World of Solitaire2019-06-11T17:16:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/Robertrobert@telparia.comOption for larger, closer cards2019-06-11T17:16:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2019/06/closer-together-cardsGreetings!<br>
<br>
I have added a new option for cards to be closer together, which results in larger cards!<br>
<br>
To turn this on, click the "Options" button at the top and then go to the "Settings" tab.<br>
<br>
<img src="/blog/2019/06/closer-together-cards/closerLargerCardsSetting.png" /><br>
<br>
Here is a before and after comparison:<br>
<br>
<img style="max-width: 48%;" src="/blog/2019/06/closer-together-cards/closerLargerCardsBefore.jpg" />
<img style="margin-left: 3%; max-width: 48%;" src="/blog/2019/06/closer-together-cards/closerLargerCardsAfter.jpg" /><br>
<br>
<h2>Since My Last Post</h2><br>
In the past 3 months, I've added:<br>
<ul>
<li>5 New Games!</li>
<li>15 New Victory Images!</li>
<li>Several other bug fixes and minor improvements!</li>
</ul>
Hope everyone is enjoying the website :)<br>
<br>
— RobertHint Feature Added!2019-03-12T08:20:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2019/03/hint-feature-addedGreetings!<br>
<br>
A Hint feature added to World of Solitaire!<br>
<br>
To see a hint for an available move, click the Light Bulb in the bottom right corner!<br>
<br>
<img src="/blog/2019/03/hint-feature-added/hintLightBulb.png" /><br>
<br>
It will highlight a move for you on the game board:<br>
<br>
<img src="/blog/2019/03/hint-feature-added/availableMove.png" /><br>
<br>
You can click it again and again to see different available moves.<br>
<br>
If you want to remove the light bulb, good news! You can turn it off!<br>
Simply click the "Options" button at the top and go to the "Settings" tab.<br>
<br>
Now just uncheck the box next to "Show Hint Light Bulb":<br>
<img src="/blog/2019/03/hint-feature-added/hintOptions.png" /><br>
<br>
A "Hint" feature has been the #1 most requested feature, next to Sound.<br>
<br>
So I'm glad to finally be able to implement this for you all!<br>
<br>
<h2>Since My Last Post</h2><br>
In the past 3 months, I've added:<br>
<ul>
<li>14 New Games!</li>
<li>15 New Victory Images!</li>
<li>5 New Languages!</li>
<li>Several other bug fixes and minor improvements!</li>
</ul>
I hope you are all having a great 2019!<br>
<br>
— Robert
Sound Effects Added!2018-12-12T08:20:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2018/12/sound-addedGreetings!<br>
<br>
Sound effects have been added to World of Solitaire!<br>
<br>
To turn them, click the "Options" button at the top and then go to the "Settings" tab.<br>
<br>
<img src="/blog/2018/12/sound-added/soundSettings.png" /><br>
<br>
I couldn't decide on exactly which sound effects I liked better, so you have two styles to choose from: "Gentle" and "Robust"<br>
<br>
Gentle has nice and soft sounding effects and are a bit on the quiet side. Whereas Robust is more prominent and moving the cards around feels very significant. You can choose whichever you prefer!<br>
<br>
Sound has been #1 most requested feature over the past 10 years and I'm glad to have finally gotten it into the game for you all to enjoy!<br>
<br>
— RobertGame Names2018-05-10T09:00:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2018/05/game-name-changes<style>
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Greetings!<br>
<br>
<h2>Variants</h2><br>
World of Solitaire has many game "Variants" such as <strong>Klondike <u>(Turn One)</u></strong> and <strong>Spider <u>(1 Suit)</u></strong>.<br>
<br>
These variants are usually in parenthesis following the game name. However some variants don't follow this rule such as <strong>Crescent Relaxed</strong> and <strong>Pyramid Easy</strong>.<br>
<br>
In order to be consistent, several games have been renamed:<br>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Old Name</th>
<th></th>
<th>New Name</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>Aces Up Relaxed</td><td>=></td><td>Aces Up (Relaxed)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Algerian Patience Relaxed</td><td>=></td><td>Algerian Patience (Relaxed)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Australian Patience Easy</td><td>=></td><td>Australian Patience (Easy)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Canfield Relaxed</td><td>=></td><td>Canfield (Relaxed)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Canfield Relaxed (Turn One)</td><td>=></td><td>Canfield (Relaxed) (Turn One)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Crescent Relaxed</td><td>=></td><td>Crescent (Relaxed)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Eight Off Relaxed</td><td>=></td><td>Eight Off (Relaxed)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Golf Relaxed</td><td>=></td><td>Golf (Relaxed)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Golf Strict</td><td>=></td><td>Golf (Strict)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Josephine Relaxed</td><td>=></td><td>Josephine (Relaxed)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Montana Relaxed</td><td>=></td><td>Montana (Relaxed)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Pyramid Easy</td><td>=></td><td>Pyramid (Easy)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Pyramid Relaxed</td><td>=></td><td>Pyramid (Relaxed)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Pyramid Relaxed Easy</td><td>=></td><td>Pyramid (Relaxed) (Easy)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Scorpion Easy</td><td>=></td><td>Scorpion (Easy)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Scorpion Relaxed</td><td>=></td><td>Scorpion (Relaxed)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Tri Peaks Strict</td><td>=></td><td>Tri Peaks (Strict)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Tri Peaks Strict (Hidden)</td><td>=></td><td>Tri Peaks (Strict) (Hidden)</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br>
Going forward any new "Variants" will always be in parenthesis. This should make finding variants in the game list easier.<br>
<br>
<h2>Double & Triple</h2>
<br>
Some games have 2-deck and 3-deck variants, such as <strong>Double Easthaven</strong> and <strong>Triple Klondike</strong>.<br>
<br>
Because these names start with <strong>Double</strong> or <strong>Triple</strong> instead of <strong>Klondike</strong> or <strong>Easthaven</strong> it was tricky for new players to realize these variants were available.<br>
<br>
Thus to be consistent and make finding them easier, these games have been renamed:<br>
<table>
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Old Name</th>
<th></th>
<th>New Name</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr><td>Double Easthaven</td><td>=></td><td>Easthaven (Double)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Double Easthaven (Kings Only)</td><td>=></td><td>Easthaven (Double) (Kings Only)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Double Klondike (Turn One)</td><td>=></td><td>Klondike (Double) (Turn One)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Double Klondike (Turn Three)</td><td>=></td><td>Klondike (Double) (Turn Three)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Triple Easthaven</td><td>=></td><td>Easthaven (Triple)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Triple Easthaven (Kings Only)</td><td>=></td><td>Easthaven (Triple) (Kings Only)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Triple Klondike (Turn One)</td><td>=></td><td>Klondike (Triple) (Turn One)</td></tr>
<tr><td>Triple Klondike (Turn Three)</td><td>=></td><td>Klondike (Triple) (Turn Three)</td></tr>
</tbody>
</table>
<br>
For those that love playing the <strong>Double</strong> or <strong>Triple</strong> variants this change may take a little time to get used to, but I believe this a good change going forward as when I add new 2-deck and 3-deck variants for different games in the future I won't have to start their names with Double or Triple.<br>
<br>
<h2>New Games</h2><br>
Since my last blog post in January, I've added 11 new games:<br>
<ul>
<li><strong>Feb</strong>: Beleaguered Castle</li>
<li><strong>Feb</strong>: Citadel</li>
<li><strong>Feb</strong>: Streets and Alleys</li>
<li><strong>Feb</strong>: Canfield (Turn One)</li>
<li><strong>Feb</strong>: Canfield (Relaxed)</li>
<li><strong>Feb</strong>: Josephine (Relaxed)</li>
<li><strong>Mar</strong>: Algerian Patience</li>
<li><strong>Mar</strong>: Algerian Patience (Relaxed)</li>
<li><strong>May</strong>: Canfield (Relaxed) (Turn One)</li>
<li><strong>May</strong>: Seahaven Towers (Relaxed)</li>
<li><strong>May</strong>: Crazy Quilt</li>
</ul>
All those games were requested by players and I have many more requested games to add!<br>
<br>
I hope you all are enjoying the website and I hope you all continue to have fun playing!<br>
<br>
New Game! More to come!2018-01-29T22:04:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2018/01/new-games-comingGreetings!<br>
<br>
I just added a new game: Aces Up Relaxed<br>
<br>
Over the past few years at least 3 people have requested a "relaxed" version of Aces Up and it's finally here.<br>
<br>
This new version of World of Solitaire makes it a lot easier for me to add new games. So I plan on adding new games much more frequently than I have been in the past several years.<br>
<br>
There over 90 new games that folks have requested over the years and now I'll finally be able to add them!<br>
<br>
I hope you all are enjoying the web site and I hope you all continue to have fun playing!Victory Image System Revamp2018-01-15T20:24:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2018/01/victory-image-revamp<style>
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Greetings!<br>
<br>
The Victory Image system has received a major overhaul!<br>
<br>
In the old system, it was difficult to discover Rare and Mythical images. Your odds of seeing them were very low.<br>
<br>
Here is the new system:<br>
<img src="/blog/2018/01/victory-image-revamp/victoryPreview.png" /><br>
<br>
Victory Images are now grouped into levels, with 5 images per level. Once you discover all the images from Level 1, you unlock Level 2.<br>
<br>
When you win, a random unlocked level is chosen and then a random image from that level.<br>
<br>
You can increase the chance of discovering new images by winning games. Each time you win a game, you'll raise a bonus chance of seeing new images.<br>
<br>
Thus the longer you play and win without seeing a new image, the easier it will become to discover a new image.<br>
<br>
You can still prevent images from showing by simply clicking on them to X them out. I also fixed some bugs with that and now it should work much more reliably.<br>
<br>
This new system should make it much easier to discover new images. In addition it should hopefully feel more rewarding as you 'level up'.<br>
<br>
Lastly I plan on adding a lot more victory images in the future and this system makes it easier to do that.<br>
<br>
I hope you all continue to enjoy playing :)<br>
<br>
— RobertOther Languages2018-01-13T10:38:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2018/01/different-language-support<style>
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Greetings!<br>
<br>
World of Solitaire now supports other languages!<br>
<br>
You can change the language in "Options" under "Settings":<br>
<img src="/blog/2018/01/different-language-support/languageOptions.png" /><br>
<br>
You can also change by clicking in the very bottom right corner on (en):<br>
<img src="/blog/2018/01/different-language-support/languageCorner.png" /><br>
<br>
After clicking either, you will see the available languages at the bottom right corner:<br>
<img src="/blog/2018/01/different-language-support/languagePopup.png" /><br>
<br>
Simply click one of the languages!<br>
<br>
Different languages are at different web addresses. So if you want to continue to see World of Solitaire in your language of choice, after you change your language, bookmark the website.<br>
<br>
Right now these languages are supported:<br>
<ul>
<li>Bulgarian</li>
<li>Chinese</li>
<li>Danish</li>
<li>Dutch</li>
<li>Finnish</li>
<li>French</li>
<li>German</li>
<li>Greek</li>
<li>Italian</li>
<li>Japanese</li>
<li>Korean</li>
<li>Romanian</li>
<li>Russian</li>
<li>Spanish</li>
<li>Swedish</li>
<li>Turkish</li>
</ul>
If your language isn't on the list, just comment below or e-mail me at <a href="mailto:robert@telparia.com">robert@telparia.com</a><br>
<br>
I'll make sure it gets added! :)<br>
<br>
Thousands of folks from all around the world play every single day. I hope this option makes their experience more enjoyable!<br>
<br>
I hope you all continue to enjoy playing :)<br>
<br>
— RobertSuit Ordering2018-01-13T10:38:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2018/01/suit_ordering<style>
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Greetings!<br>
<br>
I just added a new option to World of Solitaire: Suit Order<br>
<br>
It allows you to specify an order cards should be in when they are auto played to a foundation.<br>
<br>
It also sets the starting foundation order for games like Cruel, Trefoil and Crescent.<br>
<br>
You can find it in your "Options" window under "Settings":<br>
<img src="/blog/2018/01/suit_ordering/suitOrderOptions.png" /><br>
<br>
In games with more than 4 foundations, cards are ordered in this pattern: <span style="font-size: 2.0em;"><span style="color: red;">♥</span>♣<span style="color: red;">♦</span>♠<span style="color: red;">♥</span>♣<span style="color: red;">♦</span>♠</span><br>
<br>
Select the checkbox "Group Same Suits Together" to order them like this: <span style="font-size: 2.0em;"><span style="color: red;">♥♥</span>♣♣<span style="color: red;">♦♦</span>♠♠</span><br>
<br>
<br>
Suit Ordering has been requested by several folks over the years and it's finally here!<br>
<br>
If you don't want suits to be ordered, just select "Disable Suit Ordering" and it will behave just like it always has.<br>
<br>
I hope you all continue to enjoy playing :)<br>
<br>
— RobertMenu Bar Is Back!2018-01-06T18:43:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2018/01/menu-bar-is-back<style>
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Greetings!<br>
<br>
<h2>Top Menu Bar</h2>
<br>
The top menu bar is back!<br>
<br>
<img src="/blog/2018/01/menu-bar-is-back/topMenuBar.png" /><br>
<br>
Over the past few weeks I have received a ton of feedback on the new update.<br>
<br>
The most disliked change was the removal of the top menu bar.<br>
<br>
There are multiple reasons that the removal of the top bar was a bad design decision on my part.<br>
<br>
The new menu bar allows you with just 1 click to access the most often used actions.<br>
<br>
I truly hope that this new menu bar will help make the site easier and quicker to use.<br>
<br>
<br>
<h2>New Options</h2>
<br>
I have added a bunch of new options thanks to your suggestions:<br>
<br>
<img src="/blog/2018/01/menu-bar-is-back/newOptions.png" /><br>
<ul class="newFeatures">
<li><strong>Show Timer/Score/Moves Made</strong><br>
You can now turn off the timer, score and moves made items at the bottom of the screen.
</li>
<li><strong>Show Stack Count</strong><br>
You can now hide the stack count that appears in the bottom left corner.
</li>
<li><strong>Show Current Card</strong><br>
The name of the card you are hovering over will appear in the bottom left corner if you turn this new option on.
</li>
<li><strong>Bottom Undo Button</strong><br>
If you really like having an Undo Button at the bottom, simply turn this option on. It's off by default because it causes cards to be slightly smaller due to the space the button takes up on the playfield.
</li>
<li><strong>Menu On Bottom</strong><br>
Don't like the menu at the top? Select this option and it'll be moved to the bottom!
</li>
<li><strong>Show Footer</strong><br>
You can now hide the bottom right footer. This also hides any "holiday" images.
</li>
</ul>
<br>
<h2>Cards Too Small</h2>
<br>
Several folks have e-mailed about the cards being too small.<br>
<br>
This is usually due to the web browser 'Zoom' being set to something other than 100%.<br>
<br>
Zooming in enlarges text, which reduces space for the cards, thus making the cards smaller.<br>
<br>
So if you are seeing small cards, make sure your 'Zoom' is set to exactly 100%<br>
<br>
<br>
<h2>Cards Too Large</h2>
<br>
Several other folks have mentioned that the cards are too large!<br>
<br>
Good news! Now you can now the cards smaller:<br>
<br>
<img src="/blog/2018/01/menu-bar-is-back/cardSizeOptions.png" /><br>
<br>
You can find these by clicking the "Options" button, then "Settings".<br>
<br>
Thank you all very much for your feedback and I hope you all continue to enjoy playing :)<br>
<br>
— RobertUpdate Live!2017-12-29T15:01:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2017/12/update-live-and-original-version<style>
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Greetings!<br>
<br>
The update I previewed a few days ago is now live on the main site!<br>
<br>
It's been a bit bumpy over the past 24 hours and I've fixed a multitude of issues.<br>
<br>
I've gotten lots of useful feedback, so please keep it coming: <a href="mailto:robert@telparia.com">robert@telparia.com</a><br>
<br>
<br>
<h2>Original Version</h2><br>
The new version works great if you have a modern computer from the past 4 or 5 years.<br>
<br>
If your computer is older, has enlarged text or a smaller display, the new version may not be the best experience.<br>
<br>
The original version can be played here: <a href="http://legacy.worldofsolitaire.com" target="_blank">legacy.worldofsolitaire.com</a><br>
<br>
It will ALWAYS be available at that location, from now until the end of time :)<br>
<br>
Sadly, the original version does not have stats or challenges due to technical reasons. Sorry :(<br>
<br>
<br>
<h2>Future</h2><br>
Going forward I will continue to fix issues, make improvements and add new things!<br>
<br>
The update will allow me to add new games and features much more easily!<br>
<br>
I hope you all continue to enjoy playing, whether on the new site or the legacy site!<br>
<br>
— RobertButton Improvements, Hiding Next Card2017-12-26T13:33:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2017/12/button-improvements<style>
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Greetings!<br>
<br>
<h2>Undo Move & Deal New</h2><br>
People seem to like having a "Deal New" button easily reachable on the main screen.<br>
<br>
However I got feedback that the "Undo Move" and "Deal New" buttons looked too similar and it was too easy to accidentally click Deal New.<br>
<br>
I have made some improvements to the buttons! Here is how they look now:<br>
<br>
On a narrow display:<br>
<img src="/blog/2017/12/button-improvements/new_buttons_narrow.jpg" /><br>
<br>
On a wide display:<br>
<img src="/blog/2017/12/button-improvements/new_buttons_wide.jpg" /><br>
<br>
Summary of changes:<br>
<ul>
<li>Each button has a different icon</li>
<li>Undo Move is now on the right. This feels more natural for most players</li>
<li>They are now slightly larger</li>
<li>They now look the same on all computers</li>
<li>On a wider display, when there is room, the buttons move further away</li>
<li>All buttons on the site now have this new style</li>
</ul>
Lastly, when you click on "Deal New" it will ask if you are sure:<br>
<img src="/blog/2017/12/button-improvements/confirm_new_deal.jpg" /><br>
<br>
This should prevent any accidental new deals.<br>
<br>
Don't like having to confirm? Just select "Don't show this again" and it won't ask you again :)<br><br>
<br>
<br>
<h2>Next Card</h2><br>
Some games have complicated rules regarding which cards must be placed next on a spot.<br>
<br>
New players would often struggle to remember which card they needed next.<br>
<br>
In the update I added a note to help with this:<br>
<img src="/blog/2017/12/button-improvements/next_card.jpg" /><br>
<br>
However, some players found these notes distracting and wanted to hide them.<br>
<br>
Now you can!<br>
<br>
Simply go to Menu->Options and uncheck "Show Next Card":<br>
<img src="/blog/2017/12/button-improvements/show_next_card_option.jpg" /><br>
<br>
<br>
<br>
<h2>Other Improvements</h2><br>
I've also made several other fixes and improvements:<br>
<ul>
<li>The Tango deck no longer looks messed up</li>
<li>Cards are now larger in Royal Parade</li>
<li>Sultan now correctly places the Ace of Hearts on the foundation</li>
<li>A few more things :)</li>
</ul>
I want to <strong>THANK YOU</strong> all very much for the feedback!<br>
<br>
It's been very helpful!!<br>
<br>
Keep the feedback coming and I'll keep making it more awesome :)<br>
<br>
— RobertHuge update ready for testing!2017-12-23T08:35:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2017/12/huge-update-ready-for-testing<style>
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Greetings!<br>
<br>
The update is now LIVE!<br>
<br>
<br>
<h2 style="border-bottom: 1px solid #727272; margin-bottom: 0; padding-top: 0;">★ ★ ★ New Stuff</h2>
<ul class="newFeatures">
<li><strong>HD Cards</strong><br>
Cards are now in glorious HD! They look especially great on high DPI "retina" displays.
</li>
<li><strong>Long Stacks</strong><br>
When a stack becomes too tall to fit on the screen, the cards now automatically squeeze themselves together to fit on the screen!
</li>
<li><strong>Larger Cards</strong><br>
Multiple games now feature larger sized cards! This is thanks to the long stack support. No longer do you need to choose between "Largest Size" or "Best Looking" as cards are now both of those things, all the time!
</li>
<li><strong>Pause</strong><br>
You can now Pause the game at any time!
</li>
<li><strong>Game Save/Restore</strong><br>
Games are now automatically saved at all times. If your computer crashes or loses power or you acidentally close the browser, you can simply "Restore" the game you were last playing, resuming right where you left off!
</li>
<li><strong>Redeal Counter</strong><br>
Games with a limited number of redeals now show you how many redeals you have left.
</li>
<li><strong>Next Card Note</strong><br>
Some games require a specific card on a specific spot. Those games now show you what card you need next for each spot!
</li>
<li><strong>Favorite Games</strong><br>
Mark games as a Favorite now and then choose to only see your favorite games.
</li>
<li><strong>Victory Images</strong><br>
You can now exclude victory images you don't want to see. You also have a greater chance now of seeing the Uber Rare and Mythical images! I've also added 1 new victory image.
</li>
<li><strong>Game Chooser</strong><br>
Search for a game now by typing it's name, which also searches other names a game may be known as. A new "Grid" mode is now also available in the Game Chooser! You can also now sort games by various things.
</li>
<li><strong>Background Colors</strong><br>
You can now choose a solid background color from 24 different colors.
</li>
<li><strong>Luck, and Complexity</strong><br>
Games are now rated by Luck and Complexity in addition to Duration and Odds. These are now shown as helpful 'signal bars' and color coded to quickly see if it's good or bad.
</li>
<li><strong>Larger Leaderboards</strong><br>
Leaderboards now show 50 people each instead of just 15 or 25.
</li>
<li><strong>Score</strong><br>
Games now have more accurate scoring and there is an "Average Score" statistic now.
</li>
<li><strong>Reset Stats</strong><br>
You can now reset your statistics on a per game basis.
</li>
<li><strong>Auto Play</strong><br>
Auto Play is a bit smarter now. If it makes a move for you, and then you drag that card back to where it was, it will no longer auto play it right back again. Far less annoying :)
</li>
<li><strong>Consistent Bases</strong><br>
Games now have more consistent bases. If a card can be dropped somewhere, it will have a base with an outine, otherwise that spot will be empty.
</li>
<li><strong>HTTPS Support</strong><br>
The website now supports encrypted HTTPS.
</li>
</ul>
<br>
This update took me over 6 months to create.<br>
World of Solitaire now has a new foundation that I can build upon for years to come!<br>
<br>
Sadly, the update does remove some things:<br>
<ul class="removedThings">
<li>The top menu bar is gone. It had many issues, such as Time/Score/Moves overlapping, automatically coming down during games, and was kinda ugly.</li>
<li>Timer/Score/Moves can no longer be hidden. This is because they are now easier to ignore at the bottom and don't mess up the menu bar anymore.</li>
<li>Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8 users can no longer use the website. These browsers are between 8 and 16 years old! They don't support the new technologies used in the update. Please switch to Chrome or Firefox or update Internet Explorer. If you can't do that, you can still play the old version, see below.</li>
<li>Auto flipping of cards can no longer be turned off. I had to remove this for technical reasons, but a benefit is that I am able to create new games more easily in the future. Far less than 1% of users turned it off.</li>
<li>Deals are no longer counted. It was confusing to new players and had little statistical relevance.</li>
<li>Challenge Games no longer contribute to the leaderboards. Challenge Games are now totally seperate from the general statistics.</li>
</ul>
<br>
With any big change, some folks won't like the changes and would prefer things remain the same.<br>
Good news, the "old" version will always be playable here: <a href="http://legacy.worldofsolitaire.com">legacy.worldofsolitaire.com</a><br>
Note: Statistics, logins and challenges are not available in the "legacy" version.<br>
<br>
I plan on testing the new update for a few days/weeks and then launch some time in January!<br>
<br>
During this testing period, if you encounter any issues or have any suggestions or comments, <strong>please</strong> e-mail me: <a href="mailto:robert@telparia.com">robert@telparia.com</a><br>
<br>
Your feedback is enormously useful to me and will help ensure the January launch goes as well as possible!<br>
<br>
Once again thank you all VERY MUCH and I hope you all continue to have fun playing!!<br>
<br>
— RobertNew blog and MASSIVE upcoming update!2017-12-20T14:18:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2017/12/new-blog-and-upcoming-updateGreetings!<br>
<br>
<h4>New Blog</h4>
The blog now lives here, on the World of Solitaire server. The old blog was hosted by Google and was always kind of a pain to work with. The down side is that the old comments were not able to be migrated.<br>
<br>
<br>
<h4>MASSIVE Update Coming</h4>
Big news! An ENORMOUS update is coming to World of Solitaire!<br>
I have been working on it for over <strong>6 months</strong>, spending multiple hours, every day, working on it.<br>
<br>
The update brings <strong>tons</strong> of new features, bug fixes and improvements!<br>
<br>
Many things in the update have been requested by players for YEARS. They are almost here :)<br>
<br>
There will be a testing period where you can try out the new site before it goes live.<br>
<br>
I will be announcing it here on this blog, some time in December or January.<br>
<br>
Stay tuned!<br>
<br>
<br>
<h4>Closing Thoughts</h4>
I just wanted to say how much I appreciate you all!<br>
<br>
I first created World of Solitaire over 10 years ago. All the kind e-mails many of you have sent me over the years really means a lot to me.<br>
<br>
Even if you haven't e-mailed me, just know that it makes me super happy to know that you choose to spend time here.<br>
<br>
I truly hope that you have enjoyed playing on World of Solitaire over the years, and I really hope that you all continue to enjoy the website for many years to come!<br>
<br>
Thank you all!!!<br>
<br>
— Robert
10 years of World of Solitaire!2017-07-17T14:32:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2017/07/10-years-of-world-of-solitaireWow!<br><br>This week, World of Solitaire turns 10 years old!<br><br>Can you believe how fast time flies?<br><br>I hope you've all had a great time playing and I hope you all continue to have fun :)Happy Birthday! World of Solitaire is 9 years old!2016-07-17T18:28:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2016/07/happy-birthday-world-of-solitaire-is-9-years-oldHello!<br><br>In just a few days, World of Solitaire will be 9 years old!<br><br>I hope everyone has been enjoying the games and I hope you all continue to enjoy them :)<br><br>-- RobertWorld of Solitaire turns 8 years old!2015-07-17T10:51:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2015/07/world-of-solitaire-turns-8-years-oldHello everyone!<br><br>Just wanted to wish everyone a happy birthday as World of Solitaire turns 8 years old this week! Wow!<br><br>I hope everyone continues to have fun playing :)<br><br>-- RobertChallenges!2015-04-04T10:29:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2015/04/challengesHello!<br><br>I have added an exciting new feature to World of Solitaire: Challenges!<br><br>Challenges are pre-shuffled, numbered deals that are guaranteed to be winnable.<br><br>Each challenge is rated for difficulty: Easy, Medium or Hard.<br><br>Each time you play a specific challenge number, the same cards will be dealt in the same order. So you can keep trying a specific challenge until you find a way to solve it.<br><br>Test your skills and see how many you can solve!<br><br>Challenges can be found in the top left 'Solitaire' menu, click on 'Challenges...'.<br><br>If you are a registered player and you win a challenge with the fewest moves or shortest time, then your name will appear on that challenge entry for all to see.<br><br>Challenges are only available for a few different game types right now. If people like them, I can add more game types in the future. Also, I can add more challenges for each game if people solve the current ones are are looking for more.<br><br>I hope you all continue to have a lot of fun playing :)New Victory Images!2015-03-22T21:45:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2015/03/new-victory-imagesGreetings everyone!<br><br>Since August 19, 2007, World of Solitaire has shown the following picture when you win:<br><img src="/blog/2015/03/new-victory-images/youwin.png" height="91" width="400" /><br>Being over 7 years old, that image is looking pretty dated!<br><br>It's time for something new!<br><br>Over the past several months I have been working with over 20 artists. Each artist has created one or more 'Victory' images for World of Solitaire.<br><br>Now when you win, you will be shown a random victory image. There are over 25 different victory images and some of them appear less often than others. Some are quite rare indeed, such as this one:<br><br><img src="/blog/2015/03/new-victory-images/owl.png" /><br><br>If you do not want to see the new victory images, simply go to the 'Options' menu at the top and select 'Classic Victory Image'. Starting after your next deal, any future wins will show the classic victory image above instead of the new ones.<br><br>I hope everyone enjoys the new victory images and I hope everyone has a lot of fun! :)Tutorial Videos2014-05-19T19:59:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2014/05/tutorial-videosHello everyone!<br><br>Wanted to let everyone know that I have added tutorial videos for each game.<br><br>This should make it a LOT easier to learn new solitaire games.<br><br>There are three ways you can watch the videos:<br><br><ol><li>In 'Solitaire->Select Game...' click on the game preview image that shows on the right hand side when selecting a game</li><li>While playing a game, click on the blue question mark at the top right corner and then click on the image at the top</li><li>Directly on YouTube: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/worldofsolitaire/videos" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/user/worldofsolitaire/videos</a></li></ol><div>I hope you find the videos useful and I hope you all continue to have fun playing :)<br><br><br></div>3 BILLION hands dealt! New game! New deck!2014-03-24T12:10:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2014/03/3-billion-hands-dealt-new-game-new-deckSome time yesterday the 3 billionth hand of solitaire was dealt! WOW!<br><br>To celebrate, a few minutes ago I added a new game to the site: Australian Patience.<br><br>Yesterday I added a new feature for Canfield, Royal Parade and Bear River. The 'hover' information at the bottom left will now show you which card to play next. This should be helpful as it can be easy to forget which cards comes next in those games.<br><br>I forgot to mention it before, but earlier this month I added a new deck: Elements<br><br>I truly hope everyone is having fun playing :)<br><div><br></div>Touch support! iPad, Android, Surface!2014-01-07T20:19:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2014/01/touch-support-ipad-android-surfaceGreetings everyone!<br><br>World of Solitaire now works on touch devices!<br><br>This includes iPad, iPhone, Android, Surface and other touch enabled tablets and phones.<br><div><br></div><div>Sorry about it being so long since my last update. Life has been pretty busy for me these past few years. I hope everyone is having fun playing and I hope you all continue to have fun :)</div><div><br></div>Introducing: World of Card Games!2013-02-28T14:23:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2013/02/introducing-world-of-card-gamesHello everyone!<br><br>It's been a long time since I last posted here and I have some good news to share with you all.<br><br>Over the past year I have been hard at work creating multiplayer card games!<br><br>I am pleased to introduce today: <a href="https://worldofcardgames.com/" target="_blank">World of Card Games</a>!<br><br>You can play it here: <a href="https://worldofcardgames.com/" target="_blank">https://worldofcardgames.com</a><br><br>It currently has 3 games: Hearts, Spades and Go Fish<br><br>Multiplayer card games is one of the most highly requested features I have gotten over the years from World of Solitaire players.<br><br>Just like World of Solitaire, it is free, no registration is required and there are no downloads or installs.<br><br>Just beautiful, full screen, card gaming goodness :)<br><br>Here are some screenshots:<br><a href="/blog/2013/02/introducing-world-of-card-games/screenshot-1024x768.jpg"><img src="/blog/2013/02/introducing-world-of-card-games/screenshot-1024x768.jpg" style="width: 800px; cursor: pointer;"/></a></div><a href="/blog/2013/02/introducing-world-of-card-games/screenshot2-1024x768.jpg"><img src="/blog/2013/02/introducing-world-of-card-games/screenshot2-1024x768.jpg" style="width: 800px; cursor: pointer;"/></a><br>Current features include:<br><br><br><ul><li>Guided tutorials for each game</li><li>Robot players</li><li>Private Tables</li><li>8 decks</li><li>90+ wallpapers</li><li>100+ avatars</li></ul><br><div>I am planning on adding many more games including: Euchre, Rummy, Whist, Canasta and more!</div><div><br></div><div>I also want to add new features such as statistics, ratings, sound, leaderboards and more.</div><div><br></div><div>Part of the reason I wanted to create World of Card Games was to develop a new "card game engine" that could support things I've wanted to do on World of Solitaire for a long time. This includes guided tutorials, iPad/tablet support and more. Eventually I hope to bring this new engine over to World of Solitaire, but that is far in the future as it takes a lot of time to do all this by myself :)</div><div><br></div><div>I hope you enjoy <a href="https://worldofcardgames.com/" target="_blank">World of Card Games</a> and I hope you continue to enjoy playing <a href="https://worldofsolitaire.com/" target="_blank">World of Solitaire</a>! :)</div>Updates complete!2010-12-25T11:45:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2010/12/updates-completeSo yesterday on Christmas Eve I put live all the fixes and updates I have been working on for the past several weeks. These fixes and updates are all 'behind the scenes' and the games themselves have remain unchanged.<div><div><br></div><div>My motivation behind these changes were fix a growing problem over the past several months, the fact that sometimes statistics were not being recorded correctly. This should now be fixed.</div><div><br></div><div>The 'Timeline' part of the statistics is gone and likely not to return. It wasn't all that informative and I think I can use this part of the screen to put more interesting statistics and data. If anyone has any suggestions as to what should go in this area, please feel free to either comment or e-mail me your ideas to <a href="mailto:robert@cosmicrealms.com">robert@cosmicrealms.com</a></div><div><br></div><div>The 'Largest Size' card option was missing for a day or so, but I have restored this option. The site was defaulting to 'Auto Play Obvious' for new visitors, which upset a few people so I've changed this it to default to 'Auto Play When Won' for new visitors instead. Remember, you can always set it to 'Do Not Auto Play' if you don't want any auto playing and this option will be saved.</div><div><br></div><div>I hope everyone is having a great holiday :)</div></div>Fixing Statistics - Update2010-12-11T17:45:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2010/12/fixing-statistics-updateHello everyone!<div><br></div><div>Some folks had asked for an update on my progress on fixing the statistics problems.</div><div><br></div><div>I'm delighted to say that I'm about half way done. I've got the new system all designed and about half the code is written.</div><div>Progress should proceed at a faster pace now now and I *hope* to be finished around the end of this year.</div><div><br></div><div>I'll be ordering two new servers tonight which end up being the future home for World of Solitaire. These machines will be much more powerful than the current ones and combined with the new code and system design there should be no more statistics problems once they finally go live some time early next year.</div><div><br></div><div>In the mean time I hope everyone has a kick butt holiday season :)</div>Fixing Statistics Problems - Work has begun!2010-10-28T13:13:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2010/10/fixing-statistics-problems-work-has-begunSeveral months ago I posted about how I hoped that some changes I made would fix the statistic recording problems on World of Solitaire.<div><br></div><div>Sadly it has not.</div><div><br></div><div>I wanted to let everyone know that I haven't forgot about the problems.</div><div><br></div><div>In fact, I have a solution that I am actively developing.</div><div><br></div><div>It will take the next several weeks for me to finish developing the solution and test it thoroughly.</div><div><br></div><div>This solution should fix the problems once and for all :)</div><div><br></div><div>I do not know if the solution will 'repair' any previously missed statistics or not but it will certainly ensure that all future statistics recording will work correctly.</div><div><br></div><div>I will post again when I'm closer to the date that the changes will go live.</div><div><br></div><div>In the mean time, I hope you all can continue to enjoy playing the games :)</div><div><br></div>Statistics Problems - Continued2010-02-28T10:20:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2010/02/statistics-problems-continuedHello<br><br>So the changes I made earlier this month did not seem to fix the problem with statistics not recording correctly.<br><br>As of this morning I've implemented some more changes that should hopefully fix the problem.<br><br>The only visible change to you the player is that Global statistics are now updated just once a day instead of every 3 hours.<br><br>If after a few weeks with these changes, if it becomes clear that the statistics recording problem hasn't been fixed, I have another idea on what I can do but it will be a lot more work to implement so I want to see if it's absolutely necessary before beginning to work on it.<br><br>I hope that even with the slightly buggy statistics issue that you are all able to still have fun playing World of Solitaire :)Statistics Recording Problem2010-02-07T09:33:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2010/02/statistics-recording-problemHello World of Solitaire players.<br><br>For the past few weeks several users have reported issues about statistics not being recorded correctly.<br><br>Games that they've won not being saved and they were showing up as 'losses' in the Statistics.<br><br>This has been a very difficult problem to track down.<br><br>About 5 minutes ago I implemented a change to the server that I *hope* should solve this issue.<br><br>Sadly, games already played that were not recorded correctly are not able to be restored due to the glitch not recording that the game took place.<br><br>I hope that that my change should prevent stats from getting more messed up in the future.<br><br>Sorry again for the issues.New Games! Happy Hollidays!2009-12-24T15:20:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2009/12/new-games-happy-hollidaysHiya!<br><br>I've added three new games. They are variations on existing games that players have requested.<br><br>New Deck! Egypt!2009-10-04T08:20:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2009/10/new-deck-egyptHello World of Solitaire players!<br><br>I put up a poll here on the blog a week or two ago.<br>Since then nearly 100 votes have been cast and the option with the most votes was 'New Deck'.<br><br>I'm proud to announce that there is a new deck available!<br><br>You'll find it located in the 'Decks' menu at the top of the screen. The deck is an Egypt themed deck crafted by Sean Wilson.<br><br>Here is a preview:<br><a href="/blog/2009/10/new-deck-egypt/egypt.png"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="/blog/2009/10/new-deck-egypt/egypt_preview.png" /></a><br><br>I've posted a new poll with the new deck option removed, feel free to vote again.<br><br>I hope you all enjoy the new deck and I hope you all continue to enjoy playing :)What new feature would you like to see?2009-09-22T07:59:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2009/09/what-new-feature-would-you-like-to-seeI've created a poll here on the blog asking you what new features you'd like to see. You should see it on the top of the page.<br><br>Inappropiate ads have been blocked2009-08-10T11:37:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2009/08/inappropiate-ads-have-been-blockedWorld of Solitaire uses Google ads for it's advertising and what ads are displayed on the site are entirely controlled by Google. The ad displayed can be different per user, depending on what Google feels would be best for that visitor.<br><br>A World of Solitaire player e-mailed me to inform me that they were seeing an ad of a sexual/suggestive nature and were upset by this.<br><br>I completely understand that families play World of Solitaire and the site shouldn't be showing suggestive ads of this nature.<br><br>After doing some investigation it looks like the ad is for a game called 'Evony'.<br>The ads feature girls showing significant bosom.<br><br>It appears that a large number of people on the internet have the same problem I do. Google showing these inappropriate ads on their sites as well.<br><br>It turns out there is a way I can instruct Google to block specific ads.<br><br>I have researched these 'Evony' ones and have updated my Google ad settings so that these ads will be blocked and will no longer show up on the site.<br>I just applied these changes and Google says it may take a few hours to take affect.<br><br>Since what ads Google shows is different per visitor, other inappropriate ads might show up that I never see myself.<br>Also since I have to specifically block ads, new ones might come into the rotation and I'll need to update my block settings to include them.<br>So if anyone sees any inappropriate ads being displayed on World of Solitaire, please e-mail me the name of the ad you saw to: <a href="mailto:robert@cosmicrealms.com">robert@cosmicrealms.com</a><br><br>I will then do my best to make sure they are blocked from appearing.<br><br>I apologize if anyone has been offended by the ads. I never imagined that Google would display such things. I hope that the block I applied squashes all the inappropriate ones that were being displayed.<br><br>I hope you all continue to enjoy playing :)Evony ads - Will be blocked soon2009-07-23T11:38:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2009/07/evony-ads-will-be-blocked-soonHello<br><br>Some of you may have noticed that one of the ads appearing on World of Solitaire is for 'Evony'. You've probably seen these all over the web.<br>They use pictures of busty women in their ads in order to achieve more clicks.<br><br>I just wanted to let you know that I do not approve of these ads on the site and I have<br>The Future of World of Solitaire2009-05-15T08:51:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2009/05/the-future-of-world-of-solitaireHello everyone.<br><br>A few years ago when I first launched World of Solitaire it was just an experiment. A little hobby project of mine that I did just for fun.<br>When I launched it I just hoped it would make a few people happy each month. Maybe 50.<br><br>Since then the popularity of World of Solitaire has skyrocketed beyond what I could have imagined and now over 350,000 unique players get joy from playing each month.<br><br>Knowing that so many people are getting so much pleasure from the site has truly been a wonderful thing for me. It makes me very happy to know that so many are getting some pleasure from something I've created.<br><br>Unfortunately a side effect of having so many more people playing is that the cost to run World of Solitaire has been increasing. The bandwidth and computer power needed to run World of Solitaire is not cheap.<br><br>Each and every month I pay the monthly server costs out of my own pocket.<br><br>I've never had any advertisements on the site because I didn't want to 'clutter' up the page. I like the clean, sleek look World of Solitaire has and I don't want to ruin that with ads.<br><br>Another reason there are no ads is because money is not a big motivator for me. I have no desire to try and make lots of money from the site by putting up ads all over the place.<br>My primary motivation is just to make people happy and provide a fun place for everyone to let off a little stress by playing some Solitaire.<br><br>With the number of players continuing to rise however, the costs to run World of Solitaire continues to increase.<br>I am far from being rich and have a day job that pays my bills. But it is starting to get really expensive and I'm trying to figure out some way the site can make enough money to pay for the costs of running it.<br><br>I've had a few different ideas on how I could help pay for cost of running World of Solitaire.<br><br>I'd like to run these ideas past you, the players, and I would love some feedback from you.<br>You can reply to this blog post or e-mail me at: <a href="mailto:robert@cosmicrealms.com">robert@cosmicrealms.com</a><br><br>- Donations<br>I thought about putting up a donation button where the players could donate whatever they feel comfortable donating to help pay for the server costs.<br>This to me seems like the cleanest and best option.<br>My dilemma here is that I'm not sure that it would be enough to cover the costs of the servers. Also I feel that most people would just donate once, so even if it pays for the servers for the first few months I think I would wind up right back where I am at now.<br><br>- Sponsorship<br>Find a company that would 'sponsor' the site by paying the costs to run the site. In exchange they would get their company logo and name on the site that would link back to them.<br>This to me seems like a good option. No annoying ads on the site and the server costs are paid for.<br>The dilemma with this option is finding a company willing to sponsor the site. It will take a lot of time and effort to try and find a company to do this. And in the end there might not be anyone willing to do so.<br><br>- Membership<br>Another idea is some sort of yearly membership. Players could pay this membership and in return get some sort of special features. Maybe additional member only decks, maybe special starts by their names in the leaderboards.<br>The problem with this of course is I'd need to come up with features useful enough to be worth paying a membership fee, but not too useful as to upset non-members who can't afford to pay.<br><br>- Ads<br>Now we are down to the dreaded ads option. I could put up an ad right now that would probably cover the costs of running the site, but as I've said above I really don't want to do this. I don't want the experience of playing on World of Solitaire impacted by an ad.<br>There are other issues with ads too. Most ads on websites are designed to pay based on the idea that users are only on the page for a minute or so and then they load another page.<br>On World of Solitaire however players play for hours and the ad would be visible the entire time. Thus I feel that ads on World of Solitaire have more value than the normal ads on other pages where they may be scrolled out of view or the user may leave the page after just a few seconds.<br>This means that the normal ad programs out there (such as those from Google) are not very well suited to World of Solitaire.<br>The other thing to mention about ads is if I were to go this route, I would certainly want to provide some sort of yearly membership where for a small yearly fee you would not see any ads.<br><br><br>So those are the options I've come up with.<br><br>I really wish I didn't have to do any of them, but the costs of running World of Solitaire are only going to increase and the above methods are the only ways I can think of to keep World of Solitaire running.<br><br>I really would like to hear your ideas about this.<br><br>If anyone has any ideas at all, comments or offers please either reply to this blog post or e-mail me at: <a href="mailto:robert@cosmicrealms.com">robert@cosmicrealms.com</a><br><br>In the mean time, I hope you all continue to enjoy playing :)New Game! New Leaderboard!2009-04-29T20:57:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2009/04/new-game-new-leaderboardIt's been nearly 10 months since I've last added a new game to World of Solitaire, so I thought it was about time to add a new one:)<br><br>You'll notice a new game called 'Bear River' is now available on World of Solitaire.<br>This game was created by the Levin Family and was requested to be added personally by the authors via e-mail.<br><br>I've also added the #1 most requested feature of all time.<br>A 'Highest Percentage Won' leaderboard.<br><br>This is calculated based on how many games you win out of how many games you played.<br><br>Therefore if you analyze a dealt hand before making a move and decide that it's not winnable (something easily done in Pyramid for example) then you can choose to just deal again and that hand won't impact your percentage won score. But as soon as you've made a move, if you care about your percentage won score you should try your best to win that hand :)<br><br>One last thing I'll mention is that I've made some behind the scenes improvements for players using the Firefox browser. Firefox users should notice that the site loads a lot faster after you've visited it once.<br><br>I hope you are all having a lot of fun playing :)World of Solitaire - Problems Resolved2009-04-16T10:00:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2009/04/world-of-solitaire-problems-resolvedSo I got back from my honeymoon last night.<br><br>This morning I had several e-mails from players unable to login and no statistics were being recorded.<br>Turns out I ran out of disk space.<br><br>I have corrected the problem and logging in and statistics all now work correctly.<br><br>I posted a blog post earlier stating it would take up to 2 days to correct, turns out I was WAY off on my estimate as it's resolved now :)<br><br>Enjoy playing :)World of Solitaire Status Update2009-02-27T09:52:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2009/02/world-of-solitaire-status-updateHiya everyone!<br><br>I'm sorry I haven't blogged in so long.<br>I've been pretty busy in 'real life' over the past few months. I met my first girlfriend ever about 2 years ago, and we are getting married in April! I'm also moving into a new place. So I've been pretty busy :)<br><br>Just wanted to give a quick update on World of Solitaire.<br><br>We've recently surpassed 100 million played hands. That's quite a milestone!<br>I run World of Solitaire for fun and so I can share fun with others, and I certainly think a lot of people out there are having fun :)<br><br>As far as updates to the World of Solitaire site, the #1 requested feature (BY FAR) is a Top 10 list of 'percent won'.<br>This is on the top of my to-do list.<br>To make room for this new list, I will probably cut the "Total Number Won" list from 25 to 10.<br><br>I'm not sure I'll be able to get it in before I get married as I'm busy packing, planning, etc.<br>I do however intend to try and accomplish it after I get back from the honeymoon :)<br><br>I hope that everyone out there is enjoying the games :)7 New Games! Plus other improvements2008-06-07T14:34:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2008/06/7-new-games-plus-other-improvementsIt's been a while since I've made my last blog post.<br>These past two months have been very busy for me in real life and I haven't had much time to spend working on improving World of Solitaire.<br><br>Things have quieted down recently, and that has allowed me to add some new games and features to the site.<br><br>7 new games are now available!<br>These include:<br><ul><li>Royal Parade</li><li>Easthaven</li><li>Easthaven (Kings Only)</li><li>Double Easthaven</li><li>Double Easthaven (Kings Only)</li><li>Triple Easthaven</li><li>Triple Easthaven (Kings Only)</li></ul>I have also enhanced the 'Select Game' browser.<br>You'll notice on the left a new folder: 'Games - Recently Played'<br>This folder will show your last 5 played games this session.<br><br>In addition, due to the growing list of games, I have reorganized the folders a bit.<br>The Alphabetical folder is now lower in the list in order to reveal that additional categories are available from which to browse for games.<br><br>If you take a look at the 'Games - by Time' and 'Games - by Difficulty' folders you'll notice they are have descriptions now as to what the different levels mean.<br>I've also went through all the games and corrected their Time and Difficulty information to more closely match the statistical information. I believe the information is MUCH more accurate now.<br><br>It's been a lot of fun seeing World of Solitaire grow over the past few months.<br><br>I want to thank everyone who has sent me an e-mail or made a comment on my blog.<br>Your input is greatly appreciated :)<br><br>I hope everyone continues to enjoy playing :)New Records! New 'Browse Decks' feature!2008-03-31T08:44:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2008/03/new-records-new-browse-decks-featureAt some time over the weekend a World of Solitaire player made the 1 BILLIONTH move!<br>Also on Sunday<day> at <time>2:51 PM, Anonymous User #</time></day>762,803<day><time><user> won a game of Klondike (Turn Three)<game> marking the 2 millionth won hand!<br><br>This weekend I introduced a few changes to the World of Solitaire interface.<br>First notice that the 'Decks' menu now only shows 4 decks instead of 8.<br>There is a new option in the 'Decks' menu to 'See More Decks...'<br>Clicking on the 'See More Decks...' menu brings up a Decks window that lets you browse all the available decks in a much more visual manner. You can examine all the different cards that make up the deck seeing them in much greater quality than before.<br><br>If your wondering why I did this... you'll have to wait a while longer. I have a new feature coming to this 'Decks' window that I'm really excited about.<br><br>For those of you out there using larger computer screens, I've added </game></user></time></day>larger<day><time><user><game> sized deck images for 7 of the 8 decks on the site. This means playing with a bigger screen should result in a much nicer looking experience.<br><br>I really hope everyone continues to enjoy playing at World of Solitaire :)</game></user></time></day>Three new games! Deck Usage Statistics2008-03-29T17:08:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2008/03/three-new-games-deck-usage-statisticsHello everyone!<br><br>I've just finished implementing three new games:<br><ul><li>Eight Off</li><li>Baker's Game</li><li>Baker's Game (Kings Only)</li></ul>They are similar to FreeCell. Eight Off is one of the more popular Solitaire games, I hadn't played it until today, but I find it a lot of fun!<br><br>I was thinking about decks lately, and decided to put together a pie chart showing deck usage statistics:<br><img src="/blog/2008/03/three-new-games-deck-usage-statistics/newchart.png"/></a><br><br>As you can see, the default deck for the site, Paris is the most popular.<br>Seeing the 'Anglo American' deck be in second place really surprised me! I really figured I'd see Ornamental higher.<br><br>I'm working on some new features for the site that I'm pretty sure you are all going to love :)<br>I hope it doesn't take too long. I'll of course make a blog post once I've put the new feature live on the site :)<br><br>Until next time... thanks for playing and I hope you all continue to have fun :)6 New Games! Other Improvements2008-03-23T17:05:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2008/03/6-new-games-other-improvementsI wanted to let everyone know that since my last post just a few days ago, I've added 6 new games to the site.<br>They include:<br><br>Cruel (Traditional Redeal)<br>Double Klondike (Turn One)<br>Double Klondike (Turn Three)<br>Triple Klondike (Turn One)<br>Triple Klondike (Turn Three)<br><br>The new Klondike's are basically just 2 and 3 deck variants of the regular Klondike.<br>The 'Traditional Redeal' version of Cruel redeals cards the same way the original Windows 3.1 game redealt cards. It's a lot easier to play than the regular 'Cruel' version which is a more modern redeal approach similar to the way several more recent Solitaire games implement it.<br><br>I've also shortened the updates for Global Statistics and Leaderboards to every 5 minutes instead of every 10.<br>Several minor bugs have also been fixed such as the leaderboards not showing all of the top 10 and the timeline graphs looking inaccurate.<br><br>We are getting close to having our 20 millionth hand dealt!<br>Also each day we get closer to having our 1 BILLIONTH move made!<br><br>I want to thank everyone that I received e-mails from. Whether it be bug reports, suggestions or just 'job well done' e-mails, I really love getting them. It helps to keep me going :)<br><br>I hope everyone continues to have fun playing :)New Game - Cruel, Statistics Improvements2008-03-17T08:04:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2008/03/new-game-cruel-statistics-improvementsIt's been about a month or so since my last post, thought I'd give a quick update.<br><br>I fixed the statistics code that was responsible for showing up to date Timeline graphs of hands played. There should be up to date timeline graphs now for all the games.<br><br>Also, I've added a new game, Cruel.<br><br>A user requested this and so I went ahead and added it in this past weekend.<br><br>If anyone would like to request a Solitaire game be added, just comment here or e-mail me: <a href="mailto:robert@cosmicrealms.com">robert@cosmicrealms.com</a><br><br>The site continues to do well. More and more people are coming each and every day.<br><br>I really hope everyone out there is having fun playing :)Leaderboard Improvements2008-02-15T21:14:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2008/02/leaderboard-improvementsI wanted to let everyone know about some improvements I've just made to the Leaderboards.<br><br>Instead of showing multiple users in the Fewest Moves and Shortest Time To Win boards, it now only shows one entry for a user per board, their best entry. This allows lots of other people to compete for placement on the boards.<br><br>All global statistics, including the Leaderboards, now update every 10 minutes!<br>I think everyone agrees that this is much better than the previous 6 hour update delay.<br><br>I'm still working on the Timeline graphs. Those are currently are not going to show up at all or are out of date. I'll let you all know once I've fixed those as well (those may take a bit more time to correct).<br><br>That's it for this update... I hope you are all having fun :)Undo/Auto Play Changes, Speed Improvements2008-02-13T22:29:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2008/02/undoauto-play-changes-speed-improvementsI wanted to let everyone know that I have changed the way Auto Play and Undo are handled.<br><br>Now when you Undo, it will just undo 1 move. The last move made.<br>If that move was one done by the Auto Play system, then Auto Play will not make another move until after you've made a move.<br><br>This means if Auto Play makes three moves in a row, you can now undo just one or two of them and choose to play the card you undid too differently.<br><br>This was requested by many players and I agree that it's much better this way.<br><br>Also I've been receiving reports that pulling up the statistics is a lot slower now a days.<br>I've spent most of the night coding a new system for storing statistics on the server, one that makes retrieving some of the statistics MUCH faster.<br><br>So you should now see the 'Most Played Games' pie and the 'Stats' section come up really really quickly.<br><br>The 'Timeline' statistic has been disabled until I have a chance to improve it's speed. It may be disabled for a few days.<br><br>I intended to do some other changes too but didn't have time. I'm sure I'll be in the mood to do more changes in the future so keep your eyes open :)<br><br>I hope you all are enjoying the games!Four New Games!2008-01-26T10:57:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2008/01/four-new-gamesI've just implemented four new games!<br><br>La Belle Lucie<br>Three Shuffles and a Draw<br>Trefoil<br>Trefoil and a Draw<br><br>They are basically the same game with just slight variations in rules. Enjoy!10 Million Hands! New Games! Feature Enhancements!2008-01-24T21:26:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2008/01/10-million-hands-new-games-feature-enhancementsOn Tuesday January 22nd at 1:54PM, Anonymous User #488,131 dealt World of Solitaire's 10 MILLIONTH hand of Solitaire!<br><br>I want to thank everyone for playing! I really hope that you are all enjoying the games!<br><br>As a celebration, I have made some improvements!<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">1) </span>Two new games!<br>Tri Peaks and Tri Peaks Strict. These were requested by a player and I'm pleased to add them to the site. Keep those game requests coming, you can e-mail them to me at <a href="mailto:robert@cosmicrealms.com">robert@cosmicrealms.com</a><br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">2) </span>The Undo Move feature have been enhanced!<br>A common annoyance was after the computer auto played a card, when you chose 'Undo Move' it undid the move the computer made, but then the computer went and made the same exact move again. This made it impossible to undo further back in time unless you clicked Undo Move several times in rapid succession or you turned Auto Play off.<br><br>Now whenever you Undo a move, it will always Undo the last move that YOU made.<br>That means if the computer just finished automatically making 3 moves, when you Undo those three moves and the move that you made before that will be undone. This should make the Undo Move feature much more useful.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">3)</span> The Auto Play feature has been enhanced!<br>Auto Play used to automatically make moves at the start of the game, which resulted in the Timer to start before you even got a chance to look at the board.<br>Now Auto Play will not make any moves until you've made the first move. This should give you the ability to look over the board first and plan any strategy.<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">4)</span> Sultan now uses the Auto Play feature!<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;">5)</span> Golf and Golf Relaxed no longer require you to clear the Stock in order to win.<br>Just clearing the Tableau spots is now enough to win (since clearing the Stock is trivial).<br><br><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><br>In addition to the five items mentioned above, I've also cleaned up some of the statistic graphs in order to be read more easily.<br><br>I also fixed a bug a few days ago that caused Spider to sometimes be un-winnable due to having some 'extra cards' left at the end. This bug caused many headaches for many players and it was a difficult one to solve. I'm fairly confident it's squashed now :)<br><br>Each and every day brings more and more players to World of Solitaire.<br><br>I hope you all continue to enjoy playing!New Help Feature2008-01-15T09:27:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2008/01/new-help-featureJust wanted to pop in and talk a bit about the new help feature I just implemented.<br><br>In the top right corner of the game you'll see a big blue question mark.<br>If you click on this question mark, the rules for the game you are currently playing will appear on the right hand side of the screen.<br>You can click on the question mark again to make the rules go away again.<br><br>You can resize the rules box by grabbing the left hand side of the rules box (the vertical grey bar) and dragging left or right.<br><br>You'll also notice in the rules little magnifying glasses. If you move your mouse over them, the game will highlight the areas that correspond to that section of the rules.<br><br>I hope that this new feature will make it easier for everyone to learn the different versions of Solitaire on the site.<br><br>Enjoy playing everyone :)New Year, New Server, New Deck2008-01-10T09:12:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2008/01/new-year-new-server-new-deckSo as we start to creep into 2008 World of Solitaire has gone through some new changes.<br><br>Firstly, the server move is complete and we are now on new hardware. This means that statistics are back to being calculated every 3 hours rather than once a day. The new server should also allow growth to continue at the rate that it has been over the past several months.<br><br>Secondly, I've done some cleanup of the statistics removing entries that were impossible to achieve. Based on user feedback and what I see I think there are still some bugs in this area and I'll be taking further looks at this in the future to try and correct these issues.<br><br>Lastly, I have added a new deck! It's basically the same as the 'Oxygen' deck except with a white background and slightly easier to look at coloring. I hope you all enjoy it.<br><br>What is in store for World of Solitaire for 2008?<br>I plan to continue to add new game types. It would be great if I could double the number of games available before the end of the year.<br>I also plan to re-write the instructions for each game to be more clear and consistent. Maybe even go so far as to have an animated tutorial of sorts to show how the games are played.<br><br>I want to thank you all for playing. I'm really pleased with how many people are enjoying the site and hope that you continue to have fun in 2008!<br><br>Happy new year everyone :)Speed and Statistics2008-01-03T09:02:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2008/01/speed-and-statisticsAs World of Solitaire has continued to grow over these past few months, stress on the server has also been increasing.<br>Some of you may have noticed small glitches where the delay to login may be very long, or the site in general will take some time to first load.<br>Also statistics have been slower to generate. Global Statistics were once calculated live, then they were calculated every 3 hours and just recently it has been changed to once a day updates.<br><br>It should come as good news to everyone that a new, faster server is on the way.<br>I hope that within a few days I'll have World of Solitaire moved over to the new server which should solve most of the issues I described above.<br><br>In addition if you've seen the Leaderboard, there are some scores that seem... well... not quite possible.<br>Thanks to user e-mails and further investigation it does appear that some scores are simply impossible to be legit, such as solving Klondike in under 52 moves.<br>Along with the new server will also come a clean-up in any erroneous statistics.<br><br>This means the leader board will change and you may find yourself ranked higher than before.<br><br>Thank you all for playing World of Solitaire. I really hope that you are having a good time playing.<br>If anyone has any comments, suggestions or new solitaire game requests, please feel free to either comment on this post or e-mail me at: <a href="mailto:robert@cosmicrealms.com">robert@cosmicrealms.com</a><br><br>Thanks again :)3 New Games! 6 Million Hands Dealt!!2007-12-14T19:12:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2007/12/3-new-games-6-million-hands-dealtWow. It's already been over a month since my last update to this blog. Seems like just yesterday :)<br><br>Since the last blog update, World of Solitaire has been doing great.<br>I've added three new games, Clock, Sultan and just today, Flower Garden.<br><br>More amazingly is that the game continues to grow in popularity.<br>Since the last update the number of hands dealt on the site has DOUBLED from 3 million to over 6 million today.<br><br>The 6 millionth hand was a game of Golf dealt to user Skeletor54 on December 13th 2007 at 5:19PM.<br><br>I'm really happy that so many people are enjoying the site, it's turned out so well. It's far surpassed any expectations I had when I first started developing it several months ago.<br><br>I want to thank all the players that play, without your feedback (both in e-mails and blog comments), bug reports and comments the site wouldn't be where it is today. So THANK YOU.<br><br>Until next update... enjoy playing!<br><br>*** UPDATE: I fixed a bug that caused games like Pyramid not to work. I accidentally introduced the bug last night with the new game. Sorry about that :)New Deck and another milestone!2007-11-05T19:49:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2007/11/new-deck-and-another-milestoneWhen I first started World of Solitaire, I had no idea it would be so popular.<br><br>40 days after launching the site, 1 million hands had already been dealt.<br>34 days after that another million hands had been dealt.<br><br>Today I announce that on November 3, 2007 at 7:31PM that Anonymous user #233,297 was dealt the 3 millionth hand in a game of "Klondike (Turn One)"!<br>That's only 17 days since the 2 million mark!<br><br>I want to thank everyone for playing and I hope you are all having fun.<br><br>In celebration of this event I've updated the game with a new deck!<br>This deck is called 'Animals' and has a bit of a playful/cutesy theme.<br><br>I've also vastly improved the speed for viewing statistics. The trade off for this speed is that the Global and Leaderboard statistics are now only updated once every three hours.<br>Your personal statistics are still shown in real-time.<br><br>Over the past month or two I've also received some reports about the game not loading up correctly. The progress bar when you first load the game was getting stuck for some people which prevented them from being able to play. I've changed the way I preload the card images and I hope that this progress bar will no longer become stuck.<br>Let me know if anyone experiences any problems.<br><br>Enjoy playing! :)2 Month Anniversary! 2 Million Hands Dealt!2007-10-17T08:12:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2007/10/2-month-anniversary-2-million-hands-dealt<a href="https://worldofsolitaire.com/">World of Solitaire</a> has reached another milestone! Over 2 million hands have been dealt!<br><br>The 2 millionth hand was a game of 'Klondike Turn 3' dealt to Anonymous User #196,888 at 2:19 AM this morning, October 17th 2007.<br><br>Over 86 million moves have been made and traffic has been increasing ever since launch!<br>I am really pleased that so many people are having fun playing on the site, it makes it all worth it.<br><br>Today is also the 2 month anniversary since World of Solitaire first went live!<br><br>I want to thank everyone who plays for playing as without you I wouldn't have the motivation I had to make the site into what it is today.<br><br>You may have noticed it's been almost a full month since my last update. I've been taking a little break from development and just been enjoying 'real life' for a bit. I still welcome all feature ideas or new game suggestions as I write them down in a to-do list.<br><br>I hope everyone continues to have fun playing! :)1 Million Hands Dealt!2007-09-24T08:18:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2007/09/1-million-hands-dealtLast night at 7:38PM CDT time, World of Solitaire dealt it's 1 MILLIONTH hand!<br><br>The user who was dealt the 1 millionth hand was an anonymous user, User #50,758<br><br>The server move is pretty much complete at this point and the site should respond better during peak use times.<br><br>My plans for the site over the next few weeks/months is to add more and more game variations while continuing to fix bugs that are reported.<br><br>I'd like to thank everyone who plays for help making the site a success! I am glad that you are all enjoying playing and I hope you continue to have fun :)Speed Improvements Coming2007-09-21T17:59:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2007/09/speed-improvements-coming<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">*UPDATE - Sat Sep 22nd*</span><br>Part 1 of the server move is complete. The database is now running on a different more powerful server and the statistics should be a bit quicker now.<br>Part 2 will take place silently in the background over the next few days the web server moves to the new box. After that is complete things should be much faster :)<br><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 255);">*END UPDATE*</span><br><br>So over the past few weeks I've watched the World of Solitaire become more and more popular as more and more players visit and play each day.<br>During certain moments the site can become slow and the statistics are as you know very slow to load.<br><br>Well after forecasting traffic patterns, I've determined I need to get a new server to sustain the traffic and provide a faster experience :)<br><br>So over the next week I will be working behind the scenes to get the new server up and running.<br>You won't notice anything until I'm just about ready to switch over to the new server. This will require having Statistics and Login be offline (the game will still work fine though) for a few hours one of these days coming up.<br><br>When I get closer to knowing when that is I'll let you know. I'll also make sure the site shows a message (bottom center of the board) when the move is taking place.<br><br>Thank you all for making World of Solitaire a success and I hope you all continue to have fun playing :)New Deck and Updated Card Graphics2007-09-16T16:32:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2007/09/new-deck-and-updated-card-graphicsWorld of Solitaire's first custom made hand-drawn deck is now live!<br><br>Call the 'Majestic' deck, players should see it under the 'Deck' menu.<br><br>Here is some of the beautiful art of this deck:<br><a href="/blog/2007/09/new-deck-and-updated-card-graphics/majestic2.png"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="/blog/2007/09/new-deck-and-updated-card-graphics/majestic_preview2.png" /></a><br><a href="/blog/2007/09/new-deck-and-updated-card-graphics/majestic1.png"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="/blog/2007/09/new-deck-and-updated-card-graphics/majestic_preview1.png" /></a><br><br>I hope you all enjoy the new deck!<br><br>In addition to the new deck I've enhanced all the decks to support some icons that will help clarify what all the 'bases/foundations' are for the different games.<br><br>Now foundations where you can build upon have this image:<br><img src="/blog/2007/09/new-deck-and-updated-card-graphics/foundation_icon.png"/><br><br>If a stack base allows you to click to 'redeal' cards you will see this image:<br><img src="/blog/2007/09/new-deck-and-updated-card-graphics/redeal_icon.png" /><br><br>Once you have exhausted the number of deals your allowed for that particular game the redeal icon will change into:<br><img src="/blog/2007/09/new-deck-and-updated-card-graphics/stop_icon.png" /><br><br>I hope these new icons will make what the different stacks in the game do a bit more apparent players who are new to that particular game.<br><br>I've also fixed several bugs that folks have let me know about! Thank you very much everyone for your comments and e-mails!<br><br>I hope you continue to enjoy playing :)New Feature! Plus something special!2007-09-14T22:42:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2007/09/new-feature-plus-something-specialBased on player requests, I've implemented a new feature! The options you pick (deck, background, options, etc) are now saved with your username.<br>This means that you can login to another computer and your options will automatically load.<br>This also allows multiple people to play on the same computer. Whenever you login your options will be loaded and whenever you change any options they will automatically be saved.<br><br>Well... that's the new feature... and now it's time for something special.<br>I've been working with several artists over the past few weeks and I'm pleased to say that coming very soon is a brand new deck! A deck hand drawn just for World of Solitaire!<br><br>Here is a sneak preview:<br><a href="/blog/2007/09/new-feature-plus-something-special/fairy.png"><img src="/blog/2007/09/new-feature-plus-something-special/fairy_preview.png"></a><br><br>So stay tuned.<br><br>I also wanted to thank you all for commenting and on my blog posts and sending e-mails.<br>Player feedback is what keeps me motivated :)<br><br>I hope you all are enjoying playing! :)Welcome new players!2007-09-12T17:41:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2007/09/welcome-new-playersThis morning a very popular newsletter linked to the World of Solitaire which brought over 15,000 new visitors to the site.<br>To those that are new... welcome!<br><br>The new visitors also brought with them increased traffic to the server which caused the game to be much slower than normal through most of the morning.<br>Things appears to be a back to normal now however.<br><br>Also, several new players attempted to register and received errors.<br>I've spent that past few hours looking into this and I believe I have fixed the errors with the registration system.<br><br>Let me know if anyone out there is still experiencing issues!<br><br>Both new and existing players alike, I hope you are all enjoying the game! :)Random Number Bug Fixed2007-09-10T17:56:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2007/09/random-number-bug-fixedThanks all to who posted a comment in response to my first thread.<br><br>Special thanks to 'Anonymous' who suggested that there may be a flaw in the randomization of the cards.<br><br>After reading their comment, I investigated the random number generator in more depth.<br>I created a page to test the deck shuffling and create a visual result so I could clearly see if any non-random trends were evident.<br><br>To my surprise, there WAS a bug!<br><br>The shuffler tended to favor keeping like numbered cards together and deal lower numbered cards before higher ones.<br><br>I've just implemented new randomizing code that appears to be much more random.<br>I cannot see any trends at all with this new code and truly appears to be random.<br><br>Sorry about the bug folks, but they happen :)<br><br>Thanks to everyone who is playing and I love receiving e-mails from you.<br>Bug reports, praise or any other type of feedback is welcomed!Welcome!2007-09-09T17:58:00https://worldofsolitaire.com/blog/2007/09/welcomeWelcome World of Solitaire players!<br><br>I decided to create this blog in order to better communicate to all of you about changes that may be made to the game.<br>I plan to continue updating the change log, however I thought that a blog would allow me to be more descriptive about larger changes and would give you players the opportunity to comment on them.<br><br>I launched World of Solitaire about 3 weeks ago, around August 18th 2007.<br>Since launching over 63,000 unique users have visited World of Solitaire and 400 have registered.<br><br>I hope everyone is enjoying playing!