Sakhmet Solitaire: The Guide

But, if you ever find yourself in a fit of rage, wanting to take one of Osiris' lovely urns and smash it into smithereens, you might want to take a look at this guide. The game of solitaire can be frustrating; you often lose many more games than you win. So, head over to the Food Tent and grab yourself a Coltzans Shrine Ice Cream Cone to help cool down your body and your temper, and then get back here to learn some useful tips that will (hopefully) help you finally win a game of Solitaire!

The Basic Structure

There are four different piles of cards on the table: Draw Piles, Stack Piles, Column Piles, and Ace Piles.

The draw pile is located in the upper-left corner of the game. The majority of the cards are in this pile, waiting for you to move them to one of the other piles. You have the choice between drawing three cards at a time or one card at a time. Personally, I prefer drawing three cards at a time because the cards that you pass up will often show up again. If you only draw one card at a time, then you see each card only once throughout the game, which is not very helpful at all.

The stack pile is just to the right of the draw pile, and it is where you will see the cards that you draw. Nothing really interesting about this pile, frankly.

The column piles are across the bottom of the screen, with 1 to 7 cards already in each pile at the beginning of the game. In these piles, you will build stacks of cards that consist of both the cards already in the stack piles, and the cards that you draw from the draw piles. Your stacks go in the basic order of King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, and Ace. However, when building these stacks, you must alternate the colors of the cards. So, when you have a red King, it must be followed by a black Queen.

Last but not least, we have the Ace Piles. They can be found in the top right corner of the screen, and there are only four of them (one for each suit). When you complete your stacks, you move them up to these piles. Each pile should begin with the Ace and move up the line. When you make these piles, though, you DO NOT alternate color or suit. All diamonds should be with diamonds, hearts with hearts, etc.

The Gameplay

Now that you have learned the structure of the game (and likely finished your ice cream, too), we will move on to the interesting part: how to actually play the game. This section might be a bit long, so I'd recommend grabbing yourself a nice Cheops Fruit or Scarab Cookie before proceeding with your reading. (In case you didn't notice, that last bit rhymed. Clever, eh?)

When you begin the game, you might find yourself in awe of the large amount of piles across the screen. Do not fret! (And don't cry either... keyboards don't quite like to get wet.) The game is actually quite simple. You'll want to start off by looking at your column piles and seeing if there are any cards that can be paired up already. For instance, you might find a black four and a red three located on the screen. So, you would click on the three to select it, and then click on the four to place it in the stack with the four. There, you've already got yourself a whopping... oh wait, you don't get any points for that. But it's still quite important, even if you don't feel like you're achieving all that much.

After you've exhausted all your options in the column piles, shift your sights towards the draw pile. If you click on it once, you will see a card pop up. Hopefully, this card will be one that you need to create a stack. If it is, click on it and move it underneath a card in your column pile to add it to the stack. It's that simple! But remember, you can only click on the draw pile seven times in the first round and six times in both the second and final rounds. So be sure to strategically draw cards, and only draw when you need them. Sometimes you'll find that, after you add a card that you've drawn to one of your column piles, you'll be able to take more cards from the columns and add them to the stacks.

Once you've completed a stack, you can start moving it up into the Ace piles. Each card that you place in the Ace pile will earn you 10 points. However, the Aces themselves will give you 20. If you get each pile completed, from Aces all the way up the Kings, you will have beaten the game (and earned yourself a nice bit of neopoints). When this happens, go ahead and scream in joy. You deserve it! After all those long hours of endless clicking and groaning, you've managed to beat the game! You might want to head on over to the Scratch Cards tent and see if your newly-discovered luck will grant you a prize there, too.

Useful Tips and Hints

When I play, I use a specific strategy that I have developed over a long period of time. (Really, it's not that hard. I just like to pretend that I'm some kind of genius for using this strategy that is probably not even all that original.) Basically, I build the stacks as usual in the column piles, but I always move the Aces and Twos up into the Ace piles as I get them. Therefore, I only build the stacks from Kings to 3s. I find that this helps free up space in the columns at times.

If you find yourself with no draws left, don't hit that "Collect Winnings" button just yet! Make sure that there aren't any cards in the columns that can be moved up to the Ace piles. There often is at least one card that you can move up, and sometimes it allows you to continue on with the game and make more moves!

I also like to stretch my fingers after every round. If you play too many games in a row without doing this, you'll find yourself with sore fingers for the next hour or so!

Lastly, go slow! If you start busting out moves like there's no tomorrow, you're more than likely to miss something important. Even if you're on a roll, feeling like you're almost winning, DO NOT start moving faster. This game requires a lot of thought, and it is quite easy to skip over cards only to find that you actually needed them. There's nothing more frustrating than realizing you made a mistake and can't go back!

Adieu

Hopefully, after reading this guide, you've come to learn more about the lovely game of Sakhmet Solitaire. Maybe you already knew everything here (which makes me wonder why you even needed the guide to begin with), and maybe you discovered something new. If you are dedicated to playing this game, you'll surely receive a nice, shiny trophy to add to your cabinet! And you'll also reserve the rights to wander around Sakhmet and brag about your recent win.