Solitaire Alone Together

Posted by eieio 1 day ago

Comments

Comment by EvanAnderson 10 hours ago

I can't suggest moves, though! >smile<

Always carry a deck of cards when hiking in the wilderness. If you become lost deal a game of solitaire. In a few minutes someone will come up and start suggesting moves.

Comment by nayuki 8 hours ago

Neat concept - a web remake of a classic Windows game. I found it very hard to win though, due to the "draw three" rule. I finally won on my 12th shuffle.

Aside from this web game implementation, in past decades I grew tired of solitaire and its constrained nature. I found myself enjoying spider solitaire a bit more, where you have to be more strategic about building stuff. I discovered spider because it's bundled with Windows. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_(solitaire)

Comment by v9v 10 hours ago

For "Solitaire Together" instead, I recommend the game NERTS (https://store.steampowered.com/app/1131190/NERTS_Online/). It's a multiplayer competitive solitaire game by Zachtronics. Out of all the games I've played, it's the one that stresses me out and takes me through emotional rollercoasters the most.

Comment by eieio 10 hours ago

Oh this is fun! I'm a big Zachtronics fan but didn't know about NERTS.

I grew up playing "double solitaire" (basically multiplayer competitive solitaire where you play on each others' aces) with my family and love it, and it definitely contributed to me making this site. So I'm excited to play some Solitaire Together!

Comment by wildzzz 6 hours ago

I really liked the flavor of solitaire they put into Shenzhen IO

Comment by nticompass 11 hours ago

Author's blog post about this project: https://eieio.games/blog/solitaire-alone-together/

Comment by Rendello 10 hours ago

Beautiful. I've always loved the aesthetic of Windows Solitaire [a] but felt strangely alone when playing it (figures). I'm reminded of a non-solitary solitaire, Nerts Online:

https://www.zachtronics.com/nerts-online/

a. And this version too, the backs of the cards are very pretty.

Comment by bityard 10 hours ago

NERTS is fun, we play it with a group of our friends (fiends?) semi-regularly. But part of its charm is the inherent physical and verbal chaos... you can never reach all the piles, people's hands/arms collide with each other, drinks get spilled, names get called, alliances forged and quickly betrayed. It's a hoot.

Comment by Rendello 7 hours ago

I tried the online one but I'm not too experienced with cards so I just got destroyed. Another fun, chaotic one that I used to play in person a lot is Egyptian Ratscrew, a game where you have to slap the pile first if certain criteria are met. I don't think I've won a single match of that, I'm usually still processing what card was put down long after someone already slapped the pile. I had fun regardless. Make sure everyone removes their rings!

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egyptian_Ratscrew

2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2UMv5Jk8JQ

Comment by chainsaw10 11 hours ago

If you click Start > Shut Down and click OK, it’ll say “it is now safe to close this tab”, which I thought was a nice touch.

Comment by why_at 9 hours ago

And if you leave the tab alone for a while there's one of the classic Windows screensavers

Comment by axm997 10 hours ago

So cool! Since there are some solitaire fans on this thread. Thought I would share a version that build with 2 decks https://d6.belsonbox.com

Comment by dverlaeckt80 10 hours ago

There is something weirdly fascinating about this. I think the combination of nostalgia, seeing others play without interacting and just the whole idea of it. Rather mesmerizing. Well done.

Comment by eahm 6 hours ago

Found this a couple of months ago and it's the best I tried yet: https://worldofsolitaire.com

Comment by florianfmmartin 10 hours ago

https://genius.com/Louis-jean-cormier-tout-le-monde-en-meme-...

Comment by raspo 10 hours ago

Was solitaire always this hard, or have I forgotten how to play this game? I tried a few games and failed every time :)

Comment by slig 10 hours ago

Maybe you're remembering the Turn-1 instead of this Turn-3?

Comment by MattSayar 10 hours ago

Only something like 10-20% of games are winnable.

Comment by noja 9 hours ago

Many solitaire games will not give you an unsolvable puzzle to play. I think freecell only had one (by accident)

Comment by amiga386 7 hours ago

Microsoft Solitaire (Klondike) frequently gives you unsolvable hands, especially if you're using Draw-3.

FreeCell "is fundamentally different from most solitaire games in that very few deals are unsolvable" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeCell) i.e. most solitaire games deals are unsolvable.

As you said, Microsoft FreeCell does only deal one unsolvable puzzle as standard (#11982 out of 32000) https://www.solitairelaboratory.com/fcfaq.html

Comment by gosub100 9 hours ago

Can't remember if I saw it on HN or searched for it, but you can search for the hardest solvable freecell games. I drove myself partially insane trying to solve one. Only got about halfway before I caved

(If you don't have access to windows you can run one of those web based windows desktop lookalikes written in JS).

Comment by hosel 10 hours ago

This is fun! I like the vibe of doing solitary activities in the “company” of other strangers. It’s neat. I like the screen saver

Comment by 11 hours ago

Comment by alentred 11 hours ago

Oh boy, this is sooooo addictive.

Look, I don’t mind it but let us know - are you training some model on our inputs ? :)

Comment by eieio 11 hours ago

(creator here!)

lol, no, I am not training a model!

But I DO record some games so that I can replay them later. That way if you log on and you're the only person, you can still watch the ghost of a past game. This isn't relevant right now (there are 500ish people playing! wow!)- I only show past games if there aren't active ones to show.