An extremely addictive card game in the style of Solitaire, but different in a number of ways.
Once In A Life Time is an apt name for this hauntingly addictive card game where the objective is to move cards over to the right hand side of the screen and keeping only the four Aces in play at the end of the game.
As with most card games, the cards look like, well, cards. And the background is green felt, as is mandatory. The selection of card types is straight out of Windows, so if you’ve played any card game on your computer, they should be recognizable.
The game play, as I said, is haunting. It will haunt you wherever you will go. The idea is so simple but the execution is so unbelievably difficult that it will spin your head right around. You can double-click a card to “remove” it, then it is gone. You can’t move cards from column to column, which is frustrating but part of the game, and some how you have to have the 4 aces in play at the end and nothing else. It’s incredibly difficult.
There is no music or sound effects (possibly some bells and whistles when you win, but who knows) and there doesn’t need to be, any extra noises would be distracting to the overall game and as it stands, you can concentrate fully on it (and you will need to).
So in conclusion, if you’ve ever been addicted to Solitaire and swore “no more!” then download this game – you won’t be playing Solitaire, but you will have a whole new addiction!
I used to play this game with real cards when I was a kid and I never, ever finished it. Now, after 148 games (according to the game's stats) I finally finished it. I was sad to see no special effects or celebrations over my victory, but that's how things go...