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.
Touching a foundation stack causes compatible cards to be rapidly auto-played from tableaus to foundations.
This has been reproduced and confirmed as an OS4.0-specific bug, and is fixed in the 5.4.1 patch release (available now!).
Prior to 5.4, the iPad and iPhone version used different card art. 5.4 consolidates them with an attempt to preserve the best features of each, including rounded corners and higher quality scaling. There are differences that people may or may not like, including font. Fortunately, a new option allows users to load custom decks. You can find more information about custom decks here, along with an archive of older card fronts, backs and table art.
Dealing speed had been increased dramatically in a recent upgrade, but a lot of users complained, and so this was reverted. The 5.4.1 patch incorporates a new user option for fast dealing, so that people can select the speed they prefer. It also has been reported that the new anti-aliasting support in 5.4 causes a performance problem on the iPhone 3G. This is off by default in 5.4.1 patch. Finally, it's worth pointing out that in the trick taking games, you don't have to wait for the game to distribute the trick and advance play - you can tap the center pile at any time to quickly advance.
This is an intentional change based on some online rule clarifications forwarded to me by a user. As it turns out, this reflects a difference in US and international (Canada, UK, Austrailia) play. Separate versions of Euchre(US) and Euchre(UK) will be provided in the next major update.
You can make melds in two ways.
- You can drag cards one at a time to the table.
- Alternatively you can select multiple cards by touching them - any selected card pops slightly out of your hand (as in this screenshot - showing the leftmost and three rightmost cards selected). Once a collection of compatible cards are selected, you can place them with a single touch on the table.
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. Note that you don't have to drag cards to the center to play them. You can tap a card in your hand, then tap the center pile.
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.
The options screen shows a face up and face down pile of cards at the bottom of the screen. The face down pile represents the stock. Press the "layout" button to switch positions. This is supported in most of the solitaire games, but note that this setting is currently only applied at the start of a new deal.
After drawing, if you can go out with no deadwood, touch the "knock" button, then discard the final card, and you'll receive the gin bonus. Note that your turn must end with a discard - there is not yet support for the "big gin" variation of this game, where you can get additional points for going out with a full 11 cards.
If you pick up multiple cards from the face up pile, the deepest card picked up must be melded before you can lay off other cards or discard. Note that in order to pick up additional cards from the face up pile, you must tap on the topmost card of the spread-out faceup 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.- "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:- Pinochle
- Cassino
- Cribbage Solitaire
- Bowling Solitaire (from Gamut Of Games)
- Belote
- Canasta
- 3-13
- Chinese Solitaire
- Pyramid Golf
- Accordian
- Idiot Solitaire
- Klabberjass
- President
- Austrailian Solitaire
- Carioca Rummy
- Pinnacola
- richer, game-specific stats and more sophisticated scoring systems
- customization for game picker screen with favorites, alphabetical, and family views
- true multiplayer support (working in beta)
- alternate game-win screens
Release Notes
What's New (Card Shark Solitaire 5.4.1)
- antialiasing (off by default) is now a user option, allowing the user to choose between crisp and smoothed cards.
- new user option: "faster deal"
- critical bug fix: settings and game state are now saved/restored properly under OS4.x
- critical bug fix: when stock is flipped, stacked card order is correct again
- Game win detection is not yet working in Kings Corner.
- If you have a custom deck installed and attempt to turn on anti-aliasing, cards will be drawn as all-white.
- Some folk have reported having problems with Rummy. This is being investigated - see FAQ above.
What's New (Card Shark Solitaire 5.4)
- cosmetic improvements to card art, including high resolution "retina mode" support for iPhone4
- support for user-contributed custom decks
- new games, including Yukon, Russian Cell, I Doubt It, Clock Solitaire, Kings Corner
- fixes for Euchre, Blackjack, 13 Packs, Montana
- under OS4.0, settings are not being saved/restored properly
- stock flip (i.e. in Klondike) is reversing the deck order
- performance issues with iPhone 3GS
- Kings Corner win detection is not yet working
What's New (Card Shark Solitaire 5.3.x)
- cosmetic improvements for iPad version, including 3 new card faces, more attractive options screen, and higher resolution card art
- bugfix: Canfield-1 now works correctly on iPhone/iPod
- bugfix: 13 Packs now allows aces to be played on the king's side to complete those stacks
- bugfix: 13 Packs now allows working set of cards to be rearranged
- bugfix: Montana now enforces all gameplay restrictions, with popup text explaining illegal move attempts
- bugfix: Hold 'Em's call button wasn't responsive in some situations
- bugfix: Blackjack now honors 3:2 payout for all winning natural blackjacks
- ai: hearts opponents are no longer shy about leading with low ranking hearts
- ai: euchre opponents threshold for ordering up trump card made more conservative
- In the iPhone port, after selecting a custom card back from your photo library, exiting, and relaunching the game, card backs are invisible until you change card backs again.
- A recent Euchre AI change (made at the request of a player) now causes AI to now play much too conservatively, making the game too easy.
- 13 Packs can now be completed, but the final win detection is not yet working.
- In Montana, when undo is used across "shuffles" the game can get into bad states
- In Blackjack, the 3:2 bonus is awarded incorrectly in some cases
What's New (Card Shark Solitaire 5.2)
- fixes for all reported issues from 5.1
- Royal Cotillion no longer incorrectly displays "redeal" icon after stock is exhausted
- Go Fish gameplay has been slowed down, making it easier to remember opponent actions.
- incorporated "auto advance" functionality into Euchre and Spades.
- AI improvements for Euchre
- support for new solitaire games: Montanna (aka Gaps), Scorpion, 13 Packs (aka Grandma's game)
- support for frequently requested game variations including an alternate, easier version of Golf that supports wraparound play
- iPad app icon now matches the iPhone version
- on an iPhone, "canfield" is duplicated twice in the game picker screens; the new draw-1 canfield is currently only available on iPad
- "Montana" is not enforcing some rules related to gaps, making completing the game easier than it should be.
- "13 Packs" is not currently allowing the final set of aces to be played to the king's side, preventing the game from being completed.
- "13 Packs" does not yet allow cards in the active workspace to be rearranged.
- 3:2 bonus payout for natural blackjack not working
What's New (Card Shark Solitaire 5.1)
- Fixed a Go Fish crash if opponent hand is tapped
- Custom custom card back handling should now work on older iDevices
- Card backs are no longer flipped horizontally
- Added Old Maid help
- Fixed a crash in Royal Parade when stock is exhausted
- Fixed Poker hand evaluator for double trips
- Applied some adjustments to Spades AI
- Hearts gameplay now automatically advances after a trick is played
- Reduced OS dependency to 3.1
What's New (Card Shark Solitaire 5.0)
- you can now use your photo library for custom backgrounds and card backs
- native iPad support (free for all existing customers)
- support for seven new games: Old Maid, Go Fish, War, Thieves of Egypt, Josephine, Red and Black, and SeaTowers
- fixes for various games, most notably Euchre
- fixes for win/loss statistics, which weren't being tracked/presented correctly in several games
- game picker on ipod/iphone now works with panning gestures, like desktop apps
- options have been merged into a single scrolling list
What's New (Card Shark Solitaire 4.9)
- Pyramid stock can be re-used, making game easier to win
- Screen flip now works automatically
- Spider Solitaire initial deal now matches classic Windows Solitaire.
- Rummy now presents explanatory text for invalid moves
- passed cards in hards are not automatically sorted into player's hand
- bugfix: ringer vs. application volume for iphone users
- bugfix: fixed a crash bug in computer AI for Rummy 500
- added current page indicator for game picker screen
What's New (Card Shark Solitaire 4.8)
- Pyramid in-game help is now working and a second playable face up card has been added making the game easier to win.
- A Blackjack feature allowing bets with larger/smaller increments (through touching chip icons) has been fixed.
- Spades is now played to 500 points.
- Fixed a bug with Euchre trick taking logic, where the lead card would not correctly take the trick in some situations.
- Corrected Royal Parade gameplay.
- Statistics now present percent-won supplementing won-games and games-started.
- Elapsed time now pauses correctly when Card Shark is suspended but not fully exited
- Some adjustments to mersenne twister's seed initialization.
- The sound enable/disable option has been moved to the first page of options (moving time display mode to the 2nd page).
What's New (Card Shark Solitaire 4.7)
- 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
- Spades now ends when a player scores 100 points - this is a ill-advised "fix" that will be retracted in the next update
- misc tweaks to help text
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
What's New (Card Shark Solitaire Deluxe 4.5)
- fixed Forty Thieves
- fixed Canfield
- fixed a scoring bug in 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.
Contact Author!
Credits
Programming: Philip J. Stroffolino
Graphics: Christopher Walsh