Solavantage Newsletter #8
Hello Solavant players!
This is a good month for Solavant — version 2.0 will be released. Lots of people have been testing the 2.0 beta version and I appreciate the help. Even if you've been testing, there may be a few surprises in version 2.0 for you. :)
An announcement email will go out to Solavantage members when 2.0 is released. Solavant upgrades are free, so all customers will be able to get this new version.
If you are a Solavant Core or Solavant Spider player and would like to switch to the standard Solavant package that includes all Solavant games, we're offering a migration path for a limited time with version 2.0. The cost will only be the price difference between the packages: $12 if you have Core and $17 if you have Spider, in USD. Please contact me if you're interested or have any questions.
Thanks for playing!
– Tom Cain, Smallware
Featured game - Fourteen Out
Fourteen Out is a pairing game similar to the popular game Pyramid. I prefer Fourteen Out because it is completely open, with all cards visible when the game starts. Pyramid has half of the cards hidden in the stock. Fourteen Out is therefore the more strategic — and more fun, at least to me. :)
Fourteen Out starts with all cards dealt into 12 tableau columns. End cards may be paired together so that their ranks total 14 (hence the name Fourteen Out). Pairs are automatically discarded. The game is won if all cards are discarded.
Fourteen Out strategy
It's possible that people with mental powers greater than mine could examine the opening layout and determine every move that should be made to win. I can't do that, so I rely on looking ahead one or two moves before pairing cards.
If you have a choice of cards to pair, such as one 4 and two 10's, pick the 10 that will expose another card that can be paired. If the choice isn't clear, leave that pair alone and come back to it later, the choice might be clearer then.
When such a choice involves the last card in a column, choose the other card. There is no advantage to clearing columns in Fourteen Out, so it is best to leave single cards on the table until you absolutely need them.
The biggest block to watch for is one column that contains both cards of a pair. A column with a 9 on the end and a 5 buried within will block the game if you pair off all the other 5's because you won't be able to remove the 9. When you have this situation, and it happens often, try to pair off the end card as soon as possible so you won't get stuck later.
Note that 7's pair with each other, so there are only two pairs available to remove 7's while every other rank has four pairs. It's very unlikely that an opening deal will have all four 7's in one column, but if this ever happened the game would be unwinnable.
Final Fourteen Out thoughts
Fourteen Out is a great game for Pyramid fans. It isn't an easy game to win, but Solavant does not rank it as hard as Pyramid because there is so much less luck involved. It's pretty much as strategic as a solitaire game can be, and it's lots of fun.
Random Solavant tip
Be sure to use the "Keep in My Favorites" checkbox as you try new games. Solavant has a lot of games to try, so you might forget one you like if you don't play it for a while. Always putting games that you enjoy into your favorites makes it easy to remember that it was fun. You can always remove a game from your favorites in the future if you change your mind.
