** 1 page review / 797 words **

Desktop Solitaire

** KLONDIKE.GIF here
** RD11.IMG to right **

Jonathon Adams tries his Patience...

On the Atari platform we're used to taking the best ideas from 
other platforms and improving on them. Desktop Solitaire is 
different - it's a way to spend hours in front of your machine 
achieving absolutely nothing - much like Windows!

However, in the spirit of "anything they can do we can do better" 
Desktop Solitaire delivers the goods, offering no less than eight 
different variations and three difficulty levels of this time 
honoured game. If you know your Solitaire you'll be interested to 
learn the variations included are: Baker's Dozen, Demon, 
Fourteens, Golf, Poker Square, Pyramid, Scorpion and Klondike - 
the most common variation. Happily the rules for each variation 
are explained in the 16 page manual.

There was a time when most games wouldn't run under Windows and in 
a spooky cross platform parallel there was a time when most games 
wouldn't run under GEM either! Recently the situation has improved 
with a slow but steady trickle of games which run happily under 
GEM and, you've guessed it, Desktop Solitaire is one of these. It 
also runs on just about any Atari compatible machine capable of 
running 640x480 resolution or higher. This neatly rules out 
standard STs and seems a monumental shot in the foot but there it 
is.

** 640x480.GIF here

There's not much to say about the gameplay - if you haven't played 
Solitaire (or Patience as it's more commonly called in the UK) 
you're not likely to buy this anyway and if you have it's 
effectively the same as playing the real thing.

If you get the game "out" you're "rewarded" with a Congratulations 
dialog - no bouncy cards like the Windows version but let's face 
it, you're not playing this game for thrills - otherwise it 
wouldn't be called Patience would it? On the other hand, you can 
redeal instantly, which saves picking up the cards and shuffling 
them, so just consider this your reward - OK?

If you're feeling creative you can change the background or design 
a set of cards from scratch. Maybe a cuddly set of themed cards on 
animals, trains or even a risqu‚ set of naked ladies - like that 
pack I had confiscated back in my schooldays! The individual 
cards, the design on the back of the cards and the desktop 
background are waiting for your attention in a single image.

** CARDS.GIF here

The images are saved in Prism Paint/True Paint format so you'll 
need need an art package capable of loading and saving this 
format. Some paint packages will only recognise the card sets as 
images if the file extenders are renamed to PNT or TPI. 
Alternatively a conversion utility can be used as go-between 
between your favourite art package and the final image format. I 
used Imagecopy and PixArt.

** IC_CONV.GIF here

A complete card set is made up from three images, one for mono 
resolutions (DEFAULT.CS1), one for 16 colour resolutions 
(DEFAULT.CS4) and a 256 colour image (DEFAULT.CS8) - which also 
works at 24-bit screen depth. If you only run in 256 colour 
resolutions you only need to create an alternative DEFAULT.CS8 
file although it's easy enough to generate a usable 16 colour 
version from this image using Imagecopy's dithering options.

Conclusions

Desktop Solitaire looks great and is the best version I've played 
on any Atari machine. It's the ideal game to while away idle 
moments and because it runs under MagiC and Geneva you can play a 
game between other tasks without needing to quit applications or 
reboot. Sadly it doesn't run as a desktop accessory which means 
TOS owners can't enjoy the same luxury.
I'd like to see the next version support at least one of the 
standard ST resolutions and run from floppy. Maybe a 16 colour 
card set running via a virtual desktop or a mono set running in 
640x400 (ST-high).

** boxout **
Play your cards right!

If you come up with a set of themed cards you think will appeal to 
a wider audience then please send them to us. Subject to mutual 
agreement we'll offer a copy of the complete commercial release in 
exchange for the rights to distribute and/or modify your set.
** /boxout **


** product boxout **
Desktop Solitaire v1.02

Publisher
Kordes Development

Distribution
Systems For Tomorrow
PO Box 3034, Independence MO, 64055, USA
Tel: (816)833-4738
Fax: (816)252-3611
Email: sales@SystemsForTomorrow.com
http://www.SystemsForTomorrow.com

UK Dealer
Atari Computing

Cost
19.99 US$ plus $2 shipping world-wide
œ10.99 - refer to Reader Offers on page 9

Requires
640x480 minimum resolution, TOS 2.06 or later, 2Mb memory (4Mb in 
TrueColor), hard disk drive.

Pros
Runs under TOS, MagiC, Geneva, N.AES, Milan and graphic cards.

Cons
No use to standard ST owners, only one card set.

76%
** /product boxout **

** Other images **
** 4TEENS.GIF
** BAKERS12.GIF
** GOLF.GIF
** PYRAMID.GIF