From cube-lovers-errors@oolong.camellia.org Wed Jun 4 17:30:05 1997 Return-Path: cube-lovers-errors@oolong.camellia.org Received: from oolong.camellia.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by oolong.camellia.org (8.6.12/8.6.12) with SMTP id RAA04580; Wed, 4 Jun 1997 17:30:05 -0400 Precedence: bulk Errors-To: cube-lovers-errors@oolong.camellia.org Date: Wed, 04 Jun 1997 10:58:27 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time) From: Jerry Bryan Subject: Re: FreeCell In-reply-to: To: Tony Davie Cc: cube-lovers@ai.mit.edu Reply-to: Jerry Bryan Message-id: MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-X-Sender: jbryan@pstcc6.pstcc.cc.tn.us On Tue, 3 Jun 1997, Tony Davie wrote: > Could someone describe the FreeCell puzzle for us non-windows people? > The game has already been described, so I won't do it again. But I will make a couple of comments. The Windows version of the game has a certain charm that does not exist when you play it with real cards. The rules require that you move one card at a time. In actual practice you often move a group of cards as if they were a single entity, knowing full well that you could move them one at a time and still stay within the rules of the game. The Windows version of the game understands this concept, and will move an entire group of cards for you with one mouse click. It's almost as if the program is defining a macro operator for you on the fly. Also, there are totally obvious moves, such as always playing aces to their payoff cells without further ado as soon as the aces are uncovered. The program plays these totally obvious moves for you. At the end of the game there may be several dozen such obvious moves in a row, and it makes a nice visual effect that you cannot get with real cards. (By the way, the program fails to make some moves which are totally obvious (to me, at least), but any discussion of such things should probably be taken off line. I am curious if our moderator is going to let through such an off topic message, anyway.) But by contrast, my personal experience is that graphics cube manipulation programs have less charm than the real thing. There is just something nice about the feel of the thing in your hands, and in its obvious 3-D solidness. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Robert G. Bryan (Jerry Bryan) jbryan@pstcc.cc.tn.us Pellissippi State (423) 539-7198 10915 Hardin Valley Road (423) 694-6435 (fax) P.O. Box 22990 Knoxville, TN 37933-0990