Best in Show Solitaire Walkthrough

Welcome to the Best in Show Solitaire Walkthrough! Be the Best in Show in this gripping Card game! Use different dog breeds’ special abilities in Best in Show Solitaire! Whether you use this document as a reference when things get difficult or as a road map to get you from beginning to end, we’re pretty sure you’ll find what you’re looking for here. This document contains a complete Best in Show Solitaire game walkthrough featuring annotated screenshots from actual gameplay! We hope you find this information useful as you play your way through the game. Use the walkthrough menu below to quickly jump to whatever stage of the game you need help with. Remember to visit the Big Fish Games Forums if you find you need more help. Have fun! This walkthrough was created by Graduate Games, and is protected under US Copyright laws. Any unauthorized use, including re-publication in whole or in part, without permission, is strictly prohibited.

General Tips

Every card you clear fills the bone meter, but the larger the combo the bigger the boost.
Every Hand is randomly dealt – so while fences, squirrels and card placements are the same, the actual card values are reshuffled for every subsequent play through.
Don't spend too much on filling your inventory with spares. The more you have the more expensive they get and you can always find them in-game for free.
Don't be afraid of the Pitbull, it's a cheap dog to buy early on with some very helpful abilities.
Always buy a few training treats at the Pet Store. They're the cheapest way to train an intelligent dog.
Don't waste training treats on a stubborn dog – send them to the Pet Trainer.

Developer Strategies

There's no right or wrong way to play Best in Show Solitaire, but we thought you'd be interested in how the games creators play the game.
Only use spares to increase already large combos, or to clear the last few cards in the playing field and guarantee a perfect.
Favorite Dogs to focus on combos: Irish Jack, Parson Russell, Beagle, Springer Spaniel, and Huskie.
Favorite Dogs to get past tough levels: German Shepard, Boxer, Great Dane, Sheltie, Collie and Black Lab.
Always keep a few spares handy – but don't waste money on having them all.
If you're running low on spares, equip a dog with the Toy Finder ability until you stock up.
Only spend money on training treats, collars and new dogs at the start of the campaign.
Use dog abilities profusely – they recharge and don't cost a dime – though they do zap your dog's stamina.

Before Sectionals

Select the Golden Retriever at the Start of the game.
As soon as the Golden's loyal ability is unlocked, switch your dog.
The Golden Retriever's trained ability is mediocre – don't bother.
Equip the Golden for the 2nd Level (Startup) since his retrieve ability will make things easier.
Focus on leveling-up your 3 starting dogs.
Buy a Collar at the Pet Store for the Beagle to quickly unlock its abilities.
A trained and loyal Beagle will perform really well at Sectionals and set you up for huge combos.
Save up and buy the training whistle early in the game – it boosts your training success rate.

Before Regionals

The Dachshund's trained ability is very helpful to break through fences.
If you are having trouble filling the bone meter, look at investing in a dog with the Energy Boost loyal ability.
Some Levels will start requiring a particular ability in order to get a perfect hand.
Don't be afraid to switch your dog at the start of each hand – choose the best dog for the job.

Before Nationals

If you need to build up a dog's loyalty, return to earlier levels to quickly unlock their loyal ability.
By now you should have a few favorite dogs to rely on, purchase waters to keep your best dogs in play.
If you're doing poorly on a hand, pause and visit the pet store, dog select, or achievements screen. The hand will be reset and redealt when you return.

Chapter 1: Getting Started

Main Menu

When you boot up Best in Show Solitaire for the first time, you will be greeted with a welcome screen asking you to put in your profile name.

Left-click in the box.
Type your profile name.
Left-click the Accept Button.
You can access a lot of cool things from the Main Menu.

Left-click on 'Play' to start the game.
Left-click on 'Pet Store' to visit the Pet Store screen and purchase items.
Left-click on 'Help' to view all of the tutorial screens that popup throughout the game.
Left-click on 'Options' to adjust music or sound volume, view the credits, change the difficulty or switch between full-screen and windowed mode.
Left-click on 'Change Profile' to create, change, or delete save profiles on your computer.
Left-click on 'Statistics' to track your progress, game time and more.
Left-click on 'Achievements' to view the achievements that you have unlocked and the goals for the achievements that are still locked.

The Map Screen

When you start the campaign for the first time, you will be welcomed by your three loyal dogs. You start the game with the Dachshund, Golden Retriever, and Beagle.

TIP: Start off with the Golden Retriever. That breed becomes loyal quickly and is easy to train.
Left-click on the dog that you would like to use.
Left-click on their default names and type to rename them.
Left-click on your desired difficulty.
Left-click on the 'Continue' Button to proceed.
The Map Screen lets you choose your level, switch your dog, and shows your overall game progress and the current dog that you have equipped.

Left-click on the 'Return' button to go back to the Main Menu.
Left-click on 'Shop' to visit the Pet Store to purchase items and new dogs.
Left-click on 'Continue' to play the current level.
Left-click on 'Switch' to go to the Dog Select and Training Screen.
Left-click on the green left and right arrows to select your level.
TIP: Replaying Levels can earn you extra cash and help unlock achievements.

Chapter 2: Game Basics

The objective of every hand in Best in Show Solitaire is to clear the playfield of cards. You can remove cards by left-clicking on cards that are one number higher or lower than the Dogpile i.e. if the dogpile is showing a 3, you can play any 2 or 4; suit does not matter. Ace acts as both the high and low card.

Left-click on the Deck to deal a card and start a hand.
Left-click cards in the playfield that are 1 higher or lower than the card dealt.
Left-click the Deck to deal another card when you cannot clear any more cards.
Left-click on the Undo Button to undo your last move.
Left-click the Menu Button (or press ESC) to Pause the Game and bring up the Pause Menu.
To End a Hand, Left-click the 'End Hand and Save' Button.
As you clear cards, you will fill the Bone Meter (displayed in the upper right corner) and earn cash. The Bone Meter fills quicker with larger combos. At the end of every hand, your results will be tallied and displayed.

Making sense of the End Hand Screen:
Time Spent – indicates the time it took you to complete the hand.
Cash Earned – shows you how much money you collected that hand.
Perfect Bonus – if you get a perfect hand, your best combo will be multiplied by $10 and added to your cash earned in that hand.
Best Combo – displays your highest combo for that hand.
Cash this Hand – shows the total cash that you earned for the hand.
Cash this Level – displays the total cash that you have earned in this level. Dog Stamina - Dog stamina decreases with every hand. Once their stamina is gone, you will need to switch dogs.
Total Level Progress (Bone-Meter) – this displays your total progress for the level. You must fill the bone meter by the final hand to pass the level.
Level Objectives – shows you the goals that need to be met to pass the level. Make sure you have everything checked before the end of the final hand.
Perfect Display – you'll get a checkmark for every hand that you get a perfect on. Your total perfects for the level will be tallied to the right.

TIPS:

Hand Progress, Total Level Cash, Level Objectives and Perfect Hands are NOT RESET on subsequent playthroughs.
If you're not going to get enough perfects or are going to be short on Bone Meter Energy, back out to the town map, change the level and try again. Your completed goals, perfect hands, bone energy and level cash will be saved and continue to accumulate.
Levels are much easier on a second playthrough, so don't fret if you fail a level.

Chapter 3: Advanced Game Mechanics

There are several different obstacles that will get in your way on your adventure.
Fences block your progress and prevent you from clearing cards. Find the dig card and clear all of the cards on top of it. Left-click the dig card to put your paws to use and clear all the fences in the playfield.
The Fetch Card requires you to find a tennis ball hidden under a stack of cards. Find the tennis ball and Left-Click it to clear the Fetch Card. Some dogs can locate the exact stack that a Tennis Ball is hidden under.
Pesky squirrels will also sit in front of cards and block your progress. Clear all the cards below an acorn to knock it to the ground. Squirrels will collect the Acorn and leave you alone.
You will collect a variety of spare toys and items that will help you along the way. Spares change the value of the Dog Pile and help you extend combos and clear cards. You can only carry one type of each spare.

Find Spares hidden under cards in the playfield.
Left-click a spare in the playfield to add it to your inventory.
Left-click a spare item in your inventory to change the value of the dog pile.

Chapter 4: The Pet Store

As you play, you will earn money that can be used to purchase new items and dogs from the pet store.

Hove over any object to learn more about it; the price will be displayed on the cash register.
Left-click an item to purchase it.
Left-click the 'Buy Dogs' photo to purchase new dogs.
Left-click 'Leave Shop' to leave the pet store.
Spares – every spare item (2 through Ace) can be purchased at the pet store. Only spares that you do not have in your inventory will be displayed on the shelves for purchase.
Collars – you can purchase one collar for each of you dogs. It will boost their loyalty and obedience.
Training Whistle – you can purchase 1 training whistle. Purchasing a Training Whistle will greatly enhance your training success rate.
Poop Bag – each bag gives you an additional undo that you can use on any hand. By default you get 1 undo per hand, but after you use that you can use a poop bag to undo additional mistakes.
Dog Trainer – Send your dog to a dog trainer to automatically increase its obedience. It will zap their stamina.
Dog Walker – Send your dog to a dog walker to automatically increase your dog's fitness. It will zap their stamina.
Training Treats – Purchase training treats to be used to train your dog and increase obedience.
Water – Purchase water that can refresh a dog and restore its stamina.

Chapter 5: Buying New Dogs

There are 40 different breeds in Best in Show Solitaire and you'll want to try and collect them all and use all of their abilities in-game. Everyone starts with 3 great breeds.
Golden Retriever – Perfect for beginners, the Golden's loyal ability is quickly unlocked and the dog is easy to train.
Dachshund – The Dachshund will take some work, but you'll want to unlock its dig ability before sectionals. You'll need to be able to break through fences later on and there may not be dig cards lying around.
Beagle – The Beagle is perfect for players going after big combos. Its loyal ability reveals more cards so you can plan out long combos and its hunting ability automatically extends your current combo.
You can access the Buy Dogs screen from the Pet Store.

Left-click the green arrows to page through all 40 breeds.
Hover over any dog picture to display their information and price.
Left-click on the 'Buy' tag or on a dog photo to purchase the dog.
Fill in your Dog's Name and Left-click Accept.
Left-Click the 'Return' button to go back to the town map.

Understanding Dog Breed Statistics

Time Commitment – Every dog has a loyal ability that will be unlocked after you earn a dog's loyalty. Every hand that you play with a dog builds loyalty. This bar indicates the total hands necessary to unlock the loyal ability. The longer it is, the more time you will have to commit to earning that dog's trust.
Stamina – A dog's stamina decreases with every hand played. Once a dog's stamina reaches zero, you have to give them a rest and use another dog. This stat indicates the dog's maximum stamina. The higher the max stamina, the more hands that you can play before that dog gets tired.
Trainability – This stat indicates how much obedience is necessary to unlock a dog's trained ability. The higher this statistic, the lower the required obedience.
Intelligence – This bar indicates the probability that a dog will accept a training treat and increase its obedience. The higher the intelligence the easier a dog is to train yourself.
TIP: If a dog has low intelligence, don't waste training treats on them. Send them to a dog trainer and buy them a collar – it's cheaper in the long run.

Chapter 6: Dog Selection and Training.

You can switch your dog at any time and can access the Dog Select screen from the Pause Menu or from the Map Screen.

Left-click the green arrows to page through all of your purchased dogs.
Hover over a dog to view their statistics and information.
Left-click a Dog Photo to select/equip that dog.
Left-click the bone button to toss a training treat.
Left-click the drop of water button to refresh a dog and increase its stamina.
Left-click the trainer button to send your dog to the trainers and increase its obedience.
Left-click the dog walker button to increase your dog's fitness and maximum stamina.
Left-click the 'Return' button to return to exit the dog select screen.

Training and Managing your Dogs

You will want to max out your dog's statistics to unlock their abilities and increase the number of hands that you can use them. Here is what each statistic represents.
Loyalty – this stat indicates your dog's current loyalty. When this bar is completely filled, your dog's loyal ability will be unlocked. You can increase a dog's loyalty by playing hands with them, purchasing a collar, or sending them on a walk.
Stamina – this bar indicates your dog's current stamina. A dog's stamina decreases with every hand played and every time their trained ability is used. When a dog's stamina runs out, you must give them a rest and equip another dog. If a dog is not equipped, their stamina will slowly refill over time.
Obedience – this stat shows your dog's current obedience level. When this bar is completely filled, your dog's trained ability will be unlocked. You can increase a dog's obedience by using training treats, sending them to a trainer, or purchasing a collar.
Fitness – This stat indicates the current boost to your dog's maximum stamina. Every breed has a different stamina level, but the fitness bar indicates how much you have increased this maximum stamina level. A small dog will never be able to play as many hands as a larger breed, but you can work out a dog by sending them to a dog walker to increase their fitness. This will increase the number of consecutive hands that a dog can be used.

Training Treat Mini-Game

Left-clicking the 'training treat' button uses up a training treat and gives you a chance of increasing a dog's obedience. It's like rolling a dice. The game takes into account your dog's intelligence and whether or not you have a training whistle and determines whether you successfully trained your dog or not based on probability. If your dog eats the treat, the training was successful and obedience will increase. If the training treat bounces off your dog, training failed. The higher the dog's intelligence, the more likely they are to eat the treat.

Chapter 7: Dog Abilities

Every dog in Best in Show has a loyal and trained ability. Loyal abilities are passive and will automatically activate. These abilities are unlocked by completing hands with an equipped dog. Each hand is worth 1 experience point, but you can earn bonus points and build loyalty faster with perfect hands.

Loyal Abilities Explained

Fiver – Dogs with this ability will spawn a $5 coin at the start of every hand. This extra loot will be added to your total cash.
Toy Finder – This ability will automatically reveal any spare toys and items in the playing field. Left-click on these spares to collect them and add them to your inventory.
Sniffer – At the start of each hand, additional cards will be flipped over so that you can better plan out your combos.
Energy Boost – The bone meter will start a little filled. This ability is great to have on later levels.
Party Pooper – This ability gives you an extra poop bag (undo) every hand. You can save up these undos and use them at a later time or even with another dog.
Squirrel! – This ability automatically chases off any squirrels in the playfield.
Escape Artist – This ability will automatically break all of the fences in a hand.
Retriever – This ability creates a ball indicator so that you can easily locate where a tennis ball is hidden.
Trainers Delight – Every hand you will earn a free training treat that can be used in the training treat mini-game.

Trained Abilities

Trained abilities are unlocked by training your dog via the dog selection screen. Once you fill a dog's obedience their trained ability will be unlocked. You can tell when you have a Dog's trained ability unlocked because an ability bar will appear to the left of your dog in the bottom left-hand corner of the screen. As you flip through the deck, your dog's ability bar will fill up. When the ability bar is full, left-click on your dog to activate their trained ability. Every trained ability is different and sometimes requires another click to use it.
Nip – Randomly clear a card from the playfield. Left-click on your dog and a randomly selected card from the playfield will be cleared and change your dog pile.
Dig - Dig under a fence of your choosing. Left-click on your dog to activate the ability and then left-click on a fence in the playfield to break it. No dig card required.
Cha-Ching - Creates a coin bonus pick-up. Left-click on your dog to create a $5 coin out of thin air.
Play Time - Randomly changes discard pile. Left-click your dog to randomly change the dog pile discard value. You may get lucky and extend your combo.
Combo Boost - Add 5 to your current combo factor. Left-click your dog to instantly add 5 to your current combo.

The Big Dig - Reveal everything in a Card Stack. Left-click your dog and a vertical line of particles will start streaming out of your cursor. Left click when you have this vertical line setup over cards that you want revealed. When you left-click, all of the cards in that vertical line will be flipped over.
Herd - Clears a card number from the playfield. Left-click on your dog and then left-click on a card in the playfield. That card and any other cards with the same value will be cleared. If you click a 7, all the 7s will clear from the playfield.
Clownish - Randomly bumps 3 cards from the playfield. Left-click your dog to randomly clear 3 cards from the play field.
Hunter's Instinct - Extends a combo. Left-click your dog to change your dog pile discard value to a card that will automatically extend your existing combo.
Bite - Clear any card from the playfield. Left-click your dog to activate bite. Then left-click a card that is flipped over and currently blocking your progress. The card will clear to your discard pile.
TIP: If you accidently activate Bite, Herd or some of the other multi-click abilities, wait a few seconds and your power bar will refill so you can use the ability later.

Chapter 8: How to Unlock Every Breed

Every player starts with the Dachshund, Golden Retriever and Beagle – but nearly all of the other dog breeds must be unlocked. Here is a quick cheat sheet on how to unlock every breed.
Chihuahua – Unlocked at Start
Norwich Terrier – Clear 250 Cards
Pomeranian – Collect 10 Coins
Pug – Unlocked at Start
Norfolk – Unlocked at Start
Scottish Terrier – Break 30 Fences
Corgi – Earn over $5,000
Bulldog – Use a Spare
Bull Terrier – Play for over an hour
Boston Terrier – Collect 30 Coins
Irish Jack [Hybrid] – Own a Corgi and Parson Russell
Parson Russell – Clear 5 squirrels
Puggle [Hybrid] – Own a Pug and Beagle
Pitbull – Break 5 Fences
Springer Spaniel – Earn over $2,000
Poodle – Unlocked at Start
Blood Hound – Collect 50 Coins
Shiba Inu – Clear 100 Cards
Border Collie – Get a Combo of 15+
Sheltie – Use 5 Spares
ChowChow – Play for over 30 minutes
Rough Collie – Own a Sheltie
Chesapeake Bay Retriever - Own a Black Lab and Golden Retriever
Labrador Retriever – Clear 500 Cards
Labradoodle [Hybrid] – Own a Black Lab and Poodle
Australian Shepard – Clear 1500 Cards
Schnauzer – Clear 2000 Cards
Huskie – Clear 750 Cards
Boxer – Clear 300 Cards
Doberman Pinscher – Play for more than 2 hours
Dalmation – Play 20 Spares
Rotweiler – Get a Combo of 21 or more
Bernese Mountain Dog – Clear 1000 Cards
German Shepard – Fetch 5 balls
Greyhound – Your fastest perfect is under 1:30
St. Bernard – Earn over $10,000
Great Dane – Break 20 fences

Created at: 2011-10-18