Microsoft Games

[CSULB71]

With Microsoft's "Solitaire" and "Hearts" games, are the cards dealt randomly for each new hand or is there just a bunch of predefined hands that get dealt in some random order?

[gadgetguy]

I've never played it so I can't say for Hearts. I don't know for certain, but it's been my impression that Solitaire has a bunch of predefined hands that get dealt in a random order. I used to play it a lot and began to recognize hands and knew what cards were before turning them over. Another possibility though, is that it could be a flaw in the randomize function that causes some hands to be dealt repeatedly.

[redwudz]

I haven't used the MS version of solitaire too often, but I do use 'Pretty Good Solitaire'. http://www.goodsol.com/index.html

It apparently uses a random generator, along with some added 'rules'. I notice often times key cards may be hidden at the bottom of the stacks, making it almost impossible to win. This can happen for several hands in a row. Then it will change to easier hands, apparently because of the high loss rate. Without this, I would probably just get frustrated and move on.

Just guessing, but it's probably a combination of random and a few preset rules, depending on how the program is written.