Solitaire Poker

From Sega Retro

n/a

  • Sega Game Gear
    US/EU
  • Sega Game Gear
    JP
  • System 16

SolitairePoker title.png

SolitairePoker JP title.png

RyuKyu System16 Title.png

Solitaire Poker
System(s): Sega System 16, Sega Game Gear
Publisher:
Arcade (System 16)
Sega Enterprises, Ltd.
Sega Game Gear
Sega Enterprises, Ltd. (US/EU)
Sega Game Gear
Face (JP)
Developer:
Peripherals supported:
Sega Game Gear
Gear-to-Gear Cable
Genre: Puzzle[1][2][3]

















Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code
Arcade (System 16)
JP		 ¥? ?






























Sega Game Gear
JP 		¥3,8003,800 T-54017
Sega Game Gear
US 		$29.9529.95[6] 2316
Sega Game Gear
EU 		2316
Sega Game Gear
PT
Sega Game Gear
UK 		£24.9924.99[11] 2316
Non-Sega versions

Solitaire Poker, known as Ryukyu (琉球) in Japan, is a puzzle game developed by ASCII and Login Soft for various Japanese home computers. It was ported to Sega System 16 arcade hardware by Success and Sega Enterprises, Ltd. in 1990. Face ported it to the Sega Game Gear the following year, with Sega releasing it overseas as Solitaire Poker.

Gameplay

Game Gear version

Solitaire Poker GG, Gameplay.png

Gameplay

The game is a card game with the objective of building the best poker hands by picking one card at a time. The left side of the screen contains a group of 24 cards, arranged in six rows of four cards each, with most of the cards turned down but at least one row on the bottom turned up. Cards are drawn from a standard deck of 52 cards plus a Joker (which acts as a wildcard). The right side of the screen shows a group of 25 blank spaces, arranged in five rows of five spaces each, where cards can be placed.

The player chooses a card from the lowermost row on the left side of the screen, then places it in one of the blank spaces on the right side of the screen. Cards and spaces are chosen using Left or Right and picked up and dropped with 2. When a card is taken from the left side, the card above it takes its place. Cards are placed in the lowermost blank space of the selected column. While the column can be chosen freely, a card can only be placed in a row if the spaces below it are filled. Sets can be made horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. As the player completes rows and columns on the right side of the screen, the type of set that was made (if any) is shown as an icon next to the row, above the column, or in the top-left or bottom-left corner (for diagonal sets).

Success is a combination of luck (since the cards are presented to the player in random order) and the player's ability to anticipate possible combinations before they appear.

Modes

1P

A single-player mode containing 15 rounds. The player must obtain a minimum number of points in the round (depending on the mode selected) in order to progress to the next round. Each round requires progressively more points in order to clear. If the player exceeds the number of points needed to advance, the excess points are stored in the "Bank" and can be used to make up for a deficit of points in a subsequent round. There are three variations of this mode:

  • In View 1, only the lowest row of cards are turned up.
  • In View 2, the three lowermost rows are turned up, and the point requirement for each round has been raised. This allows the player to plan ahead when forming sets, though still only the lowest row of cards can be selected.
  • In View 3, rounds rotate between three patterns: the lowest row of cards are turned up, the three lowermost rows are turned up, and all 24 cards are turned up. The point requirements are likewise raised for this variation.

There is no time limit; the game continues until the player fills the grid. The current score and the points needed to progress to the next round are shown in the top-right corner of the screen.

Try-1

A single-player mode containing a single round but with a much higher point requirement to clear. There are four variations of this mode:

  • On Easy, the lowest row of cards are turned up, and 11,000 points are needed to clear.
  • On Normal, the three lowermost rows are turned up (though still only the lowest row can be selected), and 13,000 points are needed to clear.
  • On Hard, all 24 cards are turned up, and 15,000 points are needed to clear.
  • On Casino, none of the cards are turned up (so the card can only be seen when placing it), and 9,000 points are needed to clear.

There is no time limit; the game continues until the player fills the grid. The current score and the points needed to clear the round are shown in the top-right corner of the screen.

Vs

A two-player mode for two Game Gears linked together using a Gear-to-Gear Cable. Both players compete to try to achieve the highest score in the best of five rounds. Players can separately select whether to play under a time limit (30, 60, or 90 seconds, or Free for no time limit). There are two variations of this mode:

  • In Type A, the three lowermost rows of cards are turned up (though still only the lowest row can be selected). Each time a player makes a set, the player gains time back on the timer.
  • In Type B, the three lowermost rows are turned up. Each time the player completes a set, the player gains time back on the timer and the number of cards that the opponent can see are reduced, depending on the set. The number of cards the opponent can see is reduced by 1 for Three of a Kind, by 2 for a Straight, by 3 for a Flush, by 4 for a Full House, by 5 for Four of a Kind, by 6 for a Straight Flush, by 7 for a Royal Straight Flush, and by 8 for Five of a Kind.

Sets

The rank of a card is the number or name on it: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, or Ace.

The suit of a card is its grouping: clubs, spades, hearts, or diamonds.

The Joker card is a wildcard with no suit that can substitute for any other card in completing a set. There is only one Joker card in the deck.

In order of increasing value:

Set Point value Description
One Pair (1P) 200 Two cards of one rank.
Two Pairs (2P) 400 Two cards of one rank and two cards of another rank.
Three of a Kind (3K) 800 Three cards of one rank.
Straight (ST) 1,000 Five cards of sequential rank, but not in the same suit.
Flush (FL) 1,400 Five cards in the same suit, but not of sequential rank.
Full House (FH) 1,800 Three cards of one rank and two cards of another rank.
Four of a Kind (4K) 2,000 Four cards of one rank.
Straight Flush (SF) 2,400 Five cards in the same suit of sequential rank.
Royal Straight Flush (RSF) 2,800 An Ace, King, Queen, Jack, and 10 in the same suit.
Five of a Kind (5K) 3,000 Five cards of one rank. This set is only possible to achieve with a Joker since there are only four of each rank of card in a deck.

Pressing 1 during a game toggles an overlay showing all of the possible sets and their point values.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as
Language Localised Name English Translation
English Solitaire Poker Solitaire Poker
English (US) Solitaire Poker Solitaire Poker
Japanese 琉球 Ryuu Kyuu

Production credits

System 16 version

  • -KAC-HATSU
  • KOYAMA-KEI
  • AMP-SATOOH
  • KE•DENCYU★
  • 3BAN•JIZOH
  • --HIRANO--
  • HB-TAMURA!
  • T-KUNABARA
  • KAZUO★★★★★
  • A.NAKAMORI
Source:
In-game high score table[12]
Source:
Uncredited


Magazine articles

Main article: Solitaire Poker/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

System 16 version

System 16, JP
Notavailable.svgNotavailable.svg
Instuction card(s)

Game Gear version

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
(UK)
100
[14]
(BR)
81
[15]
(JP) NTSC-J
63
[16]
(IT)
57
[17]
(UK) PAL
70
[18]
(JP) NTSC-J
63
[19]
(US) NTSC-U
72
[20]
(DE)
73
[21]
(UK) PAL
72
[22]
(JP) NTSC-J
90
[23]
(ES)
76
[24]
(FR) NTSC-J
84
[25]
(FR)
81
[26]
(FR) PAL
40
[27]
(ES)
45
[28]
(UK) PAL
70
[29]
(DE)
55
[30]
(DE)
65
[31]
(UK) PAL
72
[32]
(UK)
71
[33]
(UK) PAL
70
[34]
(UK) PAL
91
[11]
(JP) NTSC-J
71
[35]
(GR) PAL
91
[36]
Sega Game Gear
 72
Based on
24 reviews

Solitaire Poker

Game Gear, JP
SolitairePoker JP backcover.jpgNospine-small.pngSolitairePoker JP cover.jpg
Cover
Game Gear, US
SolitairePoker GG US Box Back.jpgNospine.pngSolitairePoker US cover.jpg
Cover
SolitairePoker EU cart.jpg
Cart
Solitairepoker gg us manual.pdf
Manual
Game Gear, EU
SolitairePoker EU Box Back.jpgSolitaire Poker GG EU BoxSpine.jpgSolitairePoker EU cover.jpg
Cover
SolitairePoker EU cart.jpg
Cart
Solitaire Poker GG EU Manual.jpg
Manual
Game Gear, PT

SolitairePoker EU cart.jpg
Cart
Solitaire Poker GG PT Manual.jpg
Manual

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Game Gear
 ?
CRC32 95efd52b
MD5 5a43e20c816435a080a601b0ddacaa44
SHA-1 ffaa1c97c64aec30176254f1ef655c06c63e1b53
128kB Cartridge (JP)
Sega Game Gear
 ?
CRC32 06f2fc46
MD5 d76a2cf1ba1565c4ec6494ea4ee4075b
SHA-1 7478a2f641fa371999f2c9f0a1efd9917615be5f
128kB Cartridge (US/EU)

References

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NEC Retro has more information related to Ryuu Kyuu
  1. ↑ File:SolitairePoker EU Box Back.jpg
  2. ↑ File:SolitairePoker JP cover.jpg
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 http://sega.jp/fb/segahard/gg/soft_licensee.html (Wayback Machine: 2013-01-01 20:24)
  4. ↑ Sega Arcade History, Enterbrain, page 104
  5. ↑ GamePro, "October 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 95
  6. ↑ Electronic Gaming Retail News, "September 1991" (US; 1991-0x-xx), page 28
  7. ↑ Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1991-12-02), page 23
  8. ↑ Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1991-12-09), page 27
  9. ↑ Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1991-12-02), page 23
  10. ↑ Computer Trade Weekly, "" (UK; 1991-12-09), page 27
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Sega Force, "Februrary 1992" (UK; 1992-01-23), page 80
  12. ↑ [ ]
  13. ↑ File:SS16CSTV3 Album JP Booklet.pdf, page 7
  14. ↑ ACE, "January 1992" (UK; 1991-12-08), page 106
  15. ↑ Ação Games, "Abril 1992" (BR; 1992-04-xx), page 43
  16. ↑ Beep! MegaDrive, "May 1991" (JP; 1991-04-08), page 29
  17. ↑ Console Mania, "Ottobre 1992" (IT; 1992-xx-xx), page 57
  18. ↑ Console XS, "June/July 1992" (UK; 1992-04-23), page 149
  19. ↑ Famitsu, "1991-xx-xx" (JP; 1991-06-14), page 20
  20. ↑ GamePro, "November 1991" (US; 1991-xx-xx), page 112
  21. ↑ Gamers, "Februar/März 1992" (DE; 1992-xx-xx), page 56
  22. ↑ Game Zone, "February 1992" (UK; 1992-01-24), page 53
  23. ↑ Hippon Super, "May 1991" (JP; 1991-04-04), page 43
  24. ↑ Hobby Consolas, "Mayo 1992" (ES; 1992-0x-xx), page 73
  25. ↑ Joystick, "Juillet/Août 1991" (FR; 1991-0x-xx), page 184
  26. ↑ Joystick, "Janvier 1992" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 139
  27. ↑ Mega Force, "Janvier 1992" (FR; 1992-01-15), page 44
  28. ↑ Micromanía (segunda época), "Mayo 1992" (ES; 1992-0x-xx), page 69
  29. ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "October 1992" (UK; 1992-09-xx), page 143
  30. ↑ Play Time, "2/92" (DE; 1992-01-08), page 88
  31. ↑ Power Play, "2/92" (DE; 1992-01-xx), page 172
  32. ↑ Sega Power, "March 1992" (UK; 1992-02-06), page 51
  33. ↑ Sega Pro, "Christmas 1991" (UK; 1991-12-12), page 70
  34. ↑ Sega Pro, "April 1993" (UK; 1993-03-11), page 74
  35. ↑ Sega Saturn Magazine, "September 1995" (JP; 1995-08-08), page 88
  36. ↑ User, "Septémvrios 1992" (GR; 1992-0x-xx), page 90


Solitaire Poker

SolitairePoker title.png

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