Friday, November 03, 2006

Impossible Mission

This screenshot comes from the Solitaire game in Clubhouse Games, and it's about as close as I've come to actually completing it. Solitaire is usually one of those card games that any schmuck can solve after about five minutes of practice, but this version is damned near impossible.

Here's my real problem. Clubhouse Games offers three main game modes: Free Play, Stamp, and Mission. Stamp mode is my favorite, and shuttles you through a rising tier of games, starting easy and becoming gradually more challenging. In order to pass each section, you need three stamps, and even if you lose a game, you'll still get one stamp. It's not really meant to be anything more than a primer for all the various games that you'll be playing online, which is where the real action is.

There are five levels, with ten challenges each. I've managed to blow through all of them with ease, until I get to level 4-8, Solitaire. Now I'm stuck, and I don't know if I'm going to get past this. I may just throw up my hands and give up on Stamp altogether. If only I didn't have one more game to unlock. That pretty much means I'll have to figure out how to beat the stupid thing.

Have I mentioned how rediculously hard this Solitaire is? I think it's mostly because you have to deal three cards at a time, and are only able to use the top card. I only played this game once about a dozen years ago, when I was putting together one of my old fanzines on the computer. I figured the thing out, and solved it in about five or ten minutes. I've never touched Solitaire since; what would be the point? The whole reason for playing escapes me. Isn't this just a fancy way or reshuffling the deck?

Solitaire is a good indication that you need a real hobby. That's probably why the Clubhouse designers made it so damned hard. Jerks.

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