Microsoft Windows Vista (included games)

Besides the functionalities of an OS, Microsoft Windows Vista contains a number of games. As these are not available stand-alone, they are considered part of a compilation:

The Home Basic edition included:

• FreeCell
• Hearts
• Minesweeper
• Purble Place
• Spider Solitaire
• Solitaire

The Home Premium, Business, Enterprise and Ultimate editions of Windows Vista included 3 additional games:

• Chess Titans
• InkBall
• Mahjong Titans

Windows Ultimate Extras included 2 additional games that could be downloaded later through Windows Update:

• Hold 'Em
• Microsoft Tinker

FreeCell:

In FreeCell, the goal is to put the 52 cards sorted into the four spots on the top right section. All the cards are opened, having 8 stacks of 6 to 7 cards. For moving and sorting, the usual Solitaire rules apply.

However the players can utilize up to four place holder fields, to temporarily place unwanted cards there. Any cards can be stored there at any time, but pulling them from there to make the spots free again, only proper moves are allowed (e.g. black 6 over red 7).

Once all cards are sorted, the player wins. If no more moves are possible, the player loses.

Hearts:

In Hearts the player plays against three computer opponents.

The goal of the game is to have the least points at the end of a match, and a match ends when one player reaches or exceeds 100 points. A match consists of several games in a row.

In order to win, the player must either avoid hearts (worth one point) and the spade queen (13 points), or acquiring all hearts and the spade queen in a match (this is called "shoot the moon"; if the player manages that, all the other players receive 26 points at the end of the match).

While playing, the player must follow the played color, unless the player don't has this color, then any color can be played.

InkBall:

Draw lines to direct balls into holes of corresponding colors.

Minesweeper:

In this game the player must reveal the location of mines by marking them. This is done by revealing empty fields, these contain numbers indicating how many mines are directly adjacent, ranging from 0 (no number, automatically reveals adjacent 0-fields) up to 8 (completely surrounded by mines).

If a mine is clicked on, all mines are revealed and the game ends. If all mines are marked, the player wins the game.

The game can be played in three game modes, increasing the size of the playfield and the amount of mines in there.

Purble Place:

Purble place is an educational game, designed for teaching children memory, pattern recognition, and reasoning skills.

This "game" consists of three games: Comfy Cakes, Purble Shop, and Purble Pairs.

In Comfy Cakes, the goal is to make cakes using the correct shapes, batters, fillings, icings, and decorations.

In the Purble Shop, the player has to create a face using hair, eyes, nose, and lips. Then it's told how many features the player got right. Substitute features and try again until the player's figure matches the hidden figure.

Purble Pairs is a memory game. All items are hidden and the player has to open a pair to remove them from the playfield. Wrongly opened fields are closed after a few seconds.

All three games offer different difficulty settings, by increasing the playfield or the amount of features used.

Solitaire:

In this card game the goal is to put all the cards sorted (ace, two, ..., queen, king) by color into the four fields at the top.

When starting a game, the target fields are empty, the main field consists of 7 piles of cards, whereby only the top one is visible, also in an ascending amount (left side one card, right side 7 cards), and the rest of the cards are in one pile at top left.

Cards can only be moved from one pile to another when putting a lower card of the opposite color on a higher card, when the pile is empty, kings can be placed there, and finally, when the target piles are empty, only aces can be put there (then twos on aces, etc.).

Depending on the setting, the player either takes one or three cards from the top left pile.

When all cards are sorted in the target piles, the player has won the game. If no more allowed moves are possible, the player has lost the game.

Spider Solitaire:

Unlike Solitaire, the entire playfield is used here. There are 10 piles of cards, and only the top cards are revealed. Cards are moved in the same manner as in Solitaire.

The task is to again sort the cards in question.

Unlike Solitaire, the player does not get one or three new cards from the pile containing the rest of the cards, but an entire set of 10 cards, which are put on top (below) the revealed cards.

There are three game modes, which vary upon the number of different colors; one, two or four. (With one color, the cards can directly sorted without the need of using opposite colored cards.)

The game ends in success if they are all sorted, or in failure if no more moves are possible.