While Calculation has the usual goal of arranging the entire contents of the
deck in four stacks of thirteen cards, the suits of the cards in these
stacks is irrelevant. Instead, the four stacks accept cards whose ranks
differ by a specified interval. Even though the computer calculates the
accepted sequences of cards, the game is still extremely challenging.
Layout
There are three areas of the screen:
Deck
The deck is spread out on the left side under the button panel. Only
the top card of the deck is face up and accessible.
Destination Stacks The destination stacks are located
in the middle column of the layout. The ranks the top stack accepts differ
by one, and the difference in the lower stacks is two, three and four. A
list of the ranks accepted by the stack runs along the sides of the stack.
The listing begins at the bottom of the left side and continues at the
bottom of the right side. The rank which the stack currently accepts is
highlighted. The destination stacks accept any card with the desired rank
regardless of its suit.
Waste Piles
The four waste piles are located in the right column of layout. A waste
pile can accept any card and can contain an unlimited number of cards.
Transferring cards between discard piles is not allowed. The only way to
remove a card from a waste pile is to move its top card to a destination
stack.
Game Play
To move a card, click on the card (which will highlight it) and then
click on the destination. The following are valid moves:
A card can be moved from the top of the deck or a waste pile
to a destination stack if the card has the desired rank. Rightclicking
on a card will attempt to move it to a destination stack.
A card can be moved from the deck to any waste pile
Tips
Play with a high number of cards initially in the destination stacks
until you have a feel for the game's strategies.
Try to build reverse sequences in the discard piles.
Consider reserving a waste pile solely for kings, because the
cards under a king cannot be accessed until a stack is almost complete.
Buttons
Clicking on these buttons will perform the following actions:
New Game
Begin a new game after shuffling the deck
Restart
Return to the original state of the current game
Undo
Return to the condition before the previous move was
made
This sets the number of cards
which are initially in the destination stacks. The default is one.
Increasing this number will make the game easier to win.
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