Solidare

Solidare is the ultimate solitaire challenge for word game and puzzle lovers.

I am currently submitting for licensing it to game companies and my agent, Jennifer DeChiara, is submitting it to publishers who also produce kits/card decks. If you know of a good home (game company or publisher) for Solidare, please email me ASAP at NeuBon@comcast.net. Thanks!

Here is a Game concept Sheet I created in order to submit Solidare to a game company. It covers the basics:

SOLIDARE , The Ultimate Solitaire Challenge for Word Game and Puzzle Lovers

The Story

In the fall of 2002, I landed an interview for a sales job with Games Magazine that I later turned down. Before my interview, I did my homework and discovered an article about card decks that Wayne Schmittberger, editor, had created. That idea fascinated and inspired me (as did Wayne when I met him after my interview). Since I am an author, an inventor, and an avid lover of words, it was a natural extension for me to come up with my own deck of lettered cards. Initially I called it Pyramid Puzzler because the first game I created was based on pyramid solitaire. I chose to mimic this game because as a young girl, late at night, I’d slip under the covers with a flashlight and play pyramid solitaire with a deck of miniature puppy playing cards. I am still an avid lover/player of all sorts of word puzzles and games. However, my husband isn’t quite as enamored with this pastime. With Solidare I now have 30 games and puzzles to play all on my own. They deliver equal or better gratification than the games that require a partner.

The Market

The first record of solitaire rules was reported in the nineteenth century. The most famous of all solitaire players is Napoleon with an 1816 reference to “playing patience” while in exile. Clearly, solitaire games have great staying power, even in our age of technology. Almost every computer owner has played solitaire to chill-out. The actual number of word game/puzzle players is hard to pin down. As of 2003, Games Magazine boasted a total circulation of 407,340. According to Toy Industry of America, sales of games and puzzles in 2002 totaled $2,094 million. According to the U.S. Census, in 2000, 25.5 percent of households are comprised of one person living alone, up from 17.1% in 1970. These are prime solitaire players! Solidare is for ages 8-188. The top groups are: traditional solitaire players (computer and shuffle yourself); lovers of word games (Scrabble®, Boggle®, Upwords®); word puzzle addicts (crosswords, jumbles, cryptograms); people who live alone; word-people; listeners to NPR’s Puzzlemaster; traveling business people; airplane passengers; folks who are convalescing; anyone who has 10 minutes to kill; everyone who loves a verbal challenge ages 8-188.

The Game

What do you get when you cross Scrabble®, Boggle®, and Bingo with Solitaire? You get Solidare - the ultimate solitaire challenge for word game and puzzle lovers, age 8 to 188.

Solidare is a 52 lettered-card deck and book of 30 games that combines two very classic game play elements: solitaire and word play. It is the perfect solution for anyone who wants a playful, mental word challenge yet can’t always find a partner. All 30 games are based on familiar entertainment such as Scrabble®, Boggle®, Poker®, Bingo® and Klondike® Solitaire, so the play is immediately familiar. With simple step-by-step illustrated instructions, the games are all quick to learn. Because the games are for one player, players compete with themselves, yet feel as challenged as if they were playing against a partner. Unless otherwise noted in the rules for a particular game, acceptable words for Solidare play are those found in the Official Scrabble Players Dictionary®. One card has 2 letters, the Qu, and rules for how to use it are included in the directions. There are scoreboards for each game so players can keep track of the score they are currently trying to beat. If there is another person around, there are also rules provided to turn the games into two-player challenges called Solidare-Duels. Both word game enthusiasts and traditional solitaire addicts adore Solidare.

Components

Card Deck (52 lettered cards with point values), Step-by-step instructions for 30 solitaire games/puzzles. Titles of the 30 games are: Tryangle, Slyde, Sentense, Clokwize, Paddern, Pokerd, E-Race, Alfa, Feeyoouwhisst, Inishils, 44D, Fourum, Gridlok, Scrapple, Anna Graham, Avows, Bongi, Icy Cages, Kidnolk, Kolumns, L-F-N, Muddflapps, NeXtime, Pax, Rivrz, SaxonBowl, Skware, Stats, Taltale, Three-Four.

In the past, I sold a collector's edition of Solidare for $12.99 + s/h. While the game is making the rounds, that is no longer an option. Sorry!