I’m not sure what has possessed indie game designer Zach Gage lately, but my dude has released a massive update to Sage Solitaire (Free) last week, and this week Flipflop Solitaire (Free) is seeming similar huge update treatment. Additionally, consider this post yet another reminder that you should really have tried every single game Zach Gage has released by now. They’re all super simple or otherwise classic game formulas (in this case, solitaire) that have twists to them that I’d describe as “devilishly clever." In Flipflop Solitaire, that’s a game of solitaire where you not only stack cards going down, but also to the side.

Flipflop Solitaire, like most (all") solitaire games used to be completely random. The cards were shuffled, and as a player you did your best to try to solve the game- Sometimes winding up in games that turn out to be not solvable at all. That’s where this new mode comes in, which Zach is calling “Numbered Decks." They work a lot like the semi-recent puzzle mode which was added to Hearthstone in that each deck you play is not only 100% solvable, but also the challenge you face will be identical to that of anyone else playing it. The work that went into building an algorithm which compiles completely solvable games of solitaire sounds fascinating, which Zach Gage described in his email (which I’m just quoting in its entirety because I think this stuff is super cool)-
This is a pretty inter...