Rhythm Solitaire is played like regular solitaire, except that notes and rests are used in place of the A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q and K.
- The sixteenth note or rest becomes the ace.
- The whole note or rest becomes the king.
- All the other notes and rests are in order between these two.
The goal of the game is to make "piles" of cards in the four light blue boxes at the top of the screen.
The piles are built this way: Each pile must begin with either a sixteenth rest or a sixteenth note. Successive cards are placed on the piles in ascending order (smallest to largest) so the note piles finish with a whole note and the rest piles finish with a whole rest. Notes and rests cannot be mixed in these piles. There will be eight cards (sixteenth, eighth, dotted eighth, quarter, dotted quarter, half, dotted half and whole) in the notes piles and five cards (sixteenth, eighth, quarter, half and whole) in the rests piles. You can drag a correct card to a pile or double click on it to send it "flying" to the pile.
There are six columns of cards below the piles. To begin your game, move notes and rests cards around in the six lower columns by placing them on top of each other in descending order (largest to smallest). Single cards or whole columns can be moved by dragging them with your mouse to a note or rest of higher value. Notes and rests can be mixed in the columns. You will notice that you must have a dotted note between rests.
To turn a card over that is face down, simply click on it.
When an open (peach-colored) space appears in the columns, it can be filled only with a whole note or a whole rest.
There is a stack of cards in the upper left hand corner of the game. When you can't move any more cards between the six columns, you are "stuck". Click once on the stack to make a new card appear face up in the lilac-colored box next to the stack. If you can use this card on any of the top piles (first choice) double click on it and it will "fly" to the correct pile. Or, if you can use this card in any of the columns (second choice), drag it to the correct column. If you can't use the card, click once on the stack to get a new card. When you get to the end of the stack of cards, double click on the last face up card and the cards will return face down to the stack. Click once on the stack to get a new card and your game continues.
A few more things:
- If you try to drag a card to a spot and it doesn't stay, that's because it's not a correct move. It will fly back to where it was on its own.
- If you double click to send a card to a pile and it's not correct, the card won't move.
- If you have a sound card in your computer, you will hear sounds when you make a correct or incorrect move.
- Watch your moves carefully, since there's no "Undo" feature.
- There are no dotted sixteenth notes or dotted rests in the game.
- In order for the game to play out correctly, play at a speed that allows you not to miss too many opportunities to put cards in their correct places when they become available.
- In the regular solitaire game it's not very easy to win, but with Rhythm Solitaire you win all the time.
The game ends when all the piles have been completed, all the cards have disappeared, the boxes are empty and your score appears.
Scores are based on the time it took you to play the game and the number of mistakes (incorrect moves and incorrect double clicks). The higher your score, the better.
Have fun and come visit us often to play Rhythm Solitaire.
Note: Soon the game will include "restart" and "undo" features.