations on game play. The game as previously described is the level one game play and corresponds closely to the standard rules of clock solitaire. This version also provides two other levels, both involving rotating the game board. In level two, the twelve o'clock position is randomly chosen and marked with a 12. You must place all of the cards in their proper position on the board given the chosen rotation. Level three adds an additional twist by changing the location of twelve o'clock at various points throughout the game. Take a deep breath and try to keep up.

If you find the clock position rotation hard to adjust to, there is a practice round that not only labels the twelve o'clock position, but also three, six, and nine. Once you get the hang of readjusting your brain at slow speeds, levels two and three get easier.

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