Introduction
The Ace of Penguins is a set of Unix/X solitaire games based on the ones available for Windows(tm) but with a number of enhancements that make my wife like my versions better :-)
My wife plays the Windows(tm) solitaire games a lot. However, my laptop runs Linux. One day I decided I needed to do a small fun project, so I decided to write those solitaire games for the laptop. Now we bring the laptop on trips and such so that whoever isn't driving can play the "penguin games" as my kids call them.
The Ace of Penguins is Copyright © 2001 by DJ Delorie. It's distributed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.
See http://www.delorie.com/store/ace/
All Ace programs use the PNG library and ZLib. Your system may have them installed, otherwise you'll need to download and install them.
There is no gratuitous support for the Ace of Penguins; neither the games nor the toolkit. If you would like to contribute to the Ace of Penguins (write documentation or new games, submit bugs), please feel free to send me email. If you need help or have questions, there is a US$5 fee per question (note: I can't guarantee answers) that must be paid before I'll answer your question. Bulk rates are available. Note: the reason I must insist on this is because writing software is fun, but answering support email is not. I'm willing to share the code for free because it doesn't cost me any time, but answering email does, and I have more enjoyable things to do with my time. Sorry, but those are the cold hard facts of life.
Once you start the game, press the F1 or the H key for help on playing each game, just like the startup picture tells you to do.
Note that taipei (the R and J layouts) and test6 can be played by kids as young as two years old; my kids (3 and 5 when I wrote them) love them. They learn how to use the mouse, match pictures, and put cards in order and grouped by suit. Rebecca even plays the golf game occasionally.
All these games are built on top of a limited-purpose solitaire toolkit that simplifies the process of creating an X-based solitaire game. You can learn all about it on the API page.