People use Windows 95 to help them get their work done. Windows 95 is not an end unto itself; when you use Windows 95, you use it to launch programs and manage documents. To be proficient with Windows 95 means that you are proficient at starting programs, using the mouse, selecting from Windows 95-style menus, as well as performing many other tasks that improve the way you work with your computer.
If Windows 95 is for serious computing, then why are we wasting time with games?
Between each of this book's four major sections is a time-out from your 24-hour tutorial. You'll have fun with Windows 95 during these time-outs. The reason for these time-outs is three-fold:
These time-outs are not heavy and long. The time-outs simply get you started running the program and give you overviews of the programs' operations.
JUST A MINUTE: Once you get started, you can access the programs' online help to get detailed help, if you need it. You'll probably need little help, though, because these programs are easy to use.
Follow these steps to start the Solitaire game:
Figure T1.1.
The Solitaire game that you can play during your time-out.
Figure T1.2.
The Select Card Back box offers you a variety of card styles.
You can now start the game. The purpose of Solitaire is to place all of the cards in the four blank areas in the upper-right area of the screen. These four stacks are called the suit stacks because each area will eventually hold a stack of cards from the same suit.
You must build the suit stacks from Ace (the low card) to the King (the high card). Once you've sent all 52 cards from the rest of the screen to the suit stacks, you win the game and see an animated card dance. (Winning is not easy and requires both luck and skill.)
If an Ace appears anywhere on the screen, at any time, you can double-click that Ace to send the Ace to start a new suit stack. Once you send an Ace you can then send a two, three, and so on, until you build the entire suit in each stack. Whenever you see the next card from any of the suit stacks, you can double-click that card to put the card on the stack. In Figure T1.1, there are no Aces showing so you cannot put a card on a suit stack yet. You'll have to begin rearranging and displaying cards in the lower portion of the screen to find cards to send to the suit stack.
TIME SAVER:: You also can drag the card from the lower area of the screen to the suit stack. After playing Solitaire for a while, you'll be a pro at dragging with the mouse.
Before building on a suit stack, you've got to find cards on the screen that go there. The seven stacks of cards, called the row stacks, that you see in the middle of the screen build downward. Row stacks are made from high cards to low cards and alternate from red to black. In other words, you always can place a red 8 on a black 9, and you always can place a black Queen on a red King.
If you can drag and drop a card on any of the seven row stacks to another stack,
you should do so. For example, study Figure T1.1. The 2 of hearts (a red card) can
be dragged to the 3 of clubs (a black card). Dragging the red 2 to the black 3 produces
the screen shown in
Figure T1.3.
Figure T1.3.
A row stack is beginning to grow.
There are cards left but still face down where the 10 of hearts originally resided.
Click on the hidden row stack to uncover the next card. If the card is an Ace, you
can place that Ace on a suit stack as described earlier. If the card can go on a
row stack, you can drag the card there. If nothing can be done with the card at this
time, look elsewhere for a card.
TIME SAVER:: You can move more than one card from one row stack to another. For example, in Figure T1.4, the entire third row stack of shown cards can go to the fourth stack because a red 3 of diamonds (the 3's suit) can go to a 4 of spades (a black card). Therefore, you can click and drag the 3, which drags all other cards below the 3, to the 4's row stack.
Figure T1.4.
You can move entire row stacks to other stacks.
After you've rearranged and built the row stacks (and possibly added cards to the
suit stack)
as far as you can with the displayed cards, you'll have to deal from the deck in the upper-left corner. Click the deck to deal cards.
CAUTION: Solitaire always deals three cards at a time, as is the standard Solitaire rule. You can change the number of cards dealt through the Options menu if you want to change the way you play the game.
If you can place the card showing on top of the three dealt cards on a suit stack or a row stack, you can drag the card to that location. If you can do nothing with the dealt card, you'll have to deal again. Once you deal all the cards, you can deal once again by clicking on the deal stack twice. Solitaire monitors all your moves to ensure that you don't place the wrong card some-where. If you attempt to move a card where it does not belong, Solitaire will move the card back.
The game continues until you complete all four suit stacks, or until you run through all the dealt cards without being able to drag one to another stack. Solitaire keeps track of a score in the lower-right corner as you play your cards. The faster you win a game, the higher the score.
