A large, free collection of Solitaire games in open and cross-platform format. 215 variations out of the box.

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Read the entire SoliLuxe in-game manual HERE.
Read the SoliLuxe book of solitaire rules HERE.

SoliLuxe News
(most recent first)

February 8, 2012: Further Version 2.70 Progress Report...

...and we're done, more or less. The game counter now reads '300'! Of those, 20 are mahjong solitaire layouts.

As far as changes go, we found the time to include yet another biggie: All game animations and event timings have been revised searching for speed improvements, and the number of times the game now actually blocks new player input due to "already doing something else" has been more or less cut in half. This further reduces any annoynessness (yes, it's a word, I just invented it) still left in the player interface.

Sadly, all these big under-the-hood alterations mean we now have to perform a complete regression test. In layman's terms, this means we get to play all 300 games all over again (yay!) to make sure we haven't broken something crucial in the process. This will take some time, sorry 'about that!

January 21, 2012: Version 2.70 Progress Report

Things are chugging along nicely here at Solitaire HQ. 72 new games in place, 13 more to go!

In addition to the additions mentioned below (January 4), we have still more changes to the game engine coming in the next version:

• The existing unlimited undo capability has been complemented with a long overdue unlimited redo function: You can now "scrub" back and forth through the list of game moves using the left and right mouse buttons on the Undo button in the menu area, or keyboard keys "Z" and "X". (This was mainly brought on by the new "solvable mahjong" feature.)
  
  
• A new tag has been added to the Patience Definition Language. Among other things it contains functions that allow "dynamic positions" to be created and removed during the course of a game, making for more flexible game coding and less need for future very specialized game rules.

Although not much remains to be done (probably), there is still a heck of a lot of new stuff to test before this version is declared fit for public consumption. So expect it to be a month or so before it finally appears!

January 20, 2012: The Internet At War: "Casualties" even here!

I doubt many of you will be unaware of the SOPA/PIPA controversy, and the current massive protests against preposterous and ultimately unlawful attempts to regulate the use of the internet.

Things took another turn yesterday as MegaUpload sites were shut down. As it happens, we used MegaUpload to store and distribute the SoliLuxe installation files, using a very conventient premium, paid-for MegaUpload service that allows you hassle-free, high-speed, high-volume download of selected files. Files which are not copyrighted, and which WE created for free distribution.

Sure, I have no doubt much if not most of the space on these sites is used for storage and distribution of copyrighted material — just as any and all similar file-hosting sites may be (and surely are) partially used for these purposes. But that's not the point.

The complete intellectual meltdown that is required in making distribution technology (both infrastructure and physical media) responsible for delivered content is just as mind-boggling now as is has been for the past 20-30 years whenever these discussions pop up. As usual, only copyright organisations/lawyers and general out-of-control control freaks are able to conjure up these ideas.

So: Will you shut down DropBox next, because this service is able to distribute files containing the copyrighted material of others? I use DropBox to store perfectly legal files for synchronization purposes. At what percentage of illegality on behalf of other users will you deny me that possibility too?

By the way, the telephone network: Surely the time has come to kill that as well, seeing as how terrorists and other criminals can use it to conspire to commit crimes?

If you can't draw the line, stop fiddling with the pen!

January 4, 2012: A preview of 2.70

More (Many, MANY More) Games
200 supported games is an OK number. 300 is better. Yes, after a slow and deliberate game selection process so far, we've now opened the floodgates and are pouring in new games and game versions at an alarming rate. Version 2.70 will contain 300 games. That's an increase of 85 games since last time, and we've already finished 50 of them. (We've put a games counter at the top of this page to keep you updated.)

That said, we do still come across quite a few fun AND original games in our research. In order to help you cope with the influx of new material, we will provide special game lists highlighting the (in our opinion) best and most original of the new games in upcoming SoliLuxe versions.

Quicker Starts
We have changed the startup process of SoliLuxe to make the speed more or less independent of the number of games included, even on low end machines. So now there's no reason not to keep going with the additions...

Solvable Mahjong puzzles
We've worked hard on an algorithm that allows the creation of solvable puzzles for Mahjong solitaire. (You will be able to switch this feature on and off in the settings.) Not to make the tile-picking too easy, we've even trained the program to deliberately set "traps" in the tile placements where possible, while still providing at least one possible solution. This new way of creating Mahjong puzzles really adds a whole new dimension to playing Mahjong solitaire in SoliLuxe.

December 21, 2011: 2.61 patch 1 available

Read about it in the Updates section.

December 17, 2011: 2.61 Released

We bring you the "SoliLuxe christmas edition 2011". Not many changes under the hood, just a bunch of fun games. Remember that you can use the Filter function in the Games list tab to bring up a a list of the newly added games! (Seasonly misplaced, one of the new original games is called "Easter Egg" — but never mind!)

We've added icing to the cake with two new pretty-things as well. One is a definitely mood-inducing Christmas tree backdrop, and the other a beautifully illustrated mahjong tile set with bird motifs.

November 26, 2011: SoliLuxe Book of Rules Online

A compilation of all SoliLuxe game descriptions and help displays is now available online. Just click "Read the SoliLuxe book of solitaire rules HERE." in the page header.

(Be slightly aware: This version of the rule book includes some of the games not yet available, but coming in version 2.61!)

November 24, 2011: Santa Will Bring 2.61

Well, it's only one month to Christmas and we're busy preparing a sort of "Christmassy" edition of SoliLuxe.

There will be no major new functions, just a load of new content this time around: Original games, traditional games, mahjong games — and possibly some Xmas-related theme items as well!

An interesting note on the SoliLuxe content: For the first three years of the game development we have not had any other Solitaire computer game installed, nor played one more than once in a blue moon when the need to compare interpretations of game rules arose.

This has been a conscious decision in order to make SoliLuxe truly "its own". Also, most games in previous SoliLuxe versions have been sourced from traditional, printed Solitaire rule books, thus avoiding the trap of copying some simplified computer version of a game — possibly with little more than the name in common with the original.

This will change in the future, and we will now also peruse the contents of other computer solitaire collections in order to extend the list of SoliLuxe games. But even when using this method, we will seldom include any traditional game unless we can verify its rules using multiple sources.

September 10, 2011: 2.60 Released

SoliLuxe 2.60 has been released. (Download from the main page.)

Apart from more games and the other stuff mentioned in the preview below, you will notice that SoliLuxe has a slightly new look this time around: The quick-select button icons are all brand new and have a more consistent look, and new fonts are used for all texts on the main screens (including help texts) for two reasons: Better on-screen readability and support for more characters (especially useful for exotic player names - just make sure all characters you use are legal for file names on our system, since the player names are part of many of the file names in the /settings folder!).

For those of you who simply get annoyed by the intricate design of the normal mahjong tiles, we have added an alternative mahjong set sporting coloured Western letters of the alphabet. You select it from the Deck tab of the Options window when playing a Mahjong game, just like you would a deck of cards for the standard layouts.

This is probably the last significant update for the year — although we've said that (and been wrong!) before...

September 8, 2011: 2.60 Preview

Well, SoliLuxe 2.60 is all but finished — in fact, we've just been correcting spelling errors for quite some time now, while trying to win all of the new games with mixed results :)

2.60 will see SoliLuxe finally hit the semi-magical "200 supported games" mark, incorporating most games from some of the most classic solitaire rule books (including such games as Osmosis, Pendulum, Queen's/King's Audience, and St Helena.)

In addition, registered users get two new tools to play with: One of them is the least likely to be of use to the casual player, while the other happens to be the most likely to be used frequently!

IconMaker tool - mainly for game developers.

ListMaker tool - create any number of personal game lists.

August 4, 2011: 2.60 — Prettifications And Surfability

Version 2.60 is now beginning to take shape. The main focus is on making everything as graphically consistent as can be, and new developer tools to speed up the process of adding new games and managing the sheer volume of solitaire versions that has accumulated over the last few releases. Because we're not finished yet...

Users will have two new tools at their disposal in the Games tab when browsing the SoliLuxe contents: Game selection lists that can be loaded into the filter, and also hyperlinks between game descriptions — whenever a game is mentioned in one description, a click on the name will take you directly to the description for that game.

July 26, 2011: 2.50 Released

As minor overhauls go, this one is really as major as they come! Although many of the improvements are very subtle and only adds to a general feel of "solidity" to the game, there are also some great new features:

• Mahjong solitaire! (6 different layouts in this version, more to come.)
• Better graphics quality of scaled-down cards.
• New card highlighting for matching games and hints.

Also, the speed has been improved in many areas on most machines.

July 6, 2011: Mahjong Coming to SoliLuxe

In a surprise move (that, truth be told, surprised ourselves as well), SoliLuxe will be able to play Mahjong Solitaire as of the next version. And it's not some phoney 2D version either, but proper, glorious, isometric pseudo-3D! It's already passed testing and is raring to go...

Now, some would call this an excellent excuse to up the version number and charge you money, but the next update will still be called 2.50 and cost you nothing. That's the kind of guys we are.

Right now, the gnomes at the games workshop are testing their little heads off to check the 30 new games included in the next version (including half a dozen Mahjong layouts). Meanwhile, there's not much big stuff left to do in the programming department, so we take the time to iron out quite a few niggles that have irritated us about the game loading/switching and the options window. All in all, the next version looks set to be a whopper!

Mahjong (Turtle - the original Mahjong Solitaire layout)

Mahjong (Gizah)

July 6, 2011: Back! (After the flooding of Copenhagen...)

In case you were worried we'd packed up for good, rest assured we're alive and well: The absence of our website for four days was due to a "once-in-500-years" deluge in Copenhagen, flooding the server halls of our web provider. They have now moved to a new location, and everything seems to be working fine again.

June 24, 2011: A 2.50 Preview

Prepare for some more fun later this summer with another games-packed edition of SoliLuxe. Yes, we won't stop at 150 games but soldier on as long as there's something worthwhile to add: 15 new games have already been prepared for the next version, and we're nowhere near finished yet! Here's two of the more picturesque ones to whet you appetite:

Crescent

Archway

(Also, you'll be pleased to hear that a new "favourites" function will make it easier to keep track of all the games you enjoy the most!)

June 14, 2011: Another award!

Recognition is always nice... Softsea.com has awarded SoliLuxe a 5 star rating! (Links are on the front page.)

June 14, 2011: Full Speed Ahead

I have just converted the standard MegaUpload download links on the front page to high-speed direct links — no more waiting around on the MegaUpload site to get hold of the latest version, at least for now! (If this leads to serious leeching problems, I may have to reconsider... but for now, I've paid for 1 terabyte (TB) of download traffic, which I hope should be enough for quite a while!)

June 10, 2011: Ooops 2... (even smaller bug in British Square!!)

Too many new games at once, surely the niggles will start to rear their ugly heads...

The score display has been placed off-screen in British Square by mistake. This is how to fix it:

1. Locate the file "British Square.xml" in the /rules subfolder and open it in any text editor.
   
   
2. Near the top of the file, correct the display_x and display_y values in the <scoring> tag so that the line reads:

   <scoring scoring_type="cards_placed" scoring_positions="foundation" max_points="104" display_x="1.37" display_y="1.5" />

3. Save the file. All done!

(Naturally, this fix will be part of the next SoliLuxe update as well.)

June 9, 2011: Ooops... (small bug in Stag Party)

Just discovered a small bug in one of the new 2.40 games, "Stag Party": The game lets you redeal twice, but there should be no redeals. Since I copied the rules for "Babette" and used them as the basis for this game, that type of error is all too easy to make!

As it happens, errors like this are also easily fixed thanks to the SoliLuxe patience definition language. If you'd like a little exercise, here's how to do it:

1. Locate the file "Stag Party.xml" in the /rules subfolder and open it in any text editor.
   
   
2. Near the top of the file, delete the first few attributes in the line starting with:

   <deal_options n_redeals="2" ... 

   so that what remains reads as follows:

   <deal_options deal_stock_on_initial="yes" round_robin_stock_deal="yes" />

3. Save the file. All done!

(Naturally, this fix will be part of the next SoliLuxe update as well.)

June 7, 2011: SoliLuxe 2.40

SoliLuxe 2.40 is here! This time, the update is pretty much all about new games — no less than 20 of them, in fact, which means the grand total is now 150.

To handle this abundance of games, there is a new filter function available in the Games tab of the Options window. A special filter mode makes the game list show only the new factory games, which should come in especially useful this time around...

Some of the new games are quite unlike any games previously in SoliLuxe — "Gaps" and "Grand Duchess" are just two examples of games employing new game rules.

The final new feature is a new music player song playlist display for registered users, providing a better overview and using ID information tags to display "Artist - Song name - Length", rather than just the file names. Enjoy!

February 27, 2011: SoliLuxe 2.30

SoliLuxe 2.30 has been released. Not much to add about it — read below!

February 20, 2011: Coming Attractions (2.30)

Currently, SoliLuxe 2.30 is on my workbench undergoing rigorous tests, so you can expect it to be along shortly. It takes care of several little niggles I've had with how the Games and Series tabs of the Options window behave.

Looking at the update list, not much seems to have been done — but since most of it concerns statistics and series management, I have to play a large number of test games in multiple player mode as well single player mode and also in series mode, single-game mode... the number of permutations is quite high!

February 7, 2011: An Award!

SoliLuxe has received the "Famous Software Award", as seen/linked on the front page.

According to the famouswhy.com site,

Sounds fair enough to me, except maybe for the "leadership" part. "Underdog" would be closer to the mark as far as SoliLuxe is concerned, I'm afraid! :)

January 28, 2011: DeckMaker graphics kit 1.00

Some examples of cards made entirely with DeckMaker and the graphics kit.

Since the DeckMaker handles transparent images, it was a logical idea to develop a kit of "decals" for deckmaker to produce a wide variety of cards — and now the first version of it is available on the Updates & Extras page. See the included readme file in the download for details!

January 28, 2011: SoliLuxe 2.21.

This is a small update mainly to get the DeckMaker to treat the new DeckMaker graphics kit nicely.

However, I also took the opportunity to include some some new solitaires and a new deal rule that featured in the games I learned in my childhood home — the "wrap-around" multi-card deal. In games where you deal multiple cards (usually three) at a time from stock to waste, this can make winning considerably easier because the chances you get access to all cards in the stock are greatly increased. I have therefore provided extra versions of the SoliLuxe solitaires that currently use the "deal by threes" rule — Klondike, Canfield and Peek.

Another new game is completely DeckMaker-related — the Memory (6 x 5 Landscape) version. Unless you make a new picture deck of cards with the motifs rotated to landscape format, it won't be of much use to you!

Finally, I've tried my hardest to recall the rules for one of the half a dozen or so solitaires I learned as a child. For lack of a proper name, I've called it "Sides" in SoliLuxe, because it is very similar to a single-deck version of "Four Corners" — but the the corner-like tableau spaces are placed at either side of the foundations in this one!

January 15, 2011: SoliLuxe 2.20.

I believe this will be the last major update in the "big push" from version 1 to version 2. Expect updates to arrive at a more sensible pace from now on (unless I've done something extraordinarily stupid in 2.20, which requires an urgent fix!).

Most things about this release you can read in the post from January 12th below.

In anticipation of the CNET release, I've also put the Windows installer on MegaUpload this time.

January 12, 2011: Coming attractions — "fine sandpaper mode".

After having "Really Big Things" on my plate constantly lately, I'm now taking some time off from big headaches and instead mainly amuse myself fixing several small annoyances that have been bugging me for quite some time. It's a bit like temporarily switching the sledgehammer for a piece of fine sandpaper!

Where only the initial deal could be sped up before, I finally made SoliLuxe capable of delivering "instant redeals" during a game . Some games benefit more than others, a noteable favourite of mine being "La Belle Lucie" where you have to go through several huge redeals in each game round.

Another new feature that should have been in place a long time ago is the possibility to change the user interface of the Options window (and related windows) to look more like the operating system you run SoliLuxe on. Unless I run into some unexpected problem, the "System Look and Feel" setting will be the default from now on: You will be able to get the old look back by simply unchecking a checkbox on the Settings tab.

You now get visual feedback whenever you use keyboard shortcuts to handle the music player, so no more guessing whether you hit the right key or not — another Good Thing.

Some new list selection windows popped up in 2.12 already, making selections of "stuff" much easier than using a complete "file open" dialog box to manually browse for files.

I've made some internal improvements to the DeckMaker which makes it much easier to add new deck styles. There will be at least two (or possibly more) deck styles in the next update to celebrate this... Also, you can now change to a new deck style without erasing the previously loaded deck.

Uncharacteristically for SoliLuxe, there may also be some sort of graphic novelty or embellishment coming up for the gameplay animations next time around — let's see what I come up with tonight!

January 9, 2011: "Nature" deck updated.

See the Updates and Extras section.

January 9, 2011: 2.12 update is out!

2.12 is available here. See the post below for changes included...

January 8, 2011: On towards 2.12...

The updates are coming pretty thick and fast these days, mainly thanks to the new graphics tools that put new demands on the program... and introduce a bug or two in the process, of course.

2.12 will be mainly about improved image quality, especially in the cards produced by DeckMaker. I took a long, hard look at what the built-in Java image scaling functions were capable of, and found them lacking. So now, a third-party library has been put to use for higher quality image scaling.

While testing away, I also found a bug — now fixed — that means card corners in DeckMaker will become more jaggied the more times you save a deck in the same DeckMaker session (a.k.a. "gradual loss of alpha transparency"). The simple work-around for now is: Just save once per SoliLuxe session. (The good news here is that Deckmaker stability is excellent, so not much chance of losing your work even if sessions become quite long!)

Now that the tools for adding stuff are in place, we need help to remove them again! In 2.12 there are "Delete" buttons on the Deck, Table and Menu tabs to get rid of unwanted items. As a bonus, the graphic preview list code has been revised (as in "done right"!) and some memory-stealing problems in that area removed. Plus, when you create a new DeckMaker deck it becomes immediately visible in the Deck tab for selection.

All newly created items are now added at the bottom of their respective lists — which is a "feature" that came about because it's the easiest way of coding, but also makes it easy to locate them. (When you restart SoliLuxe, all items will become alphabetically sorted in the lists as usual.)

The 2.12 update should be with us soon on the Updates and Extras page. Check back frequently!

Januray 7, 2011: Web site redesign.

The web site has undergone a massive redesign over the past weeks. The result: Much more information presented in a better way, I hope.

Also, I have moved everything from the forums over to the main website. This includes the updates and extras downloads, which are much more accessible this way. However, I took the opportunity to do some severe house-cleaning, so only stuff relevant to version 2.10 and above will be available in the updates section.

Note that the links to the main (full install) downloads will continue to appear on the front page. The "Updates and extras" page will be just that!

January 7, 2011: 2.11 Update Out

This update is somewhere between a major and a minor update: It's a major update for users of BackdropMaker and DeckMaker, and a minor update for everyone else.

Firstly, it fixes a crashing bug in BackdropMaker. Secondly, DeckMaker now has several deck templates to choose from. Thirdly, the image quality of the decks generated by DeckMaker will be very much better in most cases thanks to a change of image scaling algorithm. The same algorithm is also applied when scaling cards and menu buttons to fit the playing area, so everyone benefits there (even though the improvement is not as apparent on that level).