Shenzhen Solitaire: A Game Review
It’s solitaire . . . with dragons
Shenzhen I/O Solitaire is a game developed by Zachtronics. Originally a part of a game called Shenzhen I/O, we can unlock it after solving the first two puzzles. we’d shortly get an email from our boss Jie that he distributed his daughters’ game onto his colleagues’ computers.
Instead of having French-suited cards (black clubs, black spades, red diamonds, and red hearts), we get three sets of cards — each with a different color and numbered from 1 to 9. There are no Kings, Queens, Jokers, or Aces here. The cards must be descending and sequential, and two cards from the same set cannot be stacked on top of each other—they must be alternated.
Each color also has four identical special cards known as “Dragons”. What makes them unique is because they cannot be piled on the numbered cards or even the same dragon. There is also a floral card that does not do much and automatically goes in the single cell in the center once there is no card blocking on it.
While its actual purpose is to stack all the dragons, We can temporarily store any cards of any type on every cell located at the top-left corner. Let’s just call it “The Dragon Cage”. Besides the cage, You can also fill the empty column on the deck with any stack of cards.
There is no undo in this game. Plan your moves carefully. Once we get stuck, there is no turning back and starting over is the only way. I had to try dozen times to win the first game. We have to think ahead, thinking about the consequences, especially when you move a non-sequential card away from a column. But don’t worry; 98% of the deals are solvable. Here are my tips:
- Prioritize clearing the dragons first. They are the true obstacles getting in your way of winning. Pick the ones whose positions are closest to the surface of the column stack.
- Try swapping cards with the same number to unlock a new possibility
- Do not simply move the dragon to the empty column unless you have a plan to collect them in the cage on the next move. Keep in mind that dragons are not stackable.
The win condition is met when we have successfully collected the three kinds of dragons in the upper-left corner, floral at the center, and numbered cards in the upper-right corner as shown below.
Shenzhen Solitaire is quite addictive as a slight modification from the original FreeCell creates a new experience. This game can be picked as a standalone game, as a part of Shenzhen I/O, or from a collection of Zachtronic-made solitaire variants.
Alternatively, someone named Taylor Gratzer created an adaptation on the browser which you can play here.
