YORKTON - There will be times headed to the holidays that gamers will find themselves at home alone and in the mood for a game.
Thankfully there are numerous solitaire games, many among them needing only a deck of cards,
Most will likely have played Klondike – a long-time solitaire favourite – myself having played hundreds of hands.
There are others though, including The Blackjack River designed by Gregg Jewell in 2013.
This one caught my eye because its theme is about fishing a river. Like most card game themes it’s sort of pasted on, but it worked in terms of catching the attention of this angler.
The game starts using a standard 52-card deck.
The aces through 10 represent river segments, each pip represents a fish.
The face cards represent fishermen that can fish at a river segment or from the top of your deck.
You deal four (non-fishermen) cards to create the ‘Blackjack River’, and then a starting hand of four cards.
You place a card on one of eight tributaries – spaces off the four river cards. Then draw and repeat.
The goal is to create what the game jargon terms a distributary – cards totalling exactly 21 (fish). You then collect the connected cards and set them aside in a stack to be scored at the end of the game. As a base each card will be worth one point.
That is the game, but there are twists which add to the challenge as you go for ever higher scores.
For example a face card (fisherman) played on an ace is worth three points.
Pairs in a distributary with pairs and triples score additional points.
There are bonuses if all cards are one colour, and a larger bonus if all cards are a single suit.
There are choices to be made here and that a good thing.
This one is also good because it’s not strictly win or lose. This is about having the best day of fishing possible. Manage a good score, mark it down, and play again to try and exceed your score.
The rules here are straight forward, so you can be playing quickly. Add in the decisions to be made as you cast for a really high score and there is lots to lure you to play just one more game.
A definite solitaire recommendation.
