The clock only starts ticking once you move the first card.This is my opinion based on taking part in the events. There are some discussion threads that I would like to respond to.

With Tripeaks, the player often has to do two or three spreads to finish the assignment, again 10 seconds per spread, which is not possible. With Klondike, Spider, and Tripeaks many cards are facedown and the correct choice of cards is not evident from the start so the player uncovers cards by trial and error.

That is 10 seconds per spread if you need an average of half-minute per game. This implies a minimum of 3 spreads to collect 11 cards. The problem is that often you have to collect a set number of cards, e.g., 11 fives, to win the game. In Pyramid, you can also get a lot of information before you start the game, e.g., you can assess which cards are blocked by others and after dealing once some people may remember the sequence and finish quickly. The game also automatically moves available cards to the piles so this is a game that an intelligent player can finish really fast. Since the clock starts ticking only when you move the first card, you can study the spread as long as you need before you actually make a move. Time Needed to Finish a Gameįreecell is the only game where all the cards are visible from the start. I have compared my group position to total position and found that if you end up in the first five of your group, your score would likely be in the best 5% of the total population who took part in the specific event. It turns out that this is much more random: After you have started the event (played one game), you are randomly assigned to a group of players who had started the event at the same time as you. At first, I thought that Microsoft was using its information about player skills to make up the groups of 100 to represent a mix of skill levels (almost like the group stages of a soccer tournament). In Microsoft Solitaire events, each player is grouped with 100 players (different each time). Solitaire Event Page Microsoft Solitaire Events

Highest level in microsoft solitaire