I'm gonna use the same picture this time around too because I like it and it is an accurate depiction on how a game of Klondike looks when played on a computer.
And this is how Klondike looks on my kitchen table. Both these games have the same mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics. The big difference between these two is that one of them is set up and handled by a machine and the other a human. Yes they are both played by humans, but in the tabletop version the player must take care of the setting up, the stock, revealing cards, checking wrong moves etc.
Simple system mechanics make human happy.
Klondike is designed to be played on a table with a human running through the motions. This can be noticed by how the game is set up and how the stockpile functions. The setup is easy to remember because it follows a easy motion:
Shuffle, One card up, count six more piles face down. One card up, one face down on the rest, One card up, one face down on the rest, repeat until there is a face up card on every pile. It feels good to deal out the cards and the stockpile is left in your hand afterwards. Simple and clean
The stockpile is also handled in a simple way. The player takes the three card on the top of the stockpile and lays them out. The topmost card can be moved which, if moved, the card below it can also be moved. If the player wants three new cards then the old ones are discarded face up to the waste pile which is kept in order and never shuffled. If all three cards are used up, the player can start using the topmost card in the waste pile.
Here comes a big rant though. While the mechanic feels good to use in the beginning, it stops feeling good once you realize that the cards in there gives you important information from the beginning. It now becomes a chore to look through the cards and memorizing them. For a player playing on a table it is much easier to just pick up the cards and look through them. For the computer it also behaves in a weird way which you probably won't bother to look up because you just want to submit to the rules. The sad part is also that this mechanic is crucial to winning the game, and when the player finds that out, submission lowers and challenge rises. Now you have to really think about your moves so that you can find the optimal way out at all times.
Takeaway
When designing card games, especially ones you play with paper, you need to consider simple mechanics which is easy to remember and still feels enjoyable to use while containing a good gameplay.
The setup is a good example of a simple system of actions the player performs to get the game going. The stockpile, while feeling natural to use, fails when the player realize it's importance to finishing the game, which then cannot be ignored when playing in the future.
The stockpile creates the conflict between Submission and Challenge which splits the player in two sides based on how much they know/experienced of the game. It creates a nice front, but it's a game that will ultimately fall flat on its belly for anyone playing it long enough to actually want to learn the tricks of the game.
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