There are a lot of individual features that I'm excited about (all the crazy Wild Shot cards, the hilarious gopher movies, the puzzle-like nature of the golf holes), but I think I'm most proud of how all these disparate elements came together into such a fun and cohesive experience. IGN: What element of Fairway Solitaire are you most proud of? JC: We somehow managed to make a fantastic and incredibly addictive game by combining two things that didn't seem like they would be great together (think Reese's Peanut Butter Cups). There's a Golf Shop with power-ups, a Trophy case, and players can even find or purchase "irons" to help them through some of the game's tougher holes. Gamers will have to deal with water hazards, sand traps, rough, and every now and then they will hit a Wild Shot, forcing them to either "Play" the ball as it lies or take a "Drop" (with a penalty).
I was a State Champ in High School and later played for Pepperdine University, so when I approached the design of Fairway Solitaire I tried to integrate the golf theme as realistically as possible. IGN: What has Big Fish done to spice up the normal Solitaire formula? I believe there are power-ups and other special features in place that couldn't be done with a real deck of cards? JC: Yes, we feel that Fairway Solitaire is unlike any other solitaire game on the market because it includes so many golf staples: hazards, wild shots, announcers and more. Sometimes, I wonder what we were thinking by making a game this big. Plus, there are 37 pieces of music and over an hour of humorous commentary by our three golf announcers: Jack Hogan, Gary Snead, and Tommy Morris. In addition to all those handcrafted holes, Fairway includes: four mini-games, 15 scenic backgrounds, more than 20 power-ups that can change a hand and course score, more than 30 trophies, and so many special "Wild Shot" cards that most players won't see them all the first time they play through the game. In fact, we think it may be the largest solitaire game ever created (waiting to hear back from Guinness.)! Between the iPhone and iPad versions there are over 800 golf holes offering 30 or more hours of gameplay. How much solitaire gameplay is included? JC: Yeah, Fairway Solitaire is a huge game. No spoilers, but let's just say the story ends with a bang. Players will see short scenes of McDivot's misguided efforts to design and create this device as they progress through the courses. During the game, he will confound and taunt players at every opportunity, while simultaneously working on an insidious anti-golfer contraption called: "The Golfinator". Now, some five hundred years later, Bravetooth's heir, Gutsy McDivot, is fed up. Hundreds of gophers from surrounding tribes joined him and they defeated several foursomes at the now famous "Battle of Laffen Point." Outraged by Bravetooth's victory, the golfers confronted the gophers at the bloody "Battle of Collier Bluff" and there defeated Bravetooth and his clans, driving them back underground. The first major conflict in the modern era occurred in 1492, deep in the Scottish Highlands, when a young gopher named "Bravetooth" rebelled against the golfers invading his homeland. Can you tell us more about the plot, and what gamers can expect from McDivot? John Cutter: Since the dawn of time golfers have been at war with gophers. IGN: Unlike other Solitaire games, Fairway Solitaire contains an actual storyline.