Solitaire Magic by 7 Dragons Available for Kindle Fire

Solitaire Magic by 7 Dragons is now available in the Android App Store for Kindle Fire devices. Please Note: We are the developers of this app.  Solitaire Magic provides countless hours of fun for the low introductory price of just $1.00.  This app is suitable for all ages.

What do you get for your $1.00?  You get three solitaire games in one simple app, plus a bonus game to extend your gaming fun.  Choose from Solitaire, Mahjong Solitaire, and Spider Solitaire.

Each game has both detailed Help files as well as “How to Play” sections.  Collects Stats & Trophies for game play.  Enjoy the optional background music and game sounds or turn them off in Settings.

Solitaire

Solitaire is also commonly known as Klondike or Canfield.

Features in Solitaire include:

  • Draw 3 and Draw 1 modes
  • 11 backgrounds
  • 13 deck backs
  • 6 deck fronts including 2 large font decks for easy viewing
  • Scoring, Timer, Undo, Restart, New Game, Hints
  • Extensive “How to Play” and Help files to make it easy to learn to play Solitaire if you are new to the game.

Initial Layout:
A single deck of cards is shuffled and dealt in seven columns to form the tableau. From left to right, one card is placed face up in the leftmost column, then six cards face down in each column to the right. Another card is placed face up on the leftmost column with a card face down and then remaining columns have a card dealt face down on them. This continues until the final column has a card dealt face up.

The remaining cards are placed in a stock pile in the upper right-hand corner.

Object of the Game:
The object of the game is to move the four aces to the foundation piles at the left of the game board and build up each suit from ace to king. Once all four foundation piles are complete, the game is won.

Game Play:
The tableau piles are built down in alternating colors (black can be placed on red and red on black). An empty tableau pile can be filled with a King or with a pile of cards starting with a King. To move the cards, drag a card (or pile of cards) from one pile to the desired pile. Double tap on any qualifying card to move it to a foundation pile.

Cards dealt from the stock pile can be used to fill in spots in the tableau piles or in the foundation piles.

As an added method for ease in completing a game, once all cards are face up (no face down cards in the tableau or cards remaining in the deck) and in tableau piles or foundation piles the game will auto complete for you and move the remaining cards to their foundation piles.

Time: Tracks the time in play for the current game.

Score: Your score for the current game.
10 points are awarded for moving a card to a foundation pile.
5 points are awarded for moving a card from the deck to a tableau pile.
5 points are awarded for turning over a card in a tableau pile.
15 points are deducted for moving a card from a foundation pile back to a tableau pile.
2 points are deducted for every 10 seconds of play.
In the Draw Three option, 20 points are deducted each time you go through the deck after the third time.
In the Draw One option, 100 points are deducted each time you go through the deck after the first time.

Mahjong Solitaire

Mahjong Solitaire is a traditional tile matching game. 

Features in Mahjong Solitaire include:

  • 3 Difficulty Levels - Easy, Medium and Hard
  • 19 layouts to choose from13 deck backs including a custom spider deck back
  • 3 tile designs including Traditional, Flower, and Fishes
  • 3 tile colors to choose from
  • Scoring, Timer, # of Available Matches, Undo, Restart, New Game, Hints, Show Available Tiles
  • Extensive “How to Play” and Help files to make it easy to learn to play Mahjong Solitaire if you are new to the game.

Selecting a Layout:
Nineteen different layouts are available to choose from. Layouts are divided between Easy, Medium and Hard options. Tap on the image above the desired layout name. The selected puzzle will be indicated by a Buddha image. Upon successful completion of a puzzle, the image will change to a pagoda view.

Initial Layout:
Tiles are randomly arranged face-up in the selected layout with some tiles covered by others. Tiles are available for play when they are “free”. A free tile is a tile that has no other tiles on top of it and can be slid out to either the left or the right.

Object of the Game:

The object of the game is to match pairs of free tiles until the board is cleared. In the traditional design, cards with pipes, buttons and numbers on them will match with an identical tile. In the fishes and flower design, cards not designated as Season or Flower tiles will also match an identical tile. Season tiles can match other season tiles and are indicated with a sun in the upper right hand corner. Flower tiles can match other flower tiles and are indicated by a leaf or flower in the upper right hand corner.

Game Play:
Tap on a free tile and then tap on a matching free tile to create a match and remove the tiles from the board. The tiles must be the same or the match will not occur. Because there are multiple items of each image (traditionally four of each tile), matching the wrong pair may result in the board getting blocked. The current number of Matches available is shown in the Matches window.

Note – Flower tiles match other Flower tiles regardless of the image on the tile. Season tiles match other Season tiles regardless of the image on the tile.

  • Traditional Tile Set: Flower tiles are indicated by a pink tulip in the upper right-hand corner. Season tiles are indicated by a sun in the upper right-hand corner.
  • Flower Tile Set: Flower tiles are indicated by an orange flower in the upper right-hand corner. Season tiles are indicated by a snowflake in the upper right-hand corner.
  • Fishes Tile Set: Flower tiles are indicated by a pink pearl in the upper right-hand corner. Season tiles are indicated by a starfish in the upper right-hand corner.

Different strategies may be employed depending upon your favorite method of game play, but typically users remove the topmost tile in a stack and outer tiles in order to free up more tiles as the game progresses.

The game is won when all matching tiles are successfully removed from the grid. The game is over when there are no more free tiles that can be matched successfully.

Upon successfully clearing the board, you will be automatically moved to the next layout. To select a different layout, do so by choosing Menu and then Layout.

Time: Tracks the time in play for the current game.

Score: Your score for the current game.

Spider Solitaire

Spider Solitaire is a version of Solitaire that involves a bit of luck and planning. 

Features in Spider Solitaire include:

  • 3 Difficulties – Easy (1 suit), Medium (2 suits) and Hard (4 suits)
  • 10 backgrounds including custom designed spider backgrounds
  • 13 deck backs including a custom spider deck back
  • 8 deck fronts including 2 spider themed deck fronts
  • Scoring, Timer, Undo, Restart, New Game, Hints
  • Extensive “How to Play” and Help files to make it easy to learn to play Spider Solitaire if you are new to the game.


Initial Layout:
Two decks of cards are shuffled and dealt in ten piles to form the tableau. From left to right, the first four piles contain six cards each and the last six piles contain five cards each. The top card in each pile is dealt face up; the remaining cards in each pile are dealt face down.

The remaining cards are placed in a stock pile in the lower right-hand corner.

Object of the Game:
The object of the game is to form eight sets of cards of the same suit descending from King to Ace within a column. Once all eight sets of cards are complete, the game is won.

Game Play:
The columns are built down in any suit. An empty column can be filled with any card or a moveable sequence of cards. A moveable sequence of cards consists of cards of the same suit in descending sequence (such as 5, 4, 3, 2 of spades). To move the cards, drag a card (or pile of cards) from one pile to the desired pile. When a set of cards of the same suit from King to Ace is complete it is automatically removed to the lower left-hand corner.

The columns can be built down in one or more suits. (If you are playing on the Easy difficulty, there is only one suit available). You can move one card or a moveable sequence of cards from one pile to another. A moveable sequence of cards consists of cards of the same suit in descending sequence (such as 8, 7, 6 of diamonds). When all face up cards in a column are removed, the next face down card will be turned face up.

Once a pile is emptied, it is eligible to have other cards moved onto it. Any card (or a moveable sequence of cards) can be moved to an empty tableau pile. Use empty tableau piles as a method of helping shift cards.

Clicking on the stock pile deals one card face up on the end of each column. All columns must contain a card before more cards can be dealt from the stock.

The game is incrementally more difficult as you shift from one suit, to two suits, to four suits. We recommend you learn the game on Easy difficulty and work your way up to the hardest difficulty.

Time: Tracks the time in play for the current game.

Score: Your score for the current game.
500 points are awarded initially.
1 point is deducted for moving a card or set of cards from one pile to another.
100 points are awarded for completing a set of cards of the same suit from King to Ace and removing them from game play.

Stats & Trophies

The Stats & Trophies button from the Solitaire Magic main screen allows you to view your High Scores, Best Times and Games Won for all the included games. 

The Trophies button will show you the trophies that have been won for completing various tasks:

Trophies are awarded in Solitaire for winning a Draw 1 game, winning a Draw 3 game, and getting a base score greater than 650.  Trophies are awarded in Mahjong Solitaire for winning any 5 different levels, winning any 10 different levels and winning any 15 different levels. Trophies are awarded in Spider Solitaire for winning a game on Easy difficulty, winning a game on Medium difficulty and winning a game on Hard difficulty.

If you have any questions, comments or suggestions for Solitaire Magic, please leave a comment on this post or contact us via email at booksummit@ymail.com.

Tic Tac Toe for Kindle Touch

Tic Tac Toe by 7 Dragons has now been released for Kindle Touch for $0.99.  Play against the Kindle on Easy, Medium or Hard or play with a friend and pass the Kindle Touch on 2 player mode.

Kindle Calendar update available!

Calendar version 1.1 for all Kindle supporting active content is now available for download. Please note – we refer to it as version 1.1 within the app, but in the Kindle store it is listed as version 1.2.

First came Calendar 1.1 for Kindle at the end of 2011. Then came Calendar 1.1 for Kindle Touch earlier this month. Quickly following on its heels was Calendar 1.1 for Kindle 2nd Generation, Kindle Keyboard and Kindle DX users.

What is included in Calendar 1.1 that was not in previous versions.  Well – a picture is worth a thousand words.

Kindle Calendar Active Content - new in version 1.1

I will be updating all the Calendar online help files and downloadable help files this week and should have the posts updated before the weekend. 

As always, if there are any questions on the update, please leave a comment on this post or contact us directly at booksummit@ymail.com.

Help for Notepad for Kindle Touch

The following blog post provides help documentation for Notepad for Kindle Touch.

Downloadable Help documents:
Notepad for Kindle Touch (doc)
Notepad for Kindle Touch (pdf)

Notepad is a Kindle application that allows you to create and store notes on your Kindle. 

This help file is specifically for the Kindle Touch version of Notepad.

Notepad adds productivity to your Kindle in addition to the standard e-Reader functions. Basic uses for Notepad include:

  • Meeting and Classroom Notes
  • To-Do Lists
  • Reminders
  • Grocery Lists
  • Reading and modifying text documents from your computer

Using Notepad

The first time you open Notepad, you will be taken to the All Notes screen and see a Welcome Note with some basic information about using the app. There is also an “If Found, Return To” note that can be used enter contact information in case you misplace your Kindle Touch and whoever finds it is inclined to return it.

Help Pages

The Help section (available in the Menu) provides quick notes on using different features in Notepad. 

To navigate through the various Help pages, use the finger slide left for Next Page and finger slide right for Previous Page on your Kindle Touch.

Adding a New Note

A new note can be added from the All Notes and Recent Notes screens by clicking on the New Note button in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.

Once the New Text Note screen is up, you can simply start typing in the note’s title/name and body.  If the note becomes longer than one Kindle screen in length, you will see the Page 1 of 1 legend at the bottom of the screen expand to match the current length.  In addition, a running character count also displays in the bottom of the screen.  The notes are limited to 3099 characters and titles are limited to 20 characters.

There are four buttons at the bottom of the screen.

  • Save – saves the note with the current title.  If no title has been provided, you will prompted to enter a title. Note remains open for further editing/additions.
  • Save As – saves the current note under a new title. New note remains open for editing/additions.
  • Save & Exit – saves the current note and returns to the previous Note display screen.
  • Cancel – if no changes have been made to the note, leaves the note and returns to the previous Note display screen. If changes have been made to the note, you will be prompted to save (if desired).

As with any electronic device, it is recommended that you get in the habit of saving your work often in case of system interruption.

Naming Notes

We recommend using note titles that will make it easy for you to determine the contents of your note.

Note titles/names are limited to 20 characters.  In order to meet the criteria of Text (.txt) files on most computer operating systems, only letters, numbers and certain special characters are allowed in note titles.

Viewing and Editing Notes

To View or Edit Notes, press on the name of a desired note and you will see a pop-up with options to View, Edit, Delete, or Cancel.  

You can tap directly on a note name in order to open it for editing.

All Notes vs Recent Notes

The All Notes screen provides a record of all notes available in Notepad.  This list can be sorted by note title or by date.  To navigate to additional screens of notes, use the finger slide method for Next Page or Previous Page on your Kindle Touch.

The Recent Notes screen provides the 20 most recent notes accessed in Notepad.  If there are fewer than 20 notes available, the list may be shorter. This list can also be sorted by note title or by date.  To navigate to additional screens of notes, use the finger slide method for Next Page or Previous Page on your Kindle Touch.

Searching Notes

Note titles and contents can be searched using either the Search Notes screen or via the “search by keyword” feature on the All Notes and Recent Notes screens.

The Search Notes screen allows you to search by note title and/or by text in the body of the note.  A combination of searching in both fields allows you to search even deeper.  This can be very useful when you have many notes in the application. The results of the search will come up automatically as you type search strings. These results display in the following format:

Note Title A
Note A string snippet (starting with search string)

Note Title B
Note B string snippet (starting with search string)

The “search by keyword” feature searches through both note title and body for the search string. The results of the search will come up automatically as you type search strings.  These results display in the following format:

Note Title A                           Time or Date
Note Title B                           Time or Date

Sorting Notes

Notes can be sorted either alphabetically by note title or by note date (the last time the note was saved). The default option is alphabetically by title. 

You can choose to sort notes by selecting ‘Sort by Date’ or ‘Sort by Title’ in Menu.

Backup and Restore Notes

Using Backup and Restore on both the Kindle Touch and your computer will guarantee that you will have your files when needed. For more details on how to backup and restore your files, please refer to the section on Backup and Restore Notes.

Transferring Notes

Transferring Notes between your Kindle Touch and a computer is a very quick and easy process. For details, please refer to the section on Transferring Notes.

Closing Notepad

Notepad can be closed by pressing the Home key.

Backup and Restore Notes

The Backup/Restore page provides you the ability to both backup your entire sets of notes, and restore a set from among your backed-up sets.  This is a good habit to get into because you never know when you might modify or delete an important note that you will need later.

In order to get to the Backup/Restore page from any screen in Notepad, press the Menu key.  Navigate through the Menu  and select ‘Back up Notes’ to enter the Backup/Restore page.

Prior to making your first Backup, the page will show six empty Backup slots as well as an ‘auto save’ slot we have added for additional Backup safety. 

Creating a Backup:

Tap to select the Backup slot you would like to use (order does not matter).

Press on the Backup slot and you will see four available options:

                      Backup          Delete                        Restore          Cancel

Select ‘Backup’

A pop-up box will open allowing you to enter a description/title for your Backup.  Enter the desired name and then select the Backup button. We recommend naming the Backup with some useful tag such as ‘First Weekly’ or ‘Before Cleanup’.

(If you decide to not make a Backup at this time, select Cancel.)

The Backup description/title will now appear in the chosen slot. The date and timestamp for your Backup will appear on the line below.

If you run out of slots and need to make additional Backups, you can either overwrite a previous backup that is no longer needed, or copy Backups to your computer and free up a slot. (See section on Copying Backups to a Computer).

Deleting a Backup:

If you have run out of slots and want to make additional Backups or no longer need a Backup you created for a special purpose, it is very simple to delete a Backup.  Please make sure that you no longer need this Backup because this action is permanent.

From the Backup/Restore page:

Tap to select the Backup slot you would like to delete.

Press on the slot and you will see four available options:

Backup          Delete                        Restore          Cancel

Select ‘Delete’

You will be prompted to confirm that you want to delete this backup.  If you are sure you want to delete the backup, select ‘OK’.  If you are not certain you want the delete the backup, select ‘Cancel’.

Restoring a Backup:

If you have deleted/modified one or more notes that you need to be able to access, the Restore feature on the Backup/Restore page allows you to Restore an entire set of notes.

Note:  This feature will restore a previous set of notes over your current set of notes.  Any changes or additions to your notes that have been made after the date and timestamp of the Backup you choose to Restore will be lost.  We recommend making a new Backup of your current data prior to the Restore.

In order to Restore a set of notes, from the Backup/Restore page:

Tap to select the Backup slot you would like to restore.

Press on the backup slot and you will see four available options:

Backup          Delete                        Restore          Cancel

Select ‘Restore’

Your previous notes will automatically be restored to their condition at the time the Backup was made.

Viewing Backups on a Computer without Restoring:

Plug the USB cable into both your Kindle Touch and the computer.

The Kindle Touch should shift into USB Drive Mode.

Your computer should open a prompt asking you which action you would like to take.  Select ‘Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer’. Click OK.

Your computer should open Windows Explorer to the root of the drive assigned to your Kindle Touch (this may be different depending upon your computer setup).

Double click on the ‘.active-content-data’ folder.

Look for the subfolder named ‘8a5982e82ae68fb201 2bc688405e0026’ and open this folder.

Your Backups are stored in the ‘backup’ subfolder.

Please refer to the screenshots in the help file to see the relationship between the backup slots on the Kindle Touch and their backup folders on your computer.  The first Kindle slot on the list corresponds to subfolder ‘Slot 0’, the second Kindle slot corresponds to subfolder ‘Slot 1’, etc.  Notice that the <empty slot> in the Kindle does not have a backup subfolder (this would be named ‘Slot 2’) until a Backup is stored there.

Copying Backups to a Computer:

Plug the USB cable into both your Kindle Touch and the computer.

The Kindle Touch should shift into USB Drive Mode.

Your computer should open a prompt asking you which action you would like to take.  Select ‘Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer’. Click OK.

Your computer should open Windows Explorer to the root of the drive assigned to your Kindle Touch (this may be different depending upon your computer setup).

Double click on the ‘.active-content-data’ folder.

Look for the subfolder named ‘8a5982e82ae68fb201 2bc688405e0026’ and open this folder.

Your Backups are stored in the ‘backup’ subfolder.

Select all desired Backups that you want to transfer. You may select more than one Backup by holding down the CTRL key and selecting the folders one at a time or select a group of Backups by holding down the Shift key and selecting the first and last folders in the contiguous group.

Right click and select Copy.

Navigate to the desired folder on your computer where you want to transfer the Backups.

Right clock and select Paste.

When done transferring Backups, eject the Kindle Touch from your computer and disconnect the USB cable.

Transferring Notes

Transferring notes between the Kindle Touch and a computer is very easy to do.  In order to transfer notes, you will need to have the USB cable that was provided when you received your Kindle Touch.

Transferring Notes from your Kindle Touch to a computer

Plug the USB cable into both your Kindle Touch and the computer.

The Kindle Touch should shift into USB Drive Mode.

Your computer should open a prompt asking you which action you would like to take.  Select ‘Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer’. Click OK.

Your computer should open Windows Explorer to the root of the drive assigned to your Kindle Touch (this may be different depending upon your computer setup).

Double click on the ‘.active-content-data’ folder.

Look for the subfolder named ‘8a5982e82ae68fb201 2bc688405e0026’ and open this folder. (It is easiest to just look for the folder name ending in e0026).

Choose the ‘work’ subfolder.

Your notes are stored in the ‘user’ subfolder.

If your Kindle Touch is the D: drive on your computer, the path/folder will be – D:\.active-content-data\8a5982e82ae68fb2012bc688405e0026\work\user.

Select all desired notes that you want to transfer. You may select More than one note by holding down the CTRL key and selecting the note titles or select a contiguous group of notes by holding down the Shift key and selecting the first and last notes in the desired group.

Right click and select Copy (or Cut – if you want to permanently move them off your Kindle Touch).

Navigate to the desired folder on your computer where you want to transfer the notes.

Right click and select Paste.

Note:  All transferred files will be saved in Text (.txt) format.

When done transferring files, eject the Kindle Touch from your computer and disconnect the USB cable.

Transferring Notes from a computer to your Kindle Touch

Plug the USB cable into both your Kindle Touch and the computer.

The Kindle Touch should shift into USB Drive Mode.

Your computer should open a prompt asking you which action you would like to take.  Select ‘Open folder to view files using Windows Explorer’. Click OK.

Your computer should open Windows Explorer to the root of the drive assigned to your Kindle Touch (this may be different depending upon your computer setup).

Navigate to the desired files on your computer that you want to transfer to your Kindle Touch.

Select the desired Text (.txt) files you want to transfer. You may select more than one note by holding down the CTRL key and selecting the note titles or select a contiguous group of notes by holding down the Shift key and selecting the first and last notes in the desired group.

Right click and select Copy (or Cut – if you want to permanently move them off your Kindle Touch).

Navigate to the drive assigned to your Kindle Touch.

Double click on the ‘.active-content-data’ folder.

Look for the subfolder named ‘8a5982e82ae68fb201 2bc688405e0026’ and open this folder. (It is easiest to just look for the folder name ending in e0026).

Choose the ‘work’ subfolder.

Your notes are stored in the ‘user’ subfolder.

If your Kindle Touch is the D: drive on your computer, the path/folder will be – D:\.active-content-data\8a5982e82ae68fb2012bc688405e0026\work\user.

Right click and select Paste.

When done transferring files, eject the Kindle Touch from your computer and disconnect the USB cable.

Notepad Kindle Touch App Questions & Answers

Q: Can I move notes from my Kindle Touch to my computer or the other way around?

A: Yes.  All you need (in addition to the Kindle and your computer) is the USB cable you use to charge your Kindle Touch.  For further directions, please refer to the section on Transferring Notes.

Q:  I accidentally deleted a note that I really Back up Notes feature since you created that note, you can restore a previous set of notes (after backing up your current list to make sure you don’t lose more notes). For further directions, please refer to the section on Backup and Restore Notes.

Q: Why is Notepad only $1?

A: To make it available to as many Kindle owners as possible.

Q: Why is Notepad not free?

A: Because it wasn’t free to make it.

Q: I created a note the other day and can’t remember what it is called.  How can I find my notes from two days ago?

A: Use the ‘Sort by Date’ in the Menu to switch your notes from being alphabetically sorted by title to being sorted by date and then review your notes from the date you saved the note.

Q: Can I load Microsoft Word or PDF documents in Notepad and work on them there?

A: No. Notepad is only able to work with Text files (files saved with a .txt extension).

Q: Some of my notes have a date and some have a time on them.  What is the difference?

A: Notes that have been saved today will show a timestamp (based on your Kindle time) of when they were last saved.  Notes saved prior to today will be displayed with the month and date saved.

Q:  How do I delete a note?

A: From the All Notes, Recent Notes, or Search Notes screen, press on the note title for the note you want to delete and select Delete.

Q: How long can my note title be?

A: To make sure they fit on the screen, note titles are limited to 20 characters.

Q: I’ve been making changes to many of my notes today.  How come they are not all showing up on the Recent Notes pages?

A: Recent Notes only displays the 20 most recently accessed notes. 

Q:  Is there a limit to how long my note can be?

A: Yes.  In order to make the notes a reasonable size for the Kindle Touch, we have limited notes to being under 3100 characters (including spaces and line returns).

Q: I am working on a big document for work and want to be able to edit it in Notepad.  How can I do this and stay under the character size limit?

A: Using Microsoft Word, wordpad, notepad or another word processing program on your computer, break your document up into smaller files and label them in order like projectx1, projectx2, projectx3, etc.  You can then work on the smaller files and compile them back together when you transfer the notes from your Kindle Touch to your computer.

Productivity Helper Version 5.5 for Kindle Fire is now available

Alarm Clock, Calendar, ToDo – Productivity Helper has now been upgraded to version 5.5.

We have packed a lot of new features into this latest upgrade (trust me – I tested them for many days) and are very excited to present the following features to our users:

  • Sync with Google Calendar  – export and import events between the calendar in Productivity Helper and Google Calendar (insert big flashing lights here – many users have been requesting this feature)
  • Highlighting variations for recurring and single events
  • Choose which page to start the app on
  • Easier setting of your custom background/image
  • New stopwatch colors
  • Choose system sounds for alarms
  • Tap icons in the navigation panel to expand and contract various app pages

Please remember that we also provide various reference materials for this application.

Blog Post with Downloadable Help Files(updated)

Online Help Post for Productivity Helper (updated)

If you have any questions on Productivity Helper, please make sure and leave a comment on this post or contact us directly at booksummit@ymail.com.

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