Solavantage Newsletter #2

Hello Solavant players! We received some nice feedback from our previous newsletter. Thanks for writing. So far, 100% of those voting in the Scorpion "Love It or Hate It?" poll are voting that they love it. (Go Scorpion!) If you haven't voted yet, you still can by clicking the button in Solavantage Newsletter #1.

– Tom Cain, Smallware

Featured game - Xerxes

Xerxes is a fun little game that many people are not familar with. You can win quite often with smart play.

Xerxes uses two "short decks". Short decks have certain cards removed. In Xerxes, all Twos through Eights are removed leaving mostly face cards in play.

Foundations at the top build from Nines to Aces regardless of suit or color. The first Nine is placed when the game is dealt, then cards are dealt beneath it until another Nine appears. This Nine is placed into the next foundation and cards are dealt beneath it. This continues until all cards are dealt. Because of this unusual initial deal, each Xerxes game starts with different amounts of cards in each column.

The end cards are available for foundation building. Columns are not built on, but any card may be played into an empty space.

Xerxes strategy

The game seems easy at first. There are a lot of potential moves available. You may be tempted to just hit Auto Play. Brute force, however, isn't a good way to start this very winnable game.

Instead, plan each move with an eye to what cards will be uncovered up the column. Tens are critical – they must be released and built early. Tens buried high in a long column are a challenge to get out. If no Tens or spaces are available when the game starts, you can't even make a move.

A general rule is to build Tens and Jacks first. Build Queens, Kings and Aces only to uncover Tens and Jacks, otherwise save them for later. Planning the release of Tens and Jacks is the core strategy in Xerxes. Once all Tens and Jacks are placed the game is nearly always won. Using Auto Play at that point is safe.

Final Xerxes thoughts

Xerxes is a logic puzzle that's a lot of fun even after you master building Tens and Jacks – that basic strategy won't work all the time. The added quirk of a different starting layout keeps it more interesting than a random shuffle alone. Plus, you can usually win if you're careful, which is always fun.

Random Solavant tip

Solavant categorizes games by difficulty. All the games are easy to learn and play, "difficulty" refers to your chances of winning:

• Hard: 50% or better
• Harder: 10% to 50%
• Hardest: less than 10%

You can find difficulty defined in the Help menu under Solavant Help.

Tell us what you're thinking

If you have any ideas or suggestions to improve Solavant, or even negative comments, please let us know. Smallware is a small company run by my wife and me, so anything you send goes directly to me. Every email gets serious attention and a (rambling, semi-intelligent) response. :)

Thanks for playing Solavant!