Why Acid?

Acid: Enhanced from the original. Transformed in a revolutionary way.

The etymology of the word "acid" as it is used in the AcidSolitaire Collection begins with Acid House music, born in Chicago in the early 1980s. Acid House was a revolutionary transformation of House Music, a popular genre in Chicago at the time. A quick Internet search on Acid House gives varying accounts of the origin of the term, though the origin that seems most likely (and meets with our recollection of the early 1980s) is that Acid House was first a style of music relying heavily on the Roland TB-303 bass line machine. The term was also used by some to describe music that incorporated audio samples with the music. The musical styles and terminology all developed rapidly together in Chicago in the early 1980s, and it is only in retrospect that we can attempt to saddle the term "acid" with a "true" definition.

Chicago House Transformed

The original "Chicago House" music (referring to the club "Warehouse" in Chicago) was a derivation of New York '70s disco, and somehow House was able to flourish in Chicago, the "disco sucks" capital of the world. "Acid House" was an enhancement of House music, and it indeed transformed House in a revolutionary way. Perhaps Acid House was Chicago's way of contributing to the 1980's demolition of the disco that had come to symbolize all that was wrong with the 1970s.

As House and then Acid House made their way across the Atlantic to the UK, the musical styles took off. Clubs such as the Manchester landmark Hacienda sparked to life almost overnight. The TB-303 is still used today, and sampling has remained a staple of club and rave music for the last 20 years.

So far, our retrospective defition of Acid fits - "enhanced from the original," and "transformed in a revolutionary way." Acid House enhanced the original House music, and transformed it in a way that would revolutionize an entire music genre that is still evolving 20 years later.

Jazz Transformed

Acid Jazz soon followed. Again, the history of this use of the term is a bit murky. It is only in retrospect that we can look back and realize that a genre was born. In this case, it seems as though the term Acid Jazz was casually used by DJs incorporating jazz into their sets, as a joking reference to Acid House. There were similarities - a focus on the core elements of the music, a transformation of an original, and again the use of sampling. And in retrospect, it was, again, a revolution that persists today.

Solitaire Revolutionized!

Our loyal base of fans understands what we're doing and why we're doing it.

What next? AcidSolitaire? We can only hope that the transformation that is AcidSolitaire touches off a revolution, though we're pretty happy with the fact that our loyal base of fans understands what we're doing and why we're doing it. We have taken an original, Solitaire, "sampled" it, enhanced it, and transformed it in a revolutionary way. The games can also "sample" your photos and images, incorporating them into the game as backgrounds. The AcidSolitaire Collection transforms Solitaire, Spider and Freecell. A common refrain heard from those who try the AcidSolitaire Collection is, "after this, I can't stand to play any other solitaire game." Sounds good to us. This is our goal.

Yes, you will be playing the AcidSolitaire Collection for years to come.

The AcidSolitaire interface will revolutionize how you play. It is designed to be comfortable even after years of play - and yes, you will be playing the AcidSolitaire Collection for years to come. The statistics system is unlike anything you have seen before. There is no long-term penalty for losing a game, as long as you go back and win it again at a later date. So, if you come to a fork in the road, you can go with your gut instinct without worry. If you lose, you will have a chance to redeem yourself by replaying and winning. The games are presented to you in order of difficulty, so that even if you have never played Solitaire before, you will be able to get a feel for the game right away. As your skills improve, the challenge increases accordingly. Expert players can choose to be dealt random skill level games, or may choose to start at a difficulty level that matches their skill from the outset.

That's where the term "Acid" comes from. The simple definition at the top of this page says it all. Enhanced from the original, yet transformed in a revolutionary way. The product description pages go into quite a bit of detail on how we have done this, but the easiest way to see what we've done is to download the AcidSolitaire Collection. Try it for a few weeks, for free. It will be the only Solitaire game you want to play.

If you'd like to try out the AcidSolitaire Collection for Windows, you can download AcidSolitaire (solitaire for Windows), AcidFreecell (freecell for Windows), and AcidSpider (spider for Windows). All of the games in the AcidSolitaire Collection are free to try. If you have feedback for us on this topic or on our games, please email us at support@red-mercury.com.