Card Shark Solitaire

Here, you can find links to detailed rules for each supported game, a FAQ answering CardShark-specific questions, and information about the next update(s).

Supported Games

Aces Up (new!)
Batsford Solitaire (new!)
Beleaguered Castle
Blackjack (new!)
Calculation
Canfield (aka Demon)
Crazy Eights
Cribbage (prelim)
Euchre (new!)
Forty Thieves
FreeCell
Gin Rummy (new!)
Golf
Hearts
Klondike (Draw 1 and Draw 3)
Memory Match - a take on the classic memory game; turn over cards two at a time to find matches.
Royal Cotillion
Rummy
Spades (non-partnership variant - new!)
Speed (new!)
Speed Match - inspired by Mahjong Solitaire - remove pairs of identical face up, stacked cards to to clear the table in a race against the clock.
Spider Solitaire
Spiderette (new!)
Limit Texas Hold'Em (prelim)
Tripeaks
Video Poker, Deuces Wild (new!)
Video Poker, Jacks or Better

See the FAQ below for additional gameplay details.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I move fewer than the maximum cards in Klondike?
Card Shark incorporates "smart dragging" to compensate for the iPhone's small touch screen and minimize chances for human error. Rather than requiring the user to drag specific cards within a pile, the set of cards that are moved following a drag-drop gesture is inferred based on the piles involved. For example, if you draw a 10+J+Q onto a same-colored Q, the 10+J will be transfered and the dragged Q will fly back to its source pile.
How can I quickly win a game? I don't want to have to drag every card to the foundation pile.
Touching a foundation stack causes compatible cards to be rapidly auto-played from tableaus to foundations.
How do the game mechanics in Hearts work?
At the start of each round, when prompted to pass, select the three cards you'd like to pass to the designated opponent by touching them. They'll pop out of your hand to indicate they are selected. Then touch the arrow at the center of the screen to execute the pass and begin the normal trick-taking phase of the game.
Does Card Shark enforce limits on the number of deals through the stock?
Not yet. This makes Forty Thieves in particular much easier than it is with strict rules. Enforcing this will be a user option in a future release.
Where did the "mirror" option go?
The playfield mirror feature has been replaced with a more general "layout" button. The options screen shows a face up and face down pile of cards at the bottom of the screen. Cycle through layout options until the facedown pile of cards is on the side of the screen where you prefer to have your stock (dealing) pile. Note that unlike the previous mirror option, the new implementation ensures that tableau piles are always arranged from shortest to tallest. Note that this setting is currently only applied at the start of a new deal.
I'm having trouble with drag-drop, can you make it work better?
When reporting a UI issue or bug, please be sure to mention the game you were using. The UI for Spider and Klondike, for example, is quite forgiving with imprecise drag-drops. Some games (Golf, Tripeaks) work most naturally by tapping cards. I would recommend not using drag-drop for the multiplayer games. It's faster, easier and more accurate to touch a card in your hand, then touch the center discard pile.

Gameplay Options

To view available gameplay options, touch the info icon on the bottom right of the screen to visit the main menu, then touch the "Options" button. Note that options now span multiple screens. Touch the "more" buttons at the bottom to cycle through them.

"Auto Flip" causes face down cards to be automatically flipped without requiring the player to touch them.
"Table" allows you to select from available background art.
"Classic Sounds" plays an explosive sound when cards are moved to foundation piles, as an alternative to the deafult "pop" sound.
"Allow Undo" enables display and use of undo/redo buttons.
"Vegas Score" displays current score at the bottom of the screen in Klondike and Canfield. This score is cumulative in the Card Shark Deluxe.
"Neat Piles" removes the jitter effect on stacks of cards.

Under Development

Specific game requests are always welcome. Recent requests are listed below:

3 handed Pinochle
Cassino
Cribbage Solitaire
Bowling Solitaire (from Gamut Of Games)
Belote
Canasta
3-13
Scorpion
Chinese Solitaire
Pyramid Golf
Pyramid
Thieves of Egypt (variation of 40 Thieves)
Josephine
Red and Black (aka Rouge et Noir)
Sea Towers( variation of Freecell)

Other changes slated for future updates include:

richer, game-specific stats and more sophisticated scoring systems, i.e. Golf Solitaire
allow use of photo library for table and card backs
more "simple" backgrounds, i.e. rice paper
ability to freely rearrange the available games into groups, i.e. to group favorites
true multiplayer support (working in beta)

Coming Soon (Card Shark Solitaire 4.7 - being reviewed by Apple)

new game: Eagle Wing Solitaire
new game: Royal Parade Solitaire
new game: Pyramid Solitaire
new game variations: Spiderette-1, Spiderette-2
new game: "Rummy 500"
bugfix: lockup in Gin Rummy
bugfix: score for gin now correctly takes into account melds within the opponent's hand
bugfix: scoring corrections for Cribbage
bugfix: Spades now ends when a player scores 100 points
misc tweaks to help text

Release Notes

What's New (Card Shark Solitaire 4.6)

fixes for scoring in Gin Rummy
eliminated a crash in Spiderette
corrected handling of Cribbage starter card and a flush-handling bug
fixed a major AI glitch in Hearts
some improvements to Spades bidding
adjusted Calculation Solitaire camera to ensure deal pile is fully onscreen
the 'Neat Piles' setting now has three variations
the exaggerated camera angle in Klondike/Canfield has been removed
stock placement in Spider is now bottom-center, eliminating need for the dedicated "deal" button

Known Issues (many thanks to the folk that have reported them!):

Gin Rummy has been reported to ocassionally (albeit rarely) lockup during the computer's turn, forcing game to be restarted.
Cribbage needs more restrictions for 4-flush scoring
Euchre needs an onscreen indication to show which team named trump

What's New (Card Shark Solitaire Deluxe 4.5)

fixed Forty Thieves
fixed Canfield
fixed a scoring bugfix for Gin Rummy
fixed end-of-game detection for Cribbage (121 points)
fixed Vegas Scoring in TriPeaks

What's New (Card Shark Solitaire Deluxe 4.4)

major AI improvements for Hearts
scoring for Rummy and Crazy Eights
Aces Up
Spiderette
Speed
Cribbage
Texas Hold 'Em
Euchre
Spades
Gin Rummy
better interface for betting (can increase/decrease blackjack bet by more than 1 chip at a time)
new backgrounds, card backs, and card faces
general cosmetic improvements to UI
option to display current local time or elapsed time in-game

What's New (Card Shark Solitaire Deluxe 4.3)

Newly supported games: Blackjack, Royal Cotillion, Golf, and Spider-4.
Bug fix for Rummy (adding to melds was not always working correctly in 4.2 - see FAQ above for details)
Draw Poker now supports variable bets (1..5 chips)
added a fourth, super-simplified deck of cards

What's New (Card Shark Solitaire Deluxe 4.2)

card face picker user interface now has its own dedicated subscreen, and allows selection from three styles of card faces
improvements to hand-rearranging support
Hearts is working again
Bug fix for a gesture that could cause Rummy to lock up
hand-rearranging now working in Hearts and Crazy Eights (not just Rummy)

What's New (Card Shark Solitaire Deluxe 4.1)

note: Hearts support was inadvertently broken in this release
hands can now be rearranged in Rummy
option screen update to make the card face/back options more obvious
cosmetic improvements to the default large font cards
added support for more intuitive gestures in Rummy
added extra space between redo/undo buttons
added "touch to replay" shortcut
added support for displaying cumulative vegas score in-game, without having to visit the statistics screen

What's New (Card Shark Solitaire Deluxe 4.0)

improved battery life
user interface improvements, including new icon-based game picker screen
richer stat tracking, including cummulative score, streaks, fewest moves to win (deluxe version only)
selectable card back colors - touch the card back graphic on the options screen to change
more readable card fronts - touch the card front graphic on the options screen to toggle between this and classic card faces
more subtle foundation-placement sound effect - original sound can be assigned in the options screen
'redeal' option, which effectively serves as a bulk undo for the current game
info, undo, and redo buttons have been rearranged slightly, so as to avoid interference with gameplay particularly in mirror mode
new supported games: Crazy Eights, Tripeaks, Rummy (deluxe version only)
new 'baked in' in-game help, that doesn't require an internet connection

What's New (Card Shark Solitaire Deluxe 3.5)

restructured menu system, separating game picker and user options
support for stat tracking including win/loss ratio and fastest wins
preliminary support for three new card games: (Video) Draw Poker, Calculation, and Hearts.
added explicit "contact author" link to safari mail for easier feature requests and problem reports

What's New (Card Shark Solitaire Deluxe 3.4)

new games: Memory Match and Speed Match
mirror option now moves 'info' icon to the opposite side of the screen, so that it doesn't interfere with deal
bug fix: undo/redo buttons, when hidden, no longer interfere with drag drop of cards near the bottom of the screen
bug fix: system software is now correctly informed of the landscape screen orientation - corrects presentation of volume icon and system notifications

What's New (Card Shark Solitaire 3.3)

Bug fix: settings no longer revert to defaults when a new game is started
Rolled back a FreeCell change, where empty tableau were taken into accout when determining the maximum number of cards to drag.
Bug fixes for Beleaguered Castle
Miscellaneous cosmetic enhancements including title screen and pile highlight changes.
New companion release, "Card Shark Deluxe" - see FAQ below for details.