Unique variations of solitaire is one of the things a solitaire lover seeks! I recently came across the BVS Solitaire Collection (http://www.bvssolitaire.com/) and… you have to see it to believe it! This challenging software offers an amazing collection of about 400 unique solitaire games and includes many game variations you will not find anywhere else. You can even modify rules of almost any of the included games, thus creating your own solitaire variations.

After installation, I tried out "Topsy-Turvy Queens" and before I knew it, three hours had passed! I might add that those were three very enjoyable hours as I pitted my many (ahem) skills against the computer. I played a total of 33 games and I won...(whisper) 12. But don't think I have given up because I will continue to play and hone my now doubtful skills!

Of course, "Topsy-Turvy Queens" is only one of the multitude of different games you can play. There are some very intriguing titles like "Toad", "Blondes and Brunettes”, "Eight Sages" and "Twelve Sleeping Maidens". The various games have difficulty ratings of Easy, Average, and Difficult and use either one or two decks of cards. Individual game rules are nicely written, easily understood, and can be printed out as well.

The interface can be changed to suit your personal color and background preferences, as well as your choice of card backs. You can also use any BMP or JPEG image to create personal card backs. I especially like some of the features like "You Are Stuck" that lets you know if there are no more legal moves to be made. You can utilize the multi-level undo/redo menu to make your game play as challenging as you like. You can view the history of your played games very easily with the many statistical and scoring screens available in BVS Solitaire Collection so you'll be able to keep track of your performance and progress. And you can publish your personal statistics on the BVS Solitaire Collection web site and see where you rank in the top scores list.

John Taylor has been reviewing games since 2000.