All of this takes place while you are playing Solitaire and it is not until you have cleared the layout that the mini-game begins. Swaps that have been earned for playing cards of matching suits and remnants of the stock pile, allow you to ’swap’ jewels on the board allowing you to create more three of a kind matches. Doing this removes the gems and turns the spaces gold thus maximizing your total points. Play ends when you have expended all of your swaps or changed all the spaces to gold. Any unused swaps are turned into points.

There are things to thwart your success. The luck of the deal – how the deck is shuffled, dealt and what lands in your stock pile is a biggie... this can make a seemingly easy layout take several attempts to clear while one that looks impossible can be cleared on the first try. Also you will be challenged when faced with a no A-K wrap card if you don’t have a cancel wild card. Some layouts have multiple foundations but no stock pile which can also throw a spanner in the works.

The Just Cards mode focuses more on Solitaire. It employs the same layouts as the quest but with no storyline. Jewels are still added to the game and this still demands strategy. In this mode, however, there is no mini game to play and no swapping of jewels to increase your score.

There are a couple of minor flaws that prove irksome within the game. Such as the lack of the jewel quest mini game in the Just Cards mode, also adding a Just Jewels mode would have increased play value. A wider selection of Wild Cards would have been good as well. Those slight issues notwithstanding I enjoyed playing this game. It makes Solitaire more entertaining with its integrated story line and production values are high. I got hooked to this game quite quickly and I am sure most people who pick up with game will too. There is a lot to like about this game. It is fun to play, and is a captivating diversion whilst doing a solid job of meeting the needs of Solitaire and gem swapping fans alike, this game is guaranteed to draw you in to the quest for hours at a time.