Solitaire card games/Printable version

Solitaire card games

The current, editable version of this book is available in Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection, at
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Solitaire_card_games

Permission is granted to copy, distribute, and/or modify this document under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License.

Introduction

Note:The book is incomplete so please ignore most of what is said in here. This is what I want this book's ultimate goal to be.

If you are reading this, chances are that you have read other books on solitaire or patience games or have played lots of them. So have I, I have read many a book on these delightful pastime games and I have decided to start a Wikibooks project. For this project we have aimed to include as many games as we can. We are aiming towards an easy-to understand format for anyone either familiar or unfamiliar with the topic. We decided to list the alternative names, space required, difficulty, time to complete for each game wherever appropriate, as well as including some interesting facts about each game.

Whilst there are many software packages for playing different solitaire games for computers running operating system such as Windows, Mac OS and Linux and for phones and tablets like iPads and Android devices, as well as free online solitaire games, this book is primarily designed for playing with physical cards. However, we have also decided included a guide about computer implementations.

There may be many variations on a specific game, and feel free to add your own game or variation if you have something to contribute.

Hope you will enjoy this collection and have fun.

Thanks. Champion (discuss • contribs) 03:54, 23 November 2015 (UTC)

Accordion

Packs: One Alternative names: Idle Year, Tower of Babel, Methuselah Space: Medium Level: Medium Chances of winning: About 1 in 100

The object of this game is to compress the entire deck into one pile like an accordion. hence its name.
Deal out cards, one by one, in a row, suppose the first five cards you deal are:

Look for any cards of the same suit or rank either one or three to the left of a card. In the above example, you can move the 2♦ onto the 3♦ as they are of the same suit and next to each other. You can then move the 6♦ onto the 6♠ as the latter is 3 spaces to the left of the former and they are of the same rank. Finally, the 2♦ can be placed on the 6♦ as they are of the same suit. Once you have run out of moves, deal more cards, one by one, until the stock is exhausted. The game is won when all cards are compressed into one pile. But since achieving this is next to impossible when cards are dealt one at a time, it is sometimes considered a win when there are five piles or less at the end of the game.

Variations

The variation described above in which the cards are laid out one by one, while practical, it also allows an element of surprise as the player does not know the next card to be dealt until all possible plays are exhausted.

In another variant, the cards are spread out in one line. While this variant allows for some tactics to be applied, it can prove to be cumbersome when played with a real deck. For this variant, before you start playing, locate 4 cards with the same rank that are close and near the end of the layout. Try to get the 4 cards to the end of the layout. You do not want to cover them with other cards until the end of your game.

Aces Up

Aces Up is also another name for Easthaven, a variant of Klondike.

This game goes by many names including Idiot's Delight, Once in a Lifetime, Ace of the Pile, Rocket to the Top, Firing Squad, Loser Solitaire, Aces High, and Drivel)
We have used the name "Aces Up" here because it appears to be the most common name, as well as because the name usually refers to this particular game

One advantage of this game is its minimal use of space: you can even play it on an area as small as an encyclopedia volume cover.

Rules

Note: Aces are high.

1. Deal four cards in a row face up.

2. If there are two or more cards of the same suit, discard all but the highest-ranked card of that suit.

3. Repeat step 2 until there are no more pairs of cards with the same suit.

4. Whenever there are any empty spaces, you may choose the top card of another pile to be put into the empty space. After you do this, go to Step 2.

5. When there are no more cards to move or remove, deal out the next four cards from the deck face-up onto each pile.

6. Repeat Step 2, using only the visible, or top, cards on each of the four piles.

7. When the last four cards have been dealt out and any moves made, the game is over. The fewer cards left in the tableau, the better. To win is to have only the four aces left.

Variations

• A much more challenging variation on Aces Up allows only the aces to be moved onto an empty pile. This makes game play much more restrictive and consequently the game can only be completed roughly once in every 270 games.

Tournament rules (play-tested)

1. Prizes are determined by the organizer. Some suggestions are a prize for Aces Up, a prize for winning the tournament, a 2nd place prize, etc.

2. Score is determined by how many cards remain after playing a hand of Aces Up. For example, 0 for Aces Up, 1 for 1 remaining card other than the aces, 2 for 2 remaining cards other than the aces, etc.

3. Low score advances to the next round. The number of people advancing is cut off by the tournament director based on the number of entries into the tournament.

4. The normal rules for Aces Up apply for playing a hand.

5. A round consists of playing five hands. The lowest score of the five hands is retained for the score for that round. All five hands do not have to be played out. For example, if someone gets Aces Up on their first hand of the round then the score for the round is zero, the player advances to the next round, and the remaining four hands for that round do not need to be played.

6. No one can advance with a score greater than 5. This number can be adjusted at the tournament director's discretion before the tournament begins.

Aces Square

This game does not require a lot of time and effort to set up, and is very quick and to complete, as well as having a good chance of winning. It is similar to Aces Up.

Rules

• 16 cards are dealt in a 4 by 4 square. The rest remain in the deck.
• Remove and discard two cards in the same column or row that share the same suit.
• And then replace them with two new cards from the deck.
• The goal is to remove all 48 cards, leaving only the four aces.

Agnes

Agnesis a variant of Klondike. It is similar to the latter except on how the stock is dealt.

Rules

Dealing the first 28 cards onto the tableau is a lot like in Klondike. Then a card is placed in the first of the four foundations. This card will be the first card of that foundation and all other cards with the same rank should be placed at the other three foundations.

Seven cards are then dealt in a row either above or below the tableau. This will act as the reserve. The cards in the reserve are available for play.

The initial layout of the game of Agnes

Playing the game is a lot like Klondike except that any gaps are filled in by a card a rank lower than the first card of the foundation. For instance, if the first card of each foundation is a 10, gaps are only filled by 9s. Foundations are built up by suit, while the columns on the tableau are built down in alternating colors, wrapping from Ace to King if necessary. When play is no longer possible on the tableau, any card on the reserve can be used to continue the game. Gaps in the reserve are not filled until a new set is dealt.

If the game cannot continue even from the reserve, a new set of seven cards is dealt from the stock to the reserve. The stock is good for two deals on the reserve with two cards left over. So after the third new deal and no more moves possible, the two left over cards are dealt as if they each have a reserve pile on their own.

The game is won when all cards have made their way to the foundations.

Variations

There are two versions of the game of Agnes. The one described above is called Agnes Bernauer. In another version called Agnes Sorel , the game is played the same way except the cards in the tableau are built down by color, i.e. Red suits on red, black suits on black. Furthermore, in Agnes Sorel, spaces are not filled. David Parlett gave these two versions their separate names.

All in a Row

screenshot

This game is akin to Golf and Tri Peaks. The game's objective is to put the entire deck into the foundation.

The cards are dealt to the tableau in columns of four. The foundation (the "row") can be started from any column, and afterwards it is built with cards incremented or decremented from the previous card by one (where kings and aces wrap).

Only the top cards of each pile in the tableau are available for play.

The game ends if there are no more top cards that can be moved to the Black Hole. The game is won if all of the cards end up in the Black Hole.

Amazons

This single-deck game requires you to remove some cards from the deck. This game is so named because if the game is won, all queens are shown on full view.

Play

• Remove all 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and K's from the deck.
• Deal four cards. They would be the reserve.
• Above it is a space for the foundations.
• Once an ace is available, it is placed on the foundations and each ace should be placed in order on which they become available.
• The first four cards dealt are the bases of the reserve piles, the top card of each being available only to the foundation immediately above it.
• The exception to this rule is a queen can be moved to its foundation from any pile.
• The order of placing is A-7-8-9-10-J-Q.
• When play goes on a standstill, four more cards are then dealt, one on each reserve pile, and stop to see if any of the cards dealt can be placed on the foundations.
• Spaces are not filled until the next deal.
• This process is repeated until the stock runs out.
• When it does, a new stock is formed by placing each pile over its right-hand neighbor, turn them face down and deal; this should be done without reshuffling.
• The process of dealing the cards, building to the foundations, and redealing, is repeated without limits until the game is won or lost.
• The game is won when all cards are built onto the foundations, with the queens at the top.`

Auld Lang Syne

Perhaps the simplest solitaire game in the world, but also the least likely to win.

The game

First, the four aces are separated from the rest of the deck and placed on the layout as the foundations. The object of the game is to build each of the foundations from Ace to King regardless of suit.

Four cards are dealt below the aces, each starting a tableau pile. The player then determines whether any of the four cards can be built on the foundations. In this first deal of four (and in succeeding deals), when a card is played and leaves a gap it is not filled until the next deal. Furthermore, there is no building or playing in the tableau.

When the player has built all the cards on the foundation that can be played, or if the cards cannot be played at all, a new set of four cards is dealt, one over each tableau pile. This process is repeated until all cards are dealt. There is no redeal.

The game is won when all cards are built onto the foundations. This is rare; according to Morehead and Mott-Smith's The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games, it can be achieved once in 100 games. This is far too optimistic. The chance of winning is actually about 1 in 3,000, and only if you allow that the player can opt not to move cards to the foundations.

Variations

• An even harder version of Auld Lang Syne is Tam o'shanter, the only difference is that the aces are not removed in the beginning and are placed in the foundation piles as they appear.
• A slightly easier to win variant is known as Scuffle, in which after all the cards in the stock is exhausted, they are shuffled and redealt, this version allows two redeals.

Australian Patience

Screenshot of Australian Patience

This game is a challenging combination of Klondike and Scorpion.

Layout

Australian Patience has four Foundations build up in suit from Ace to King.

Here is an example: A♣, 2♣, 3♣, 4♣...

The Tableau is filled with seven piles containing four cards each. These piles build down in suit.

Here is an example: 8♥, 7♥, 6♥, 5♥...

Play

Like Yukon, any face-up card can be moved, but all the unrelated cards on top of it will be moved also. Only a King (with or without a pile) can be moved to an empty space. Only one card is turned up at a time from the Deck, and these cards can be played onto the Tableau Piles or the Foundations. Australian Patience only allows one pass through the deck.

Baker's Dozen

This game is so called because there are 13 columns in the game.

Rules

1. Deal the cards cards are dealt into columns of four on the tableau, resulting in 13 columns.
2. Any King that is in the top or middle of each column must be placed on the bottom before the game starts. Two Kings that are mixed into one column are placed on the bottom without changing their order
4. The object of the game is to build all the cards onto the four foundations.

Screenshot

1. You must first free up the four aces and if one of them is found, it is placed on the foundation.
2. Building on the foundation is up by suit, each from ace to king.
4. Only the top cards of each column can are available, and cards on the tableau, if they cannot be placed on the foundations yet, can be built down regardless of suit.
5. Furthermore, once all cards are taken out of a column, the column can never be filled.
6. The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations.

Variations

Here are some variations of Baker's Dozen:

• In Spanish Patience, foundations are built up regardless of suit.
• Castles in Spain is akin to Spanish Patience, but the cards in the tableau are built down by alternate color.
• In Good Measure, two aces are taken out and placed on the foundations while the rest of the deck is shuffled and laid out in columns of five cards, resulting in 10 columns. Like in Baker's Dozen, Kings that are at the top or in the middle of their respective columns are placed at the bottom and the game proceeds in the process stated above.
• Portuguese Solitaire is halfway between Baker's Dozen and Spanish Patience because empty columns can only be filled with Kings.

Baker's Game

This game is an ancestor of Free Cell and a descendant of Eight Off

Layout

1. One standard 52-card deck is used.
2. There are four open cells and four open foundations. (Some alternate rules use between one and ten cells.)
3. The entire deck is dealt out left to right into eight cascades, four of which comprise seven cards and four of which comprise six. (Some alternate rules will use between four and ten cascades.)

Gameplay

1. The top card of each cascade begins a tableau.
2. Tableaux must be built down by the same suit.
3. Foundations are built up by suit.

NOTE:
Any cell card or top card of any cascade may be moved to build on a tableau, or moved to an empty cell, an empty cascade, or its foundation. Complete or partial tableaus may be moved to build on existing tableaus, or moved to empty cascades, by recursively placing and removing cards through intermediate locations. (While computer implementations often show this motion, players using physical decks typically move the tableau at once.)

The game is won after all cards are moved in ascending number by suit to their foundation piles.

Baroness

This game is also known as Five Piles and Thirteens. The object of the game is to remove pairs of cards that add up to 13

Rules

1. Five cards are dealt in a row; they will form the bases of the five piles, the top cards of which are available for play.

1. In order to win, one has to remove Kings and pairs of cards that total 13. In this game, spot cards are taken at face value, Jacks value at 11, Queens 12, and Kings 13. So the following combinations of cards are discarded:

• Queen and Ace
• Jack and 2
• 10 and 3
• 9 and 4
• 8 and 5
• 7 and 6
• Kings on their own.

1. When gaps occur, they are filled by the top cards of the other piles; but when there are not enough cards to do this (less than five), cards from the stock are used.

1. When gaps are filled and no kings and/or pairs of cards totalling 13 are present, five new cards are dealt from the stock, one onto each pile. Game play then continues, with the top cards of each pile, as mentioned above, are available. This cycle of discarding and dealing of new cards goes on until the stock has been used up.

1. The game is won when all cards have been discarded.

Betsy Ross

This game is largely similar to Calculation except that there isn't a tableau, and there is only one waste pile instead of four

Play

To begin the game, four cards (regardless of suit) are removed from the deck and placed in a row: an ace, a two, a three, and a four. Another four cards are placed in a row below those four cards: a two, a four, a six, and an eight. The table below shows how this is arranged:

A	2	3	4
2	4	6	8

The cards on the second row compose the foundations themselves, while the cards on the row above denote how the cards should be built on the foundations. The foundation placed under the ace starts with the two and it is built in ones. The foundation under the two starts with the four and it is built in twos, and so on. The table below shows how the foundations should be built:

Signs & Foundations	A	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	J	Q	K
	2	4	6	8	10	Q	A	3	5	7	9	J	K
	3	6	9	Q	2	5	8	J	A	4	7	10	K
	4	8	Q	3	7	J	2	6	10	A	5	9	K

The game is won when every card from the stock is built on the foundations. The game is lost, however, if it ends with cards still on the wastepile that cannot be transferred to the foundations.

Bisley

Gameplay

1. The four aces are taken out and laid on the tableau to start the foundations.
2. Four columns of three cards are placed overlapping each other separately under the aces.
3. Nine columns of four cards, also overlapping each other, are dealt to the right of the aces and first four columns.
4. If the player decides to lay out all of the cards, he must make sure that there are four rows of thirteen cards and the first four cards on the first row should be the four aces.

The initial layout of the game of Bisley. This follows the overlapping-cards rule set rather than the laying-out-the-cards rule set.

Here is the method of game play:

• Only the bottom cards are available for play. Thus, if the cards are overlapping, it is the exposed card of each column; if the cards are laid out, it is the card at the bottom of each column.
• Only one card can be moved at a time.
• The cards on the tableau can be built either up or down by suit.
• Whenever a column becomes empty, it stays empty for the rest of the game.
• The foundations (the four aces) are built up by suit. However, whenever a King is released and becomes available, it becomes a foundation and is placed above its counterpart ace foundation to be built down, also by suit. The same thing can be done for the three other kings. This rule also gives the player an opportunity to place a card on one of the foundations of the same suit if it can be placed on either of them.

The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations. It actually does not matter where the ace and king foundations of each suit would meet and how many cards the ace and king foundations of each suit will have. At the end of one game for example, the K♠ is the only one on its foundation while the rest of spade cards are built on the A♠; the A♣ remains unbuilt because all club cards are built on the K♣; the A♥ is built up to 4♥ while the K♥ is built down to 5♥; and the A♦ is built up to 8♦ while the K♦ is built down to 9♦. In fact, the ace and king foundation of a suit can meet anywhere.

External links

• Bisley rules

Bowling

This game was invented by Eurogame design legend Sid Sackson in the 1970s (Doctorow). It is a unique and fun solitaire game using one deck of playing cards. The object of the game is to try to fill as many Pins as possible for each of the ten frames.

Layout

Bowling has ten Pin Piles. The Deck is located at the right and turns up one card at a time. There are two Ball Piles located below the Deck. The two Ball Piles can contain up to three cards each. The scoring frame is located either above or below the gameplay.

Rules

To begin playing, turn up one card at a time. The card turned up must be planted on one of the Pin Piles, or placed onto one of the Ball Piles. All the Pin Piles should be filled in order from lowest ranking cards (towards the bottom) to the highest ranking cards (towards the top right). There are only ten Pins, but there are thirteen ranks of cards. The difficult part of this game is anticipating what ranks will not be drawn from the Deck.

Here is an example of a possible arrangement (Tesseract Mobile):

9 _ Q K
 5 _ 7
  2 4
   1

Only a ten or a Jack can be placed onto the empty Pin between the nine and Queen. Only a six can fill the empty space between the five and seven. Place multiple cards of the same rank into the same piles. If a three or an eight is drawn, they must be put in the Ball Pile because it cannot be placed with the Pins. Bowling solitaire is scored the same way regular Bowling is scored (Bowling SoliTaire!). To get a Strike, fill all the Pins before placing a card in the Ball Pile. To receive a Spare, fill all Pins before placing cards into the second Ball Pile. After both Ball Piles have been filled with three cards each, that round of the game will end. The game consists of ten rounds.

Bristol

This game has an unusual feature of building regardless of suit on both the foundations and on the tableau; it is also one of the easiest to win.

Rules

Eight piles (or fans) of three cards each are dealt onto the tableau. Any king that is not on the bottom of its pile is placed underneath. Then three cards are placed under these piles. These form the bases for the three reserve piles.

The initial layout of the game of Bristol.

Whenever an ace becomes available, it becomes a foundation, on which it can be built up regardless of suit up to a King. The same is done on the three other aces.

The top card of each pile on the tableau and the top card of each reserve pile is available to be built on the foundations and around the tableau. Like the foundations, the piles on the tableau are built down regardless of suit. Only one card can be moved at a time and when a pile becomes empty, it is never filled.

Cards in the stock are dealt onto the reserve three at a time, one for each pile. In effect, gaps on the reserve are filled during the deal; therefore, when a reserve pile becomes empty, it is not filled until the next batch of three cards is dealt.

The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations. Considering that all building is done regardless of suit, the chance of achieving this is very high.

Variations

• Belvedere is another solitaire card game playing with a deck of playing cards. It is played exactly as Bristol except for one rule: an Ace is separated from the deck at the beginning of the game and immediately set up as a foundation.

Calculation

This game is also known as Broken Intervals, it has been suggested that there is a very good chance of winning if you are skilled.

Set up

1. Remove one A,2,3 and 4 from the pack (suit does not matter in this game), they form the foundations. 2. All the foundations are to be built up to kings, each differently

• The ace is to be built up by 1s up to Ks in this order: A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K

  The 2 is to be built up by 2s in this order: 2 4 6 8 10 Q A 3 5 7 9 J K

  The 3 is to be built up by 3s in this order: 3 6 9 Q 2 5 8 J A 4 7 10 K

  Likewise, (you should be getting it now), the 4 is built up by 4s like this: 4 8 Q 3 7 J 2 6 10 A 5 9 K

3. The wastepile is initially empty, it consists of four piles of cards, which are laid below the four foundations.

Play

1. Turn up cards from the stock, one at a time, and build them on one of the foundations, if that's not possible, put it in one of the four wastepiles.
2. You can move cards from any wastepile onto one of the foundations when possible.

Variation

1. Do not lay out A,2，3，4 initially) and to use only three tableau piles instead of four.

Although playing this variation makes the solitaire quite difficult, a very skilled player will still be able to win at least two games out of three.

Canfield

This game also goes by the name Demon, and to add to the confusion, some people get this and the game usually called Klondike mixed up, as it can also be called Canfield or Demon.

History

Richard A. Canfield owned the Canfield Casino in Saratoga Springs, New York during the 1890s. Gamblers at his casino would play the game by "buying" a deck of cards for $50. The gambler would then play the game and earn $5 for every card he managed to place into the foundations; if one was fortunate enough to place all 52 cards into the foundations, the player would win $500. Although players make a loss (about an average of five to six cards), the game proved to be popular, and Canfield became rich. The disadvantage of this new game was the need to hire a croupier for every gambler playing the game.

Gameplay

1. First deal thirteen cards faced up and then turned down, these cards would be the reserve.
2. Then place a card on the first of the four foundations to the right of the reserve.
3. This card is the first card of its foundation and all other cards of the same rank must also start the other three foundations
4. Cards on the tableau are built down by alternating colors, while the foundations are built up by suit,
5. Any gaps on the tableau are filled from the reserve
6. When the reserve is used up, cards from the waste pile are used.
7. Cards on the reserve can also be distributed to the foundations or to the tableau.
8. Cards on the tableau are also moved one unit, provided that the entire column has to be moved. (you can only move the entire column)
9. When no more plays are possible you can deal cards from the stock (the undealt cards) three at a time into the waste pile and use these cards to build to the foundations or to the tableau.
10. One can make unlimited redeals as long as there are moves.
11. The game is won when all cards are placed in the foundations or lost when there are no more moves.

The initial layout in the game of Canfield.

Variations

• In Chameleon, the reserve only has 12 cards, and there are only three tableau columns. Building in the tableau is down, regardless of suit, and the stock is dealt one at a time with no redeals. All or any cards may be moved from the end of one tableau pile to another.
• In Rainbow Canfield (or just Rainbow), one can deal from the stock one card at a time. Two redeals are allowed in this game.
• In Selective Canfield, one can deal five cards right after the reserve is dealt. One can place any one of these five into the foundations and the remaining four cards become the tableau.
• In Storehouse Canfield (or just Storehouse), one should remove the deuces (twos) and place them on the foundations. The reserve and the cards on the tableau are then dealt. The stock is dealt one card at a time, and it can be used only twice. Furthermore, the method of building in this game is by suit.
• In Superior Canfield, the entire reserve is visible, and gaps can be filled by any card, not just those from the reserve.

Carpet

Setup and gameplay

The game starts with the aces separated from the deck to form the foundations. After the remaining 48 cards are shuffled, 20 cards are laid out on the tableau in a 5x4 grid fashion to form "the carpet." The remaining 28 cards make up the stock.

All cards from "the carpet" must be moved to the foundations up by suit (i.e. 2♠ over A♠). Any "holes on the carpet," i. e. gaps left behind by the cards that are moved to the foundations, are filled by cards from the waste pile or, if the waste pile is empty, the stock.

The stock cards are dealt one at the time on the waste pile and can be moved to the foundations or to the carpet if necessary. Once the stock is used up, all cards on the waste pile cannot be used as a new stock. Only the top card of the waste pile can be played.

The game is won when all of the cards are moved into the foundations.

Captive Queens

A game of Captive Queens at its earlier stages, if the fives, sixes, and queens are dealt first.

The game is so named because the queens become "enclosed" as the foundations are built.

There are two ways that the queens are played in this game: either they are laid in the center of the table immediately or shuffled into the deck and laid out later. Either way, their role is purely decorative and play no functional role in the game.

The game starts by laying cards from the stock one at a time into a wastepile in search for fives or sixes. Once any of these cards are found, it becomes a foundation and can be placed on a circle surrounding the area where queens are placed; it can be built upon immediately. The foundations' places in this circle are irrelevant.

The fives then receive cards lower than five while the sixes receive higher cards, all by suit. Here's the chart of which cards are placed on these cards:

5	4	3	2	A	K
6	7	8	9	10	J

After the foundation cards are found, the rest of the stock is dealt to look for cards that can be built on the foundations. In case the queens are shuffled into the deck, when a queen is found, it is placed on the center.

Once the stock runs out, the cards are gathered from the wastepile and become the new stock from which cards are to be dealt. This can only be done twice in each game.

File:Captive Queens B.jpg

The ideal (and usual) end of a game of Captive Queens.

The game is won when all the cards are in the foundations with the face cards (kings and jacks) at the top of each foundation, like the thumbnail at the right.

The Clock

Play

Imagine a clock on your game table. All ones will be placed at the 1 o'clock position, all Queens on 12 o'clock, and the kings in the center. This game has no cascades. In the figure the stock and waste are inside the clock. If playing the game with a real deck you would hold the stock in your hand and put the waste at a convenient location outside the clock.

• Draw card by card from the stock. If one fits to any of the 13 foundations play it, otherwise put it on the waste.
• Foundations are built by alternating color and layer wise, this means that you can choose your starting suit, but the second card on the foundation must be opposite color.
• Layer wise by suit means that you must have the same suit on each layer of the foundations. So on all foundations you must have - for example - Spades, Diamonds, Clubs, Hearts in the same order, though you can choose the order during the first moves of the game. The game allows you to recycle the waste stack exactly two times.

Clock Solitaire

Setup

1. The deck is shuffled and twelve piles of four cards each are laid out as shown in the figure, face down, in a circle.
2. The remaining four cards are placed, also face down, in a pile in the center of the circle.
3. The twelve positions around the circle represent the 12 hour clock and the pile in the middle represents the hands.

Play

Turn over the top card of the central pile. When a card is revealed, it is placed face up under the pile at the corresponding hour (i.e. Ace = 1 o'clock, 2 = 2 o'clock, etc. The Jack is 11 o'clock and the Queen is 12 o'clock) and the top card of the pile of that hour is turned over. If a King is revealed, it is placed face up under the central pile.

Play continues in this fashion and the game is won if all the cards are revealed. The game is lost if all four Kings are revealed and face-down cards are still present.

Colors

This game is in the same family as Sir Tommy, Strategy, and Calculation. The game is so called because of its emphasis on color.

The cards are shuffled, then dealt out one by one the foundations or onto one of six waste piles, the top cards of which are available for building only on the foundations.

A two, a three, a four, and a five are needed to start the foundations. The deuce and the four should be of one color (regardless of suit) and the trey and the five be of the other color. Naturally, the color of the first foundation card that turns up during dealing dictates the colors of the other cards. The foundations are built up by color.

Dealing of cards from the stock continues until the stock runs out. The game is won when all of the cards are built onto the foundations, which should have an ace, a deuce, a trey, and a four on top.

Cribbage Square

This game is basically Poker Squares but with cribbage scoring.

Rules

First, sixteen cards are dealt one at a time in a 4x4 grid, provided that card must touch horizontally, vertically, or diagonally to any of those already in the grid. However, once a card is placed on the grid, it cannot be moved. After these sixteen cards are put into place, a seventeenth card, the starter, is turned face-up.

Points are scored according to how the hands formed horizontally or vertically are combined with the starter. Horizontally and vertically in this case means that each row and column in the grid is scored as a cribbage hand.

Hands are scored as in normal cribbage and the combinations below may occur more than once in just one hand:

• Fifteens - Given that face cards are valued at ten and aces at one, a combination of two or more cards that add up to fifteen are scored two points each "fifteen."
• Pairs - each pair in a hand is scored two points each pair. A pair royal, or three of a kind, scores six points since three cards of the same rank can form three pairs, while a double pair royal, or four of a kind, scores twelve points since four cards of the same rank can form six pairs.
• Runs - Three or more consecutive cards (regardless of suit) is scored three to five points depending on the number of cards on that run.
• Flush - If the four cards on the hand is of the same suit, it is scored four points, plus an additional point if the starter is of the very same suit as those in the hand.
• His Nobs - A jack in "his nobs," i.e. one that has the same suit as the starter, scores a point.
• His Heels - A jack in "his heels," i.e. one that is the starter gives two points to the entire tally for the deal.

The object of this game is to reach the highest score possible using the sixteen cards. According to The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games, the player is considered to "win" if the total score is at least 61.

To increase the skill element of the game, one variation involves using a 'reserve' pile. This can hold up to 5 cards which can later be played on to the grid.

Two candidate solutions for maximum possible scores are as below for 170 and 165 points respectively.

KH	KC	KD	KS	20
QH	QC	QD	QS	20
JH	JC	JD	JS	21
XH	5C	5D	5S	28
18	21	21	21	5H

Score: 170

7H	7D	8C	8S	24
8H	8D	7C	7S	24
3H	6D	6C	6S	24
9H	9D	9C	9S	20
13	20	20	20	6H

Score: 165

Cruel

This game was originally created by Microsoft in 1990 and is a variant of Perseverance.

Gameplay

The aces are placed face up to act as the foundations upon which the suits will be built in sequence. The rest of the cards are shuffled and then dealt in 12 tableau piles, each with four cards.

The aim of the game is to place all the cards on the foundation piles, ordered from ace to king, using an unlimited number of moves.

For each move the player chooses any one of the top (exposed) cards from a tableau pile and places it either:

• on another tableau pile - on the next higher value in the same suit (for example, the 5♣ can be placed on the 6♣), or
• on a foundation pile - on the next lower value in the same suit (for example, the 8♣ can be placed on the 7♣).

Only one card may be moved at a time.

At any time the player may have the tableau piles re-dealt whereby they are collected together in sequence (from left to right, row by row) without shuffling and dealt in piles of four. This is activated by the Deal button.

The game is won when all the cards are on the foundation piles. The game is lost if no more moves are possible even if re-dealt.

Curds and Whey

Rules

The cards are dealt into 13 piles (or columns) of four cards each. The top card of each pile is available for play.

There are no foundations in this game; the object is to form four suit sequences each running from King down to Ace.

A card can be built in only two ways:

• Over a card that is of the same suit and of a higher rank, or
• Over a card that is of the same rank but of a different suit.

For example, the 8♣ can be built over the 9♣ or any other 8 (such as the 8♠).

One card can be moved at a time unless a sequence has been made. If a sequence of cards follows either one of the following two guidelines:

• Sequences that are built down by suit
• Sequences of cards with the same rank

...it can be moved as a unit in part or in whole. However, a sequence that follows both guidelines at once must be rearranged to follow only one guideline before moving as a unit.

When a column becomes empty, it can only be filled by a King or a sequence starting with a King.

The game is won when the object above is fulfilled, forming four suit sequences each running from King down to Ace.

Decade

Gameplay

Three cards are drawn from the bottom of the deck and placed face-up in a line on the table laid out in the order they were drawn so the faces can be read.

Spot cards (cards from ace, deuce, etc. to ten) count their face value while face cards (jack, queen, and king) are valued at ten points. If the total of at least two consecutive cards in the line equals 10, 20 or 30, they are discarded. The cards are treated as if in a straight line, so cards coming from both the front and back of the line that value to ten, twenty, or thirty are not considered consecutive unless they occupy a physically adjacent position to the card. After this has been repeated until no more discards are possible, a card is drawn from the stock and placed face up on the extreme right of the line (or on top of the stack if playing on one hand), and checking for discards is resumed.

The game continues until all cards are dealt or discarded, or when no more sets can be collected. The object of the game is to have as few cards as possible at the end; the game is won when all cards are discarded.

Variations

• Cards are placed in seven separate stacks; if all the cards in a stack are discarded the stack is eliminated and cards are no longer added to it. The game is won when all stacks have been eliminated.
• A maximum of three consecutive cards that total ten, twenty or thirty can be discarded (as opposed to at least two cards in the standard rules).
• The line is treated as a loop instead of a straight line. If the total of up to 3 three consecutive cards (or at least two consecutive cards, depending on the rule set one follows) in the stack which feature at least one card from the top of the stack equal 10, 20 or 30, they are discarded (see Example 1).

Example 1:

4

8

3

3

J

6

Because the stack is treated as a loop, and the cards selected use at least one card from the top of the stack discarding 4, J and 6 as a set of three totaling 20 (4 + 10 + 6) would be valid.

• Cards that total 5, 15, 25, or 35 can also be discarded. (Implemented as a variation of the game in Interplay's Solitaire Deluxe)

An unsubstantiated but often repeated folk tale about this game, common among Filipino and some Latino people, is that this game is actually a very old (centuries old) fortune-telling method, akin to Tarot. There is speculation that the game may have come from Roma in Europe and then through Spanish exploration. Each time the player gets down to a single showing card, the suit and status is noted, and if the game is won, the player notes the final card, which is the most important to the player's fortunes. The single cards, read by one knowledgeable in their meaning, provide a limited look at the future, particularly people the player may come into contact with, or is involved with.

Double or Quits

This game is so called because the cards are built in a pattern where the value doubles and decreases by 13 if necessary.

The game starts with eight cards dealt in a 3x3 grid with a hollow center. The middle card of the bottom row becomes the foundation and all other cards form the reserve. The illustration below shows the layout:

R R R R R R F R

(F is for the foundation and R are for the reserves)

The foundation is built regardless of suit using a sequence in which the value doubles: A-2-4-8-3-6-Q-J-9-5-10-7-A-2, etc. For instance, if the card on the foundation is a 4, an 8 should be placed over it. Cards in the reserve are available for play and any gaps on the reserve are immediately filled by cards from the wastepile, or from the stock in case the wastepile is empty.

If play is not possible from the reserve, the cards from the stock are dealt one at a time into the wastepile. When the stock runs out, the wastepile is picked up and becomes the new stock. This can be done only twice in the game.

One can notice that kings are not involved in the sequence above. The prevalent rule set states that the kings are left in the deck and when a king ends up in the reserve, it stays there. Furthermore, in the beginning of the game, if any king appears in the tableau, it is removed and placed at the bottom of the deck and another card is placed on it.

The game is won when all 48 cards are put in the foundation, with the kings end up in the reserve.

The sequence above is formed as follows: Let 1=A, 11=J, 12=Q

$A*2=2$
$2*2=4$
$4*2=8$
$8*2=16;16-13=3$
$3*2=6$
$6*2=12=Q$
$Q*2=24;24-13=11=J$
$J*2=22;22-13=9$
$9*2=18;18-13=5$
$5*2=10$
$10*2=20;20-13=7$
$7*2=14;14-13=1=A$

Duchess

Rules

First, four fans of three cards are set up; they form the reserve. Then a space is left for the four foundations, then four cards are placed in a row; they form the bases for the tableau columns.

The initial layout in the game of Duchess.

To start the game, the player will choose among the top cards of the reserve fans which will start the first foundation pile. Once he/she makes that decision and picks a card, the three other cards with the same rank, whenever they become available, will start the other three foundations.

The top cards of the reserve fans and the top cards of the columns in the tableau are available for play onto the foundations or on the tableau. The foundations are built up by suit and ranking is continuous as Aces are placed over Kings. The cards on the tableau are built down in alternating colors. Ranking is also continuous in the tableau as Kings can be placed over Aces. One card can be moved at a time, but sequences can also be moved as one unit. No cards can be built on the reserve.

Spaces that occur on the tableau are filled with any top card in the reserve. If the entire reserve is exhausted however, it is not replenished; spaces that occur after this point have to be filled with cards from the waste pile or, if a wastepile has not been made yet, the stock.

The stock is dealt one card at a time to the wastepile, the top card of which is available for play. There is one redeal allowed. To prepare for the redeal, the remaining cards in the wastepile are collected and turned face down to become the new stock.

The game is won when all cards are built onto the foundations.

Eagle Wing

This game takes its name from the tableau which depicts a bird, particularly an eagle, spreading its wings in flight.

Rules

1. First, 13 cards are dealt face down as one pile. They will act as the "trunk" of the eagle, i.e. the reserve.
2. Then, four cards are dealt each to the left and right of the trunk (eight cards in all). They act as the "wings" of the eagle, i.e. the tableau.
3. After these 21 cards are dealt, a twenty-second card is placed above the "eagle." This is the base of the first foundation and the three other foundations must start with cards with the same rank.
4. The cards on the wings are available only to be built on the foundations, which are built up by suit and round-the-corner (aces placed on top of kings).
5. Gaps are immediately filled with cards from the trunk, turning it face up.
6. When there are no more moves to be made from the wings, the stock is dealt one card at a time to be played onto the foundations.
7. Unplayed cards are placed on the waste pile, the top card of which is available for play.
8. The stock can be dealt three times, i.e. two redeals are allowed by picking up the wastepile and turning it face down.
9. When the trunk is down to its last card, it is turned face up and immediately available to be built onto the foundations without having to wait for an empty space on the wings. Afterwards, any space on the wings may be filled with a card from the stock or the wastepile.
10. The game ends when all moves have been made after the stock has been dealt the third time.
11. The game is won when all cards are built up in the foundations.

Eight Off

This game is named after its employment of eight cells, played with one deck of playing cards. The object of the game is to move all the cards into the foundations.

Rules

Initial Layout

The cards are dealt, face up, into eight columns (or piles) of six cards each. (These eight columns make up the tableau.) The remaining four cards go into the first four cells. When dealt, the table should bear some resemblance to the picture on the right, although a layout with the cells on the left and the foundations at the top is another option.

The eight slots along the top of the picture represent the cells. These cells can be used to temporarily store any available card from the table. Four of the cells are filled at the beginning of the game.

The four slots along the left of the picture represent the four foundations. These, as in Klondike, are meant to be built up in suit from Ace to King. Thata is, each foundation begins with the Ace of one suit and is followed by the 2 of the same suit, which is followed by the 3 of the same suit, and so forth, until all the cards through the King have been placed on the foundation.

The tableau piles which fill the majority of the figure are where most of the game play actually occurs. The cards are, again, all face up, and are built down, traditionally by suit. (Players can modify the difficulty of the game, if they like, by building down in a different manner. For example, one could play by alternating colours, the way Klondike is played).

Technically, one may only move the cards between columns one at a time; however, the presence of a free cell essentially increases the number of cards that can be moved. (e.g., if there are three open cells, four cards can actually be moved at once—one for each cell, and the one that can always be moved.)

If a column is emptied, most rules allow for one to place any card in the empty space, regardless of suit or rank (as long as it follows the other restrictions on moving cards). Advanced players, however, may prefer to limit this move to Kings only (as it is in Klondike).

Variations

Eight Off is similar to Baker's Game, named after the mathematician C.L. Baker and a precursor to the more popular FreeCell. It is not as popular as its offspring, but is included in some computer card-game suites.

Elevens

Rules

Cards are placed in a 3x3 grid, and pairs of cards which add up to eleven (5 and 6; 4 and 7; 3 and 8; 2 and 9; Ace and 10) are covered up; face cards (J, Q, K) may be eliminated in a set of three cards consisting of one Jack, one Queen and one King regardless of suit. If all cards are covered up the game is won; if there are no more pairs of cards that add up to eleven, and there do not exist a Jack, a Queen, and a King, the game is lost. An individual game of elevens is a game of pure chance, except for the small element of skill involved in spotting the pairs; the skill and strategic interest comes in not shuffling the cards at the end of each game, but instead collecting them up in order.

Scoring

If at least 20 cards (including the original 9) are placed, score 1 point. If at least 40 cards are placed, score a second point. If all 52 cards are placed, score 3 points for the game.

If any three cards of a certain rank are visible (i.e. at the top of their respective piles) at any one time during play along the same row, column, or diagonal, score 1 extra point. If all four cards of a certain rank are visible, score 1 extra point. Of course, you can score 2 points for all four cards of a rank being visible at one time, if three of them are along the same row, column, or diagonal. This extra scoring dramatically increases the skill involved in playing as you need to remember previous and probable cards played.

Elevens Up

The aim is to remove pairs of cards that add up to 11.

Rules

Remove any 2 or more exposed cards that add up to 11. The face cards have been replaced with extra aces with a value of 1.

Here is an example: 4♦ + 3♠ + 2♣ + 1♣ + 1♦= 11

The Deck turns up 1 card at a time. If the first card cannot be used, it will be moved to the second Dealt Pile when you deal the next card. If the card in the second Dealt Pile cannot be used, it will replace empty spaces on the tableau. If there are no spaces available in the Tableau, the card will be discarded to the Waste Pile.

When there is no more cards in the Deck and you are unable to remove any cards, the game is finished.

The game is won when the entire tableau has been removed.

Scoring

Each card removed earns points. Point values are determined by where the cards are located. There are many variations of scoring. Here are a couple:

1.

– Dealt Pile = 20 points

– Level 1 = 100 points

– Level 2 = 200 points

– Level 3 = 300 points

– Level 4 = 400 points

– Level 5 (top level) = 800 points

– The first time any of the 3 peak cards are removed, a bonus is rewarded.

– 100 extra points are given for each card left unused in the Stock Pile.

2.

- Dealt Piles: 100 points

- Level 1: 200 points

- Level 2: 300 points

- Level 3: 400 points

- Level 4: 500 points

- Level 5: 800 points

- For removing the entire tableau (excluding the extra fields), you receive an additional 10,000 points.

Alternative Names

• Ace Solitaire
• +11 Solitaire

Flower Garden

It is not known why the game is called such, but the terms used in this game do have a relation to those in gardening and it takes merit that some skill is needed. It is also known under the names The Bouquet and The Garden.

Rules

Thirty-six cards are dealt in to six columns, each containing six cards. The columns are called the "flower beds" and the entire tableau is sometimes called "the garden." The sixteen leftover cards become the reserve, or "the bouquet."

The initial layout in the game of Flower Garden

The top cards of each flower-bed and all of the cards in the bouquet are available for play. Cards can only be moved one at a time and can be built either on the foundations or on the other flower beds. The foundations are built up by suit, from Ace to King (a general idea of the game is to release the aces first). The cards in the garden, on the other hand, can be built down regardless of suit and any empty flower bed can be filled with any card. The cards in the bouquet can be used to aid in building, be put into the foundations, or fill an empty flower bed.

The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations.

Following

At the onset, one has to lay six cards in a row; this will compose the tableau. Like any solitaire game, the object is to remove the aces and build them up to kings. The catch of this game is the rotation of suits that the player must remember: A Club must be placed over a Heart, a Diamond over a Club, a Spade on a Diamond, and a Heart on a Spade. This rule applies to both the foundations and the tableau.

Building on the tableau is down, provided that the rotation of suits described above is followed. An entire sequence in any length can be moved, again retaining the rotation of suits. When the cards in the tableau are not sufficient for building, the stock is dealt one card at a time onto a wastepile. The top card of the wastepile can be used to build on the tableau and the foundations. Once the stock is used up, the wastepile is picked up to become the new stock. This can be done only once in the game. Also, spaces in the tableau can be filled up with any card, whether it is from one of the cards already in the tableau, the top card of the wastepile, or the next card from the stock.

The game ends soon after the stock runs out the second time. The game is won when all cards are built into the foundations, with the King of a foundation pile being the same suit as the Ace that started the pile.

Fortress

Play

Deal out the entire pack horizontally in two groups, as in tableau, beginning at the left hand, and dealing straight across each group, leaving space in the centre for four aces. These, when they can be played, form the foundation cards, and are to descend in sequence to kings.

Should any aces appear on the outside of either group, play them, as also any other suitable cards for continuing the foundations (Rules I and II).

You next proceed to form marriages, both in ascending and in descending lines, with cards on the outside of both groups (Rule I). But this must be done with extreme care, so as not only to release the greatest number of suitable cards, but also, if possible, to open out one entire horizontal row of cards to form a lane. The success of the game entirely depends on these lanes. If, therefore, you succeed in opening out one, it is more prudent not to refill it until, by some fresh combination, others can be made.

When a lane is to be refilled, select any available card (Rule I), and place it at the inner end of the lane, and along it any others in sequence of the same suit, the last card being, of course, the available one.

One great use of these lanes is to reverse any sequences that have been made by marriages in the ascending line.

Note.—Supposing you have placed upon a deuce a sequence ending with eight; place the eight at the inner end of the lane, the other cards following in succession until the deuce becomes the outside card. When there are more cards in the lane than the original number, they can be placed partly over each other.

There is no re-deal.

Fortune's Favor

• First, the four aces are removed from the deck and placed in a row to form the bases of the foundations. These foundations are built up by suit to kings.
• Below the foundations, two rows of six cards each (or any preferred arrangement of twelve cards) are dealt. These form the bases of the twelve tableau piles. *The top cards on the tableau piles are available for building on the foundations and on the tableau. Building in the tableau is down by suit and spaces which result in moving a card are filled from the wastepile or, if there is none, the stock. Only one card can be moved at a time.

• The stock, when play comes to a standstill, is dealt one card at a time onto a wastepile, the top card of which is available for play on the tableau or foundations.

• The game is won when all cards are built onto the foundations.

Four Seasons

Setup and play

First, five cards are dealt in form of a cross: three cards are placed in a row, then two cards are each placed above and below the middle of the three cards. A sixth card is dealt in the upper left corner of the cross. This card will be the base for the first of four foundations. The three cards of the same rank are placed in the other three corners of the cross to become the foundations themselves.

• The foundations are built up in suit and building is round-the-corner, i.e. aces are placed above kings, except when aces are the foundation bases.

Cards in the cross are built down regardless of suit and any space in the cross is filled with any available card, whether it is the top card of a pile within the cross, the top card of the wastepile, or a card from the stock. Like the foundations, building in the cross is round-the-corner, i.e. kings are placed over aces, unless aces are the foundations. Only one card can be moved at a time.

• Whenever the game goes on a standstill, the stock is dealt one card at a time into the wastepile, the top card of which is available for play on the cross or on the foundations. There is no redeal.

• The game ends if a standstill occurs after the stock has run out. The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations.

Variations

Below are the variations of Four Seasons:

• In Czarina, any space in the cross is immediately filled only from the stock.
• In Corners, the cross is in fact a reserve, not a tableau, and each space is a cell, which should have room for only one card. Empty cells in this game are filled immediately from the stock.
• Simplicity is played like Four Seasons. The only exception is that the tableau (instead of a cross) contains twelve cards dealt into two rows of six. The thirteenth card dealt becomes the base of the first formation. Also, building in the tableau is down by alternating colors.

Fourteen

As this game involves carrying off cards with a fixed sum, it belongs to the same family of games as Pyramid.

Method of Play

The cards are dealt face up into twelve columns, from left to right. The first four columns therefore receive an extra card. The exposed top cards of each column are available for play.

As denoted by the game's name, the object is to discard pairs of cards that total fourteen. Jacks value eleven, queens twelve, and kings thirteen, all others (including the ace) at face value. So the combination of cards to be discarded are as follows:

• King and Ace
• Queen and 2
• Jack and 3
• 10 and 4
• 9 and 5
• 8 and 6
• 7 and 7

Once a card has been discarded, the card under it becomes available. The game is won when all cards are discarded.

Strategy

Strategy of Fourteen Out involves identifying pairs that cannot be matched because of their position, and preemptively selecting other eligible matches. Potential difficulties arise when pairs are found in the same pile, or when two different matches are in potentially mutually blocking positions.

Variants

Columns may be stacked rather than cascaded, thus obscuring not-yet-active cards. This results in considerably more blind play.

Free Cell

Construction and layout

• One standard 52-card deck is used.
• There are four open cells and four open foundations. Some alternate rules use between one to ten cells.
• Cards are dealt face-up into eight cascades, four of which comprise seven cards and four of which comprise six. Some alternate rules will use between four to ten cascades.

Building during play

• The top card of each cascade begins a tableau
• Tableaux must be built down by alternating colors.
• Foundations are built up by suit.

Moves

• Any cell card or top card of any cascade may be moved to build on a tableau, or moved to an empty cell, an empty cascade, or its foundation.
• Complete or partial tableaus may be moved to build on existing tableaus, or moved to empty cascades, by recursively placing and removing cards through intermediate locations. Computer implementations often show this motion, but players using physical decks typically move the tableau at once.

Victory

• The game is won after all cards are moved to their foundation piles.

Variations

• Seahaven Towers Building on the tableau is done in suit and there are ten columns of five cards

Frustration

This game relies purely on luck rather than on skill, similar to but opposite of Hit or Miss. As in the latter game, the player deals the cards, and says "ace" when drawing the first card, "two" for the second, then "three, four... nine, ten, jack, queen, king" then starts again with "ace." If the rank of a dealt card matches the rank uttered by the player while dealing it, the game is lost; the game is won if the sequence is successfully repeated four times (and the entire deck is thus dealt out) without any word/card matches causing a loss.

Interesting Facts

The game has been the subject of several mathematical studies; the odds of winning are approximately 1.6%.

Gaps

The object of this game is to build the 2s up to kings.

Rules

The cards are dealt into four rows of thirteen. The aces are removed and discarded from further play. The gaps that they leave behind are filled by cards that are the same suit and a rank higher than the card on the left of the gap. (For example, 4♣ can be placed beside 3♣.) However, any gap at the right of a King is considered dead and no card can fill it.

Any gap on the left hand side of the row should be placed by a deuce and the row should be built up by suit beside the deuce (i. e. 2-3-4-5, etc.). It is the discretion of the player on which suit would occupy which row.

When there are no more possible moves, the round is over. The cards that are not in order are gathered, making sure to leave any suit sequence (e.g., ♥2-3-4-5) behind. In Montana and Spaces, the cards are then shuffled; in Gaps, they are not. The cards are then redealt, making sure there is a gap in each row at the immediate right of each suit sequence or at the extreme left of the row if no suit sequence is formed in that row. There are only three rounds in the usual rules. But some variants allow four, and some have no limit.

The game is won when all 48 cards are arranged in numerical order and in suits, with the gaps of each row beside the Kings at the extreme right hand of the row. The probability of winning depends on which rules are followed. In Spaces, where the cards are shuffled after each round and the rounds are limited to three, an experienced player will win perhaps one game in 20. In Gaps (cards are not shuffled, but the limit of three rounds remains), one win in seven games may be expected. If the number of rounds is not limited, winning is just a matter of time, whether the cards are shuffled or not.

Variants

There are some variants of this game.

One variant is called Addiction Solitare, a game developed by GameHouse for Yahoo! Games. This game is played exactly as Gaps except that there are three reshuffles rather than the standard two and the aces can be used in each reshuffle and redeal to create any gaps.

There is also a variant with two decks, sometimes called Double Montana or Big Paganini. The cards are dealt in eight rows of 13 cards each. Aces are removed and placed at the left of each row. In some sub-variants, two redeals are allowed, in others, there are no redeals.

Tips & Strategy

Look for a move you want to make, then decide how you will make it happen. Do not get blocked by a King.

Gate

First, two columns of five cards are dealt face up. These act as the reserve or "gate posts." Then, between these columns, two rows of four cards are dealt, again face-up. These compose the "rails" or the tableau. The spaces for the foundations are allotted over the first row of cards.

The object of the game, like many solitaire games, is to find the aces, place then onto the foundations, and build each of them up by suit to kings.

The cards in the rails are available for play, to be placed on the foundations or onto other cards in the rail. The cards in the rails are built down by alternating color (a card with a red suit over a one with a black suit, and vice versa). Spaces in the rails are filled using cards from the gate posts. If the cards in the gate posts are used up, the top card of the wastepile, or the next card in the stock if there is no wastepile, can be used to fill spaces. The gate posts are never replenished.

Generally, one card can be moved at a time. The most prevalent rule regarding moves of sequences is that sequences can be moved as a whole. However, there is a rule set which does not allow moving groups of cards, effectively making the game harder (mentioned in Card Games Made Easy by Marks and Harrod, ISBN 1-899606-17-3).

The stock can be dealt one card at a time to a wastepile. The top card of which is available for play, either to placed in on the foundations or on the rails, or to fill a gap on the rails. However, once the stock runs out, there are no redeals.

The game ends soon after the stock runs out. The game is won when all cards are played to the foundations.

Gay Gordons

Ten piles of five are dealt face up, with two reserve cards also face up. In both the top card is in play and the piles cannot be refilled or built on. Empty piles cannot be refilled. The aim of the game is to remove all cards by making pairs that add up to eleven (suits are not important). Kings pair with queens, jacks with other jacks, and aces with tens.

Golf

Setup

From a standard 52-card deck, 7 columns of 5 cards each are dealt, all face up. This is the tableau. One additional card is dealt as the base of the foundation. The remaining 16 cards are turned face down to form the stock.

Play

Rules are as follows:

• Only the topmost card in each column (closest to the player) may be removed from the tableau. When it is removed, the card beneath becomes available for play.
• Cards may be moved from the tableau to the foundation if they are either one rank higher or one rank lower than the top card of the foundation, regardless of suit, but nothing may be played on top of a King.
• Cards rank A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K. There is no "wrapping" (Ace on a King, or King on an Ace) in golf.
• Whenever there are no possible plays, turn cards up one at a time from the stock to the foundation and resume playing cards from the tableau when possible.
• There is no redeal. The game is over when the stock is exhausted and no more moves are available.

Scoring

The initial layout in the solitaire game of Golf.

Player scores one point for each card remaining in the tableau after the stock has run out. If the tableau is cleared, player scores a negative point for every card left in the stock. Game is nine "holes" (deals) and a score of 45 or lower is considered par, with a score of zero or lower being perfect.

Impossible Win

If a tableau is dealt that would make it impossible for the player to clear all of the cards (if all queens are covered by kings for example), then the cards may be reshuffled and redealt.

Variations

Common variations on these rules include:

• Queens may be played on top of Kings.
• Turning the corner is permitted so that a King can be played on top of an Ace, and vice versa.
• Multiple decks may be used to create larger tableaus.
• One or both of the Jokers may be added to the deck and used as wild cards that represent any value.

Grandfather's Clock

Its foundation is akin to Clock Solitaire; but while winning the latter depends on the luck of the draw, this game has a strategic side.

Before the game begins, the following cards are taken out of the deck: 2♥, 3♠, 4♦, 5♣, 6♥, 7♠, 8♦, 9♣, 10♥, J♠, Q♦, and K♣. They are then arranged in a circular fashion like a clock face with the 2♥ on the "five o' clock" position, 3♠ on the "six o' clock" position, and so on. These cards will be the foundations. The remaining cards are then shuffled and dealt into eight columns of five cards each on the tableau.

The initial layout in a game of Grandfather's Clock. The clock face is for visualization.

The object of the game is to distribute the cards to the foundations to point that the top cards of the foundations show the correct numbers on the clock face. (A queen is equal to twelve, a jack eleven.)

Each foundation should be built up by suit until the card with the correct corresponding number on the clock face is placed. The cards on the tableau on the other hand are built down regardless of suit. The top cards of each column are the only ones available for play. Only one card can be played at a time and any space that occurs is filled with any available card.

The game ends either with all cards are put into the foundations with the clock face showing the correct numbers, or when there is a situation in the tableau that allows no more moves.

Hit or Miss

Deal the cards one at a time. As the player deals the cards, s/he says "ace" when drawing the first card, "two" for the second, then "three, four... nine, ten, jack, queen, king" then starts again with "ace." The player continues "counting" after the cards in the deck are used up, recollected and redealt.

Once the word uttered matches the rank of the card dealt, the card is "hit" and it is discarded. Cards that are "hit" no longer take further part in the game.

The player can continue the game and redeal the cards (and say "ace, two, three..." at the same time) as long as there are cards "hit." When all the remaining cards are dealt twice in succession without a "hit," the game is lost. Therefore, all cards must be discarded in order for the game to be won.

Idiot's Delight

Idiot's Delight can be an alternative name for these solitaire games:

• Aces Up,
• King Albert
• Perpetual Motion

King Albert

This game is said to be named after Albert I of Belgium. It is the best known of the three games that are each called Idiot's Delight because of the low chance of winning the game (the other two are Aces Up and Perpetual Motion).

Rules

The aim of the game, like many solitaire games, is to release the aces to the foundations and build each of them up by suit to Kings.

First, the cards are dealt into nine columns in such a way that the first column contains nine cards, the second having eight cards, the third seven, and so on until the ninth column has a single card. The seven left over cards form the reserve, sometimes known as "the Belgian Reserve."

The initial layout of the game of King Albert.

Building on the tableau is down by alternating colors and only one card can be moved at a time. Only the top card of each column and all cards in the reserve are available for play as well as the top cards in the foundation. Furthermore, an empty column can be filled with any available card.

Once an ace is released, it can be built upon immediately.

The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations. Achieving this is difficult as only one in ten games can be won, hence the alternate name of Idiot's Delight.

King's Audience

This game is so named because the King and Queen of each suit seem to watch the action.

Rules

First, sixteen cards are dealt to form a square. These compose the reserve, or "antechamber." On the other hand, the space inside the square is called the "audience chamber." This is where twelve cards are to be placed later. All cards in the antechamber are available for play.

After the cards are dealt, the King and Queen of each suit, whenever both are available, are placed inside the audience chamber, never to take part in the rest of the game. Also, the Jack and the Ace of each suit, whenever they become available at the same time, are placed inside the audience chamber with the Jack on top; these two become the foundation, to be built down by suit to deuces (twos).

There is no building among the cards in the antechamber; they are only available for play to the foundations. When a card leaves the antechamber, it is replaced with a card from the wastepile or, if there is none, the stock.

When play goes on a standstill, cards from the stock are dealt one a time to a wastepile, the top card of which is available for play. The stock can only be dealt once.

The game is won when all cards end up in the audience chamber. King's Audience can be won three times out of four.

Klondike

This is one of the most well known solitaire games, in fact, you probably have played a variant of it on your computer, which probably is somewhat different from the original version.

Play

1. First, seven piles of cards are laid from left to right. Each pile begins with one upturned card. From left to right, each pile contains one more card than the last. The first and left-most pile contains a single upturned card, the second pile contains two cards (one downturned, one upturned), the third contains three (two downturned, one upturned), and so on, until the seventh pile which contains seven cards (six downturned, one upturned). The piles should look like the figure to the right at the beginning of every game.

The four foundations (light rectangles in the upper right of the figure) are built up by suit from Ace (low in this game) to King, and the tableau piles are built down by alternate colors. Partial or complete piles can be moved if they are built down by alternate colors also. Any empty piles can be filled with a King or a pile of cards with a King. The aim of the game is to build up a stack of cards starting with 2 and ending with King, all of the same suit. Once this is accomplished, the goal is to move this to a foundation, where the player has previously placed the Ace of that suit. Once the player has done this, they will have "finished" that suit, the goal being, of course, to finish all suits, at which time the player would have won. There are different variations of dealing the remainder of the deck including the following, which are some of the most common ways:

• Turning three cards at once to the waste, either allowing three passes through the deck or placing no limit on passes through the deck.
• Turning three cards at once, reversing the order of each group of three as the cards are dealt.
• Turning only one card at a time, but only passing through the deck once.
• Turning only one card at a time, but placing no limit on passes through the deck.
• Turning three cards at once to the waste with no limit on passes through the deck, but allowing the player to switch once to a single pass through the deck one card at a time; after that single pass, however, the player cannot go back to turning three cards at a time and can turn over no more cards from the waste.

Variations

As Klondike is one of the most well known solitaire games, you probably aren't surprised about the number of variants, below are a few:

• In Agnes, the stock is dealt in batches of seven on reserve piles and every one is available. Furthermore, the bases of the foundations depends on the twenty-ninth card, which is dealt on the foundations.
• In Easthaven (a.k.a. Aces Up), twenty-one cards are dealt into seven piles of three, two face-down and one face-up. A space in this game can only be filled by a king or any sequence starting with a king, and when a play goes to a standstill, seven new cards are dealt to the tableau, one top of each pile. Easthaven may include 2 or 3 card decks.
• In Nine Across nine columns of cards are dealt, as opposed to the seven of conventional Klondike. The player can choose which cards to form the foundations; if one or more eights are exposed, for example, the player may decide to build on eights, and the piles are built up 8-9-10-J-Q-K-Ace-2-3-4-5-6-7. If eights are built on, sevens fill up spaces and so forth. The stock is dealt through one by one as many times as required.
• In Thumb and Pouch, a card in the tableau can be built upon another that is any suit other than its own (e.g. spades cannot be placed over spades) and spaces can be filled by any card or sequence.
• In Whitehead, all cards are dealt face up, building is by color (red on red, black on black), a sequence made up of cards that are of the same suit can be moved as a unit, and a space can be filled by any card or sequence.
• In Westcliff, thirty cards are dealt into ten piles of three cards, two face down and one face up. A space in this game can be filled with any card or sequence.

La Belle Lucie

Other names: The Fan, Clover Leaves, Three Shuffles and a Draw, Alexander the Great, Trefoil or Midnight Oil

All cards are visible from the start, but this does not imply that this game is solvable with strategy. The default rule is very hard to win. The majority of games cannot be solved. For example, moving a single card onto another blocks that stack until both cards can be removed to the foundations. Any setup that has a lower card of a specific suit below a higher of the same suit, or all kings not on the bottom of each cascade cannot be solved without cheating. The shuffle and redeal is of little help. For each king left in the second redeal, there is a 66% chance that the cascade cannot be solved (if the king is not lowest). Moving aces out (Trefoil rule) has cosmetic character.

Rules

• The tableau consists of seventeen fans of three cards each with a single card counting as an eighteenth fan.
• Only the top card of each fan could be played.
• Any aces are moved to the foundations and are built from there.
• Cards are moved to the foundations by suit in ascending order (e.g. 2♦ over A♦).
• Cards are moved to other fans by suit in descending order (e.g. 7♣ over 8♣).
• When a fan becomes empty, it cannot be filled again, even with a King.
• Once all possible moves have been exhausted, the entire tableau is reshuffled and redealt, again in fans of three with the remainder counting as a separate fan. There are only two reshuffles allowed in the game.
• The game is considered won when all cards are transferred into the foundations.

Variations

• Trefoil:
  • The aces are immediately transferred to the foundations and the remaining 48 cards are shuffled and dealt in sixteen fans of three to begin the game.
  • The tableau consists of sixteen fans of three cards each and the four remaining cards formed into two fans of two.
  • Cards are moved to other fans by alternating colours in descending order (e.g. 7♦ over 8♣). [The alternating colours rule for moves between fans.]
• The Fan:
  • When a fan becomes empty, it can be filled with a king. This rule is recommended as it makes things easier and increases odds of solving the game. [The king rule.]
  • No redeals of cards. [The no redeal rule.]
• Three Shuffles and a Draw:
  • When all possible moves have been exhausted after the two reshuffles without finishing, the player can still make one last possible move wherein one can pick out (or draw) a buried card, i.e. any card that is not the top card of any fan, and use it to continue the game and finish it. This special move and three shuffles involved (including the original shuffling of the cards before the start of any new game) give the variation its name.
• Shamrocks
  • Before the game begins, each King which is on top or middle of its respective pile is placed underneath. A King that is on top of a lower-ranked card of the same suit should be placed under that lower-ranked card, no matter what else in its pile. To play on the tableau, a card can be placed over a card that is one rank higher or lower, regardless of suit (a 6♠ can be placed on a 7♣ or a 5♦). However, each pile can hold no more than three cards at a time; thus no card can be placed on a pile with three cards.

The "no redeal rule" and the "king rule" are often used together since redeals are needed to get to cards under a king unless it’s allowed to move kings to empty fans.

Strategies

Since all cards are visible after the deal, the basic strategy is to think before doing moves. A redeal is not always of much help, since it will give fewer fans than the initial deal.

Cards under a king are blocked until the redeal or until the king is moved to the foundations (if the "king rule" is not in effect).

For standard rules

• Since cards only can be moved once (because 7♣ only can be moved to 8♣), the cards under moved cards will be blocked until the redeal or until the cards above are moved to the foundations.
• It is always safe to build on a fan that contains only one card.
• It is likewise always safe to build on a king, since the cards under it is blocked anyway (as long as the "king rule" is not in effect).
• It is also safe to build on a sequence of two or more cards in suite (like 7♣ on 8♣), since the cards under it is blocked anyway.
• It is always safe to move cards to the foundations.
• Before moving a card consider if the destination card can be moved first (e.g. before moving 7♣ over 8♣, consider if it is possible to move 8♣ over 9♣).

For the "alternating colours rule for moves between fans"

The "alternating colours rule for moves between fans" will significantly change the strategy used in the game:

• Even if cards can be moved multiple times, and thus cards under moved cards are not always blocked, it will often be the case, especially when the fan becomes larger.
• Even if it is not always safe; if a fan contains only one card it is safer to build on it than on other fans.
• It is likewise safer to build on a king than on other cards, since the cards under it is blocked anyway (as long as the "king rule" is not in effect).
• Build evenly on the foundations; i.e. try to move all four Aces up to the foundations first, then move all the 2's, etc. Not following this strategy will limit the moves possible between the fans, even after a redeal.
• Before moving a card consider if the destination card can be moved first (e.g. before moving 7♣ over 8♦, consider if it is possible to move 8♦ over 9♣).
• All cards can be moved over two other cards. Therefore before moving a card, say 7♦ over 8♣, consider the need to instead move 7♥ over the destination 8♣, or the possibility to instead move the source card 7♦ over 8♠.

La Croix d'Honneur

La Croix d'Honneur means 'the cross of honor' in French, this game was first described in the French book Nouveau Recueil de Patiences, printed in Paris by the publishing company Watilliaux.

Rules

The cross in this game is an eight-rayed cross, composed of an inner circle and an outer circle, each having eight cards. The object of this game is discard all cards in pairs. A pair in this game refers to two cards having the same rank.

In the first stage, only the top card of the waste pile and of the cards in the inner circle can make a pair. Once a card leaves the inner circle, it is immediately replaced only by the corresponding card from the outer circle. Cards in the outer circle are not replaced.

After the stock runs out, the second stage begins, wherein the cards from the waste pile are used to fill empty spaces in the inner circle (not all however). The rule in which the top card of the waste pile should only be paired up with a card from the inner circle still applies.

The third stage begins once all the cards from the waste pile are either discarded or end up in the inner circle. At this stage, cards at the inner circle can now be paired with each other. There is no redeal.

The game is won when all cards are discarded.

Labyrinth

Take the four Aces out of the deck and lay them down as the foundations. Then eight cards are laid in a row below these four cards.

The cards on this row can be built on the foundations up by suit up to Kings. Any gap is immediately filled by a card from the stock. Once no more moves can be made, a new row of eight cards is formed. However, once any card leaves the second row to the foundations, it is not filled; filling gaps by new cards only applies to the first row.

Only cards on the top and bottom rows are available and when a card on the bottom row is removed, the card above it is released and can be played. The same goes for a card which is below a card from the top row when that card is removed, when the player decides to fill the gap later or when the stock runs out.

As new rows are formed, chances are that there are gaps in the in-between rows except the top. These "holes" give the impression of a labyrinth, hence the name.

The dealing of new rows, putting cards to the foundations, and filling any gaps on the first row continues until the stock runs out. When the player gets stuck after this point, he can draw any card from the other rows as a last resort.

The game is won when all cards are built into the foundations.

Ladybug

The object of Ladybug is to make seven complete slots of exactly four cards each, the four cards summing to 10. Aces are worth 1 point, number cards are worth their face value, face cards are worth 0 points, and 10s are wild and can be any value between 0 and 10. To begin the game, seven cards are dealt face up to start the seven slots. The remainder of the deck then becomes the stock pile. Each turn, three cards are dealt from the stock pile so that only the top one can be seen. The top card of each deal must be used (placed on a slot). The other two cards are optional. A card may not be played on a slot that would make the sum be greater than 10, a slot that already has four cards, or a slot with three cards that would make the sum not equal 10. A player wins if all seven slots have exactly four cards each, summing to 10.

Little Spider

This game bears no resemblance to the one-pack Spiderette or the two-pack Spider, and thus, those games should not be confused with this one. The aim is to build the aces up in suit to kings and the kings down is suit to aces, both by suit.

Set up

There are three rows of four cards in this game and the foundations are placed in the middle row.

Play

• First, remove the two red aces and two black kings from the pack and place them in the foundations.
• The kings are built down to ace while the aces are built up to kings, in both cases by suit. Game play in this part is composed strictly of moving cards from the two rows to the foundations. Cards from the upper row can be placed on any of the foundations, while cards from the lower row can only be placed on the foundations directly on top of it. Once possible plays are made, eight new cards are dealt from the stock, one on each pile, empty or otherwise. Once the entire stock is dealt, the second part of game play begins.
• At the second part of game play, cards from both rows can be placed on the foundations as well as around the piles at both rows, building either up or down regardless of suit at the piles. Building is also continuous as a king can be placed over an ace and vice versa.
• The game is won when all cards made their way to the foundations.

Martha

Rules

First, the aces are removed from the deck and set up as the bases for the foundations.

Then, the rest of the deck is dealt into 12 columns of four overlapping cards each, with the top card and the third card from the top faced up and the bottom card and second card from the top faced down. To make this easier, here is a simple illustration of a column:

D
U
D
U<--- top card

The top cards of the columns are available for play, to be built on either the foundations or on other columns in the tableau. The foundations are built up by suit to Kings, while the cards on the tableau are built down in alternating colors.

One card can be moved at a time, but sequences that are already built can be moved, in part or in whole, as unit. But when a gap occurs, it can be filled only with a single card.

The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations.

Maze

Although the words maze and labyrinth are synonymous with each other, this game and the solitaire game of Labyrinth should not be confused with each other because they are different in the manner of game play and dealing. In fact, this game is more akin to another solitaire game, Gaps, though less mechanical.

Rules

First, all 52 cards are laid out into 6 rows, similar to a 6 x 9 grid. The first two rows should have 8 cards each, while the rest have 9 cards each. Then, the Kings are moved and discarded from play. This leaves six gaps, four left behind by the Kings and the two spaces formed on the first two rows.

The rule of the game are as follows:

• A gap is filled by a card that is the same suit and a rank higher than the card on the gap's left or one that is the same suit and a rank lower than the card on the gap's right, whichever is more advantageous.
• A gap to the right of a Queen can be filled with any ace or a card that is the same suit and a rank lower than the card on the gap's right, again, whichever is more advantageous. However, a gap to the left of an Ace is not filled.
• The rows run from left to right, top to bottom.
• The rows are continuous. The last card of one row is connected to the first card of the next. So goes with the last card of the sixth row to the first card of the first row. Thus, a gap on the extreme left of a row can be filled with a card with the same suit and a rank lower than the card on the gap's right or a card with the same suit and a rank higher than the last card of the row above, and vice versa.

The game is won when all 48 cards are arranged in four suit sequences from Ace to Queen with an Ace as the first card on the first row and a Queen as the last card of the sixth row; it does not matter where the gaps end up when this is achieved.

Monte Carlo

This game is also called Double and Quits it should not be confused with Double or Quits or any other casino game.

Rules

A game of Monte Carlo. From left, layout at the start of the game, and layout after pairs are removed, consolidation of cards, addition of new cards.

Game starts when 25 cards are laid out in such a way that they form a 5x5 grid (one version states that 20 cards are dealt to form a 5x4 grid). The rest of the deck are set aside for later as the reserve.

Cards that make up a pair (such as two Kings or two Sixes) are removed when they are immediately next to each other horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Once all pairs have been removed, the cards are consolidated, i.e. moving cards to the left as if towards the upper left corner to fill any gaps left behind by the discarded pairs. New cards are then laid out from the reserve to form a fresh layout of 25 cards.

This removal of pairs, consolidation of cards, and addition of new cards continue until the reserve cards have run out. After this, removal of pairs and consolidation continues.

The game finishes when all cards have been discarded. The game also ends when it is no longer possible to remove pairs, especially on the finishing stages of the game such as "4-6-4-6."

Although luck is a large part of the game, strategy can also sometimes play a part. For example, one could leave a pair alone to be used to aid freeing a separated pair (e. g. two Queens that are left alone to unlock a Q-7-Q).

Variants

• In a version called Monte Carlo Thirteens, instead of pairs of cards with the same rank, kings and pairs of cards with values totalling 13 are removed during game play.

Nestor

Rules

• Cards are dealt into eight columns of six cards. They are dealt in such a way that no two cards in the same column have the same rank. To avoid that, the identically ranking card is placed at the bottom of the deck and a new one is dealt.
• Once the eight columns are dealt, the four remaining cards are placed either face-up or face-down in a row above or below the columns. These four cards will be the reserve.
• Play is composed of removing pairs of cards with the same rank (such as two kings or two 7s). All cards in the reserve and the top card of each column are available for play. Once a pair has been removed, new cards become exposed and available for play.
• The game is won once all cards are discarded.
• An alternate rule in this game is after the eight columns are dealt, the reserve cards are placed as one overlapping row and the top card is the only one available for play.

Ninety-One

The object of this game is to move cards so the top cards of the piles total to 91, hence the name.

Thirteen piles of four cards each are dealt. Only one card can be moved at a time and the top cards of the piles are ones that are counted. Cards are even transferred without any regard to suit or value. Spot cards (cards from ace to ten) are taken at their face value, while jacks are valued at 11, queens at 12, and kings at 13.

The game is won when the top cards of the thirteen piles have a total value of 91. The easiest combination to obtain is a sequence of thirteen cards from ace to king ($91=1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9+10+11+12+13$). But there are many other combinations that add up to 91, such as four kings, four aces, three fives, and two tens for instance ($91=13*4+1*4+3*5+10*2=52+4+15+20$). It is up to the player how to figure out those combinations.

One-Handed

Taking a standard, shuffled 52-card deck of playing cards (without Jokers), hold the deck face down in your hand. Draw from the back of the deck four cards and place them on top fanned out so that the suit and number can be seen.

If the first and fourth card are the same suit, discard the two middle cards, placing them on your lap if seated or in a pocket or elsewhere if standing. If there are previously drawn cards in your hand, rearrange the hand so that four cards are visible. If there are not enough cards to do this, draw from the back so that four cards are visible.

If the first and fourth card are the same number (or face card) discard all four cards. Again, if there are previously drawn cards in your hand, rearrange the hand so that four cards are visible. If there are not enough cards to do this, draw from the back so that four cards are visible.

Repeat the above process of discarding until the first and fourth card are neither the same suit nor number, upon which you draw one card from the back of the deck and place it after the fourth card, rearranging the drawn cards so that only four are visible.

Continue in this fashion until the end of the deck is reached. If all cards are discarded, you win the game.

The odds of winning are very low, approximately one in 140. An optional rule to increase the odds slightly allows cards that have previously been drawn to be redrawn after the deck has already been cycled through, but preserving their original sequence.

Variation

Another variation adds that if four cards, next to each other, are the same suit, all four are also removed.

Osmosis

the object, like many solitaire games, is to put the cards into foundations, although not in numerical order.

A game of Osmosis: (left) The layout at the start of the game, (right) a game at progress.

This image is a screenshot of the solitaire game "Osmosis-Treasure Trove". More information about this game or this photo can be found on this website: http://www.tesseractmobile.com/

Game play consists of four, vertically arranged reserve piles of four cards each (one face-up card on top of three face-down cards). A seventeenth card is put in the first (top) of four foundations, which are also arranged vertically to the right of the reserve piles. Cards with the same suit as this card must be moved to this foundation. The other three foundations are also built by suit, but must begin with cards of the same rank as the first card of the top foundation (the 17th card previously mentioned). Foundation piles are fanned from left to right. All undealt cards make up the stock.

To begin, the top cards in each reserve pile are the only cards in play and must be moved to the foundations if possible. A card can be moved to a foundation if a card of the same value has already been placed in the foundation above it. Once all possible cards have been placed in the foundations, the next face-down cards remaining in the reserve piles are turned face-up. When placing cards from the reserve piles is no longer possible, one can use the stock, deal three cards at a time, and use its top card to make possible moves. One can redeal the stock as long as there are possible moves from the stock or from the reserve piles to the foundations.

Here's an example (foundations only):

♥	7 8 10 2 4 9 K A
♠	7 A 8 K 9
♦	7 8 K

Suppose that from the example above, any heart card can be moved to the top foundation. One can also place 10♠ into its foundation, but one cannot put 2♦ yet into its foundation because 2♠ hasn't turned up yet in its foundation. No club can be placed at this time as the 7♣ hasn't appeared.

The game is won when all cards have been moved to the foundations. But winning any game relies on where cards are positioned in the reserve piles and in the stock pile. Because of this, finishing a game of Osmosis can be difficult.

Peek

This image is a screenshot of the solitaire game "Peek". More information about this game or this photo can be found on this website: http://www.tesseractmobile.com/

Peek is another solitaire card game using a deck of 52 playing cards. It is played exactly as Osmosis except all the cards in this game's reserve piles are face-up.

Penguin

The game play is similar to other solitaire card games as Freecell and Eight Off.

Rules

After shuffling the cards, the cards are dealt from left to right into seven columns, each with seven rows. The first card dealt is called the "beak" (in the example below, the five of spades). When the three other cards with the same rank appear, they are immediately placed on the foundations, and the next card dealt takes its place in the tableau so that no empty spaces appear.

The initial layout of a game of Penguin.

The object of the game is to build the foundations up in suit up to the card that is a rank lower than the beak. For example, if the beak is a five, the last card of each foundation should be a four; if it is an ace, the last card of each foundation should be a king.

The cards on the tableau are built down by suit. Cards are moved one at a time, unless a suit sequence of cards is formed, which can be moved as a unit. Like Freecell, such a sequence is treated as one card and movement requires enough free cells for all the cards in the sequence. When an empty column occurs in the tableau, only a card of the rank directly beneath the beak or a suit sequence starting with that rank maybe placed on it. (For example, if the beak is an ace, only a king or a suit sequence starting with a king may be used.)

There are seven cells, one above each of the seven columns, which can be used to store a single card to be played later. These seven cells are collectively called the "flipper".

The game is won when all cards are built onto the foundations. The game has a high probability of being won. One good strategy is to first work towards freeing the beak.

Perpetual Motion

Rules

The tableau is made up of four piles/columns. Four cards are dealt (the rest are left aside as the stock), one in each pile. If there are cards of equal rank (such as three kings), the duplicates are moved to the leftmost pile with an equal card.

Example: The three kings mentioned are found at piles 2, 3, and 4. The kings in piles 3 and 4 are moved to pile 2.

After that, four cards are again dealt from the stock (even if one pile is empty) and plays already mentioned are made. Only the top card of each pile is in play. In case the four cards dealt from the stock are all of the same rank, they are immediately discarded.

This continues until the stock runs out. After this first round, the piles are picked up, starting from the rightmost pile, and put over one another either faced down or face up without disturbing the order of the cards in each pile. Four cards are again dealt and the steps mentioned earlier are again done.

The game is won when all cards are discarded (in fours). This is not always possible, however, since in about 45% of cases a cycle occurs: that is, the cards return to exactly the same sequence as one that has been seen previously. When the game can be won, it still takes an average of 128 rounds before completion, hence the name.

Variants

Idiot's Delight (Alternate Rules)

An alternate way to play, as suggested by Peter Drake in his book "Data Structures and Algorithms in Java", is as follows:

The object is still to remove all the cards from the table, but the methods are slightly different.

Play begins by dealing four cards into four separate stacks, one card in each stack. The rest of the cards are kept aside as stock. A player may do one of three things:

• If there are two cards of the same rank showing, discard both of them
• If there are two cards of the same suit showing, discard the one with the lower rank
• If neither of those conditions exist, deal four new cards, one on top of each stack.

Similar to perpetual motion, this continues until the stock runs out and no more removals can be made.

Games will obviously end much sooner than with Perpetual Motion, but considering that the game can only end if the last two cards are of the same rank, the odds of winning are not in the player's favour.

Perseverance

Rules

First, the four aces are taken out of the deck. These form the four foundations.

Then the rest are shuffled and dealt into twelve piles of four cards each. One can distribute one card at a time for each pile or deal four cards at a time to form a pile.

The top cards of each pile are available for play to the foundations or on the tableau piles. The foundations are built up by suit, with the cards on the tableau are built down, also by suit.

One card can be moved at a time. However, the player is allowed to move a sequence of cards as a unit to another pile with an appropriate card (e.g. 6-5-4-3♠ can be placed on the 7♠).

When all possible moves are made (or the player has done all the possible moves one can make), the piles are picked up in reverse order. For example, the twelfth pile is placed over the eleventh pile, and this new pile is placed on the tenth pile, and so on. Then, without shuffling, the cards are dealt to as many piles of four as the remaining decks will allow. To ensure that the order of the cards is not disturbed for the most part, it is suggested that the cards are dealt four at time. This can be done either only twice, or this can be done perpetually until the game is won or becomes blocked.

The game is won when all cards are built onto the foundations up to Kings.

Poker Squares

objective: to build the best poker hands using just 25 cards from the deck.

Rules

The game starts with placing a card onto a space in a 5x5 grid. Placing cards are done one at a time and once a card is placed on the grid, it can no longer be moved.

Once all 25 cards are dealt, points are scored on hands formed horizontally or vertically. The number of points depend on the hierarchy of poker hands. There are two systems of scoring: The English and the American point systems. The English system reflects the difficulty of getting the hands in the game; the American system reflects the difficulty of getting the hands in actual poker. The two systems rate the hands' scores as follows:

Poker Hand	American Point System	English Point System
Royal Flush	100	30
Straight flush	75	30
Four of a kind	50	16
Full House	25	10
Flush	20	5
Straight	15	12
Three Of A Kind	10	6
Two pair	5	3
One Pair	2	1

The points scored from each hand are added to the total score. Albert H. Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith suggest (in their book The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games, ISBN 0-553-20621-4 that to win one must score at least 200 points in the American system or 70 in the English system. Because of the application of the point system, this solitaire is more prevalent as a computer game.

The end of a game of Poker Solitaire. The blue numbers represent the point values of the hands in the American System, while the yellow numbers represent that of the English System.

Take the image above for instance. Horizontally, the five hands formed were two full houses (jacks full of aces and nines full of sevens), a four-of-a-kind (four eights), Three tens, and a two-pair (sixes and fives). Vertically, four flushes (one for each suit) and a pair of fours are scored. The player therefore scores a total of 197 points (American system) or 66 points (English system).

Variants

There is also a version of Poker Squares called Poker Shuffle or Switch-a-roo Poker Solitaire. It is played like Poker Squares except when a card is placed on the grid, it can still be moved until all 25 cards are set. This gives flexibility as the premature rearrangement of the cards can still give better hands on the grid than on Poker Squares. It is scored like that of Poker Squares and Lee and Packard's book states that the winning score is 120 points in the English system or 310 points in the American system.

Puss in the Corner

First, the four aces are separated from the rest of the deck and placed side by side in two cards of two, forming a square. The four waste piles, which initially would contain a card each, are located at the corners of the square.

Building on the foundations is up by color (red suits on red, black suits on black, no matter the suit) to kings. The player first examines the cards to move any cards that can be built on the foundations. If a gap occurs, it is not immediately filled. Only one card can be moved at a time.

After the sufficient cards are built, four cards, one at a time, are dealt onto any of the wastepiles (not necessarily one on each waste pile). Afterwards, any cards that can be built to the foundations are moved. There should be no building on the wastepiles themselves. The process is repeated, i.e. dealing four cards any on the wastepiles and moving any available cards (the top card of each wastepile) to the foundations over and over, until the stock is exhausted.

After the stock is exhausted, the player can do a redeal. To do this, the player must pick up the four waste piles in any order one wishes, and without shuffling, restarts dealing four cards, restarting the process. The game ends when this second stock is used up.

The game is won when all the cards end up in the foundations.

Pyramid

In this game, you move cards from the Pyramid (stock) to the foundation

Rules

The object of the game is to remove pairs of cards that add up to the total of the highest card in the deck from a Pyramid arrangement of 28 cards.

Jacks value at 11, Queens 12, and Kings 13. So the highest value is 13. To set up the Pyramid, one card is dealt face up at the top of the playing area, then two cards beneath and partially covering it, then three beneath them, and so on completing with a row of seven cards for a total of 28 cards dealt. The remaining cards are placed to the side face down. This is the Stock.

To play, pairs of exposed cards can be removed to the Foundation if their values total 13. Thus, Kings can be removed immediately to the Foundation. Cards must not be covered. Thus when an Ace rests on a Queen, that Queen can not be removed.

You may draw cards from the stock one at a time and match it with any exposed card. If no match is made the drawn stock card is still discarded into the Foundation.

Once the stock is exhausted and/or no more pairs can be made, the game ends.

To score, count the number of remaining face-up cards in the Pyramid. A perfect score is, therefore, zero, where all cards have been matched into the Foundation. For the game to be considered won, all cards (cards from the Pyramid and cards from the stock) must be moved to the foundation; the game cannot be won if at least two cards cannot be moved from the stock.

Variations

• Relaxed Pyramid Solitaire: to be considered won, all cards from the Pyramid must be moved to the foundation; the game can still be won with cards left in the stock.
• Redeals may be allowed.
• Three cards at a time from the stack, repeating until no matches can be made; placing all cards totalling 13 in a stack.
• Alternatively, seven cards are dealt below the Pyramid. These cards can match each other exposed cards in the Pyramid or from the stack.
• Another addition is playing Pyramid Solitaire with a cell, filled either from the tableau or from the waste upcard.
• Several variations allow a card on the Pyramid to be removed in combination with a card covered by the first, so long as neither card is covered by a card not in the combo. For example, in the case of an exposed ace resting on a queen, the queen can be removed with the ace if no other cards are covering them, but if (for example) a jack is also on the queen, the queen cannot be removed. Other versions require that both cards be fully exposed to begin with.

Royal Flush

The game is so called because the aim of the game is to end up with a royal flush of any suit. However, the game is so much mechanical in nature that there is currently no electronic or computer implementation. Its rules are so far included in printed matter such as The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games by Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith and 100 Best Solitaire Games by Sloane Lee and Gabriel Packard.

Rules

First, the deck is dealt into five piles: two piles of eleven cards and three piles of ten. The player first turns the first pile up and looks for either an ace, a ten, a king, a queen, and a jack, cards which comprise a royal flush. Once such a card is found, the search ends there, with the cards on top of it discarded and those under it left alone. The search then proceeds into the next pile and the search for other cards in the royal flush continues. Also, the suit of the first card found determines the suit of the entire royal flush. When a pile contains no card of the royal flush being searched, the entire pile is discarded. When another royal-flush card is found in a pile, the search continues until all five piles are searched and royal-flush cards are at the top of their piles.

Afterwards, the piles are placed on top of each other in the reverse direction of the deal. So if the deal is from left to right, once the search ends, each pile is placed on its neighbor to the left. (Morehead and Mott-Smith's rule said stated that the piles should be turned face down first before the piles are gathered). The discarded cards are set aside.

Then without shuffling, the remaining cards are dealt this time into four piles. After this, the search the cards of the royal flush begins again with the same procedure already stated above. Once all four piles are searched and regathered, the remaining cards (again without reshuffling) are dealt into three piles. The process continues, and after the gathering of the piles, the cards are dealt into two piles and the procedure begins once more.

When the two piles are regathered, the remaining cards at this point are then dealt into a single pile. Even at this point, the search stops when a royal-flush card is found and the cards on top of it are discarded. The game is won when the cards of the royal flush are the only ones left in the pile and are arranged in any order. If there are any other cards sandwiched among the royal flush cards, the game is lost.

Variation

To give the game some variation, Lee and Packard (in their book 100 Best Solitaire Games) suggests the player to try other poker hands such as four-of-a-kinds, full houses, or straight flushes. The player can simply look for a specific hand or look for certain cards to include in his/her hand while playing the game.

Royal Marriage

The Queen of Hearts is placed immediately on the table while the King of Hearts will be dealt last. The remaining fifty cards are shuffled and placed on the top of the King.

Cards are dealt one at a time to the right of the Queen. When a pair of cards with the same rank or suit are found to be separated by one or two cards, those in-between cards are discarded. Afterward, the player can look for any resulting pairs with in-between cards to be discarded.

The game is won when the King and Queen are brought together -- that is, when only one or two cards remain in between them, which can then be discarded.

Variations

Royal Marriage is possible to play in-hand, rather than on a surface such as a table. In this case, the deck is held face-down in one hand, with the King being uppermost face-down card and the Queen being held face-up above it. Cards are played from the bottom of the deck onto the Queen, and fanned out to show all cards that could possibly affect play.

Alternatively, the Queen can be played on one end of a surface, and all the cards dealt out at the beginning of the game after it, ending with the King. This allows for some measure of strategy; being able to view the entire sequence of cards allows the player to choose which cards to discard and in what order to ensure a win.

Scorpion

This game is similar to both Spider and Yukon

File:Scorpion Solitaire.jpg

The initial set-up of the game of Scorpion

The game starts with 49 cards dealt into seven columns of seven cards each on the tableau. The first four columns each have three face-down cards with four face-up cards placed over them. The cards in the remaining three columns are all faced up. The three leftover cards are set aside for later.

Cards in the tableau are built down by suit and every face up card is available for play, no matter where in the column it is. That means that any card can be placed on top of a card that is a rank higher. Once a card from the bottom or middle of a column is moved, all cards on top of it are moved as well, as one unit. Nothing can be placed on an ace and gaps on the tableau can only be taken by kings or sequences with Kings as their top cards. Once a face-down card is exposed, it is turned face up.

The legal move in Scorpion: any face up card is available for play (as indicated by the darkened card) and is moved along with the cards on top of it.

When no more moves are possible, the three leftover cards are dealt onto the first three columns and put into play.

As earlier mentioned, the object of the game is to build four columns of suit sequences from king down to ace. So when one such column is built successfully, it is a general rule to leave this column alone, unless it covers a face-down card, it allows some "elbow room" for the other suit columns to be formed.

The game is won when the object is fulfilled, that is four columns of suit sequence cards from king down to ace are formed. .

Variants

"Scorpion II"

The rules above state the prevalent version of the game. There is also a second version of the game in which the number of columns containing three face-down cards and the number of columns in which all cards are faced up are the reverse of the prevalent version, i.e. the first three columns each have three face-down cards with four face-up cards placed over them while the cards in the remaining four columns are all faced up. Despite the reversal, the game remains the same.

Wasp

It is played like Scorpion except that when a gap is formed, any card or sequence can be placed in it. This gives the player more chances of winning than in Scorpion.

Three Blind Mice

Three Blind Mice is another solitaire game which is a variation of Scorpion.

First 10 columns of five cards each are dealt. The three rightmost columns should each have three bottom cards faced down and two top cards face up. The three cards in each of those columns gave the game its name after the nursery rhyme. The five cards in each of the rest of the columns are all face up. The two leftover cards are set aside face up to be used any time in the game whenever necessary.

Game play is the same as in Scorpion.

Bibliography

• Scorpion (solitaire). (2016, June 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 03:00, February 1, 2018, from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Scorpion_(solitaire)&oldid=724330648

Seven Up

Cards are dealt in a row. Spot cards (cards that value from ace to ten) are taken at face value, while jacks are valued at eleven, queens at twelve, and kings at thirteen. Groups of any number of cards that are next to each other and total to a multiple of seven can be discarded. A seven can be discarded on its own.

The game is won when all cards have been discarded. The game is lost if all cards have been dealt from the deck, no more matches are possible and cards are left on the row.

Simple Simon

Rules

At the beginning of the play the cards are dealt all facing the player, starting from 3 columns of 8 cards each, and then 7 columns with 7, 6, and so forth cards until 1.

A card can be placed on any card on the top of a column whose rank is greater than it by one (with no cards that can be placed above an Ace). A sequence of cards, decrementing in rank and of the same suit, can be moved as one. An empty column can be filled by any card. A sequence of cards from the king down to the Ace - all of the same suit - can be moved to the foundations. The object of the game is to place all four suits in the foundations.

Strategy

A mixed-suit sequence of cards can be moved to a different location, given enough empty columns or parent cards to place intermediate components and sub-sequences of cards on. This is similar to FreeCell only with the individual components of the sequence being the same-suit sub-sequences rather than individual cards as in FreeCell. Note that some implementations of Simple Simon, require the player to do all the moving of the individual components by himself.

Sir Tommy

Cards are dealt one at a time. When an ace turns up, it forms a foundation which builds up to King regardless of suit. Four such foundations should be built. A card that cannot yet be placed on the foundation is placed onto one of four wastepiles; once placed, it cannot be moved, but the top card of each wastepile remains available to be placed on a foundation.

The game is won if all cards are emptied from the wastepiles and built on the foundations. Strategically, to achieve a win, skilled players reserve one wastepile for Kings and for other high cards.

Six By Six

Layout: The game consists of 6 columns each with 6 cards dealt to them at the start of the game. If any aces are found during the deal then they are moved to the foundations and the next card dealt replaces it.
Play: Build in descending sequence on the tableau. A block of same suit cards can be moved at once. A space can be filled by any card. Cards are dealt from the stock to the first tableau column. There is no redeal.

Spiderette

This is a challenging combination of Klondike and the two-pack Spider.

Thee first 28 cards are dealt the same way as in Klondike, i.e. the first column should have one face-up card, the second column should have one face-up card and one face down card at the bottom, and so on.

The initial layout. Notice that it has a similar layout to Klondike's.

Cards in the tableau are built down regardless of suit. Only the top cards of each column can be moved; however, a sequence of cards that are in suit (such as 9-8-7-6♥) can be moved as one unit. Face-down cards that become exposed are turned face-up and empty column spaces on the tableau are filled by any card. If all possible plays have been made, a new set of seven cards (one for each column) are dealt, provided that each column must contain at least one card. After three such deals, and the game becomes stuck, the three left over cards are dealt on the first three columns.

Once a suit sequence of 13 cards from king down to ace is successfully built, it is discarded from the game. The game is won when four such suit sequences were built and discarded this way.

Variations

Will o' the Wisp – On the onset, twenty-one cards are dealt into seven columns of three with only the top card of each column face-up.

Strategy

This game belongs to the same family of games as Sir Tommy and is a more difficult variant and requires, as the name implies, a lot more skill.

The cards in the deck are dealt one at a time. Aces, whenever they appear, are placed onto the foundations and are built up by suit. Cards that cannot yet be built are placed on any one of eight wastepiles, the top cards of which are available for play. Once a card is placed on a wastepile, the next place it will go is to foundations; it cannot be moved to another wastepile.

The game finishes after all cards are dealt into the wastepiles and all appropriate cards are built. The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations.

Tabby Cat

Tabby Cat was created by Rick Holzegrafe, and is a single-deck solitaire card game reminiscent of Miss Milligan.

Rules

The play consists of four stacks in the tableau, with an additional "tail", where builds can be placed. Four foundations are available, and the goal of the game is to build up kings to aces (low), regardless of color or suit, whereupon the build can then be cleared from the tableau and moved to a foundation.

The play proceeds by sequentially dealing four cards to each stack of the tableau. These stacks are to be managed, building cards of lower rank on top of cards of higher rank. Building is circular, allowing a King to be built onto an Ace. Only the topmost build (or portion) may be moved from a tableau stack. An empty stack can receive any movable card or build. Partial or full builds can be moved onto the tail only if the tail is empty. If the build has, for example, 9 as its highest rank, to move off the tail it must be moved onto a card of rank 10 or onto an empty tableau space.

Variant

Closely related to Tabby Cat is another of Rick's solitaire games entitled Manx. The two games are identical except for the rules about the tail, with Manx being the more difficult of the two.

Both Tabby Cat and Manx have been implemented in numerous solitaire software packages, including Rick Holzegrafe's own Solitaire Till Dawn program.

Thirteen

Thirteen can be an alternative name for these solitaire games:

• Baker's Dozen,
• Baroness,
• Canfield

Yukon

The initial layout of the game of Yukon.

The legal move in Yukon: any face up card is available for play (as indicated by the darkened card) and is moved along with the cards on top of it.

Similar to Klondike, but with the following additions:

• Groups of cards can be moved; the cards below the one to be moved do not need to be in any order, except that the starting and target cards must be built in sequence and in alternate color. For example, a group starting with a Red 3 can be moved on top a Black 4, and the cards below the Red 3 can differ.
• There is no stock in Yukon. All cards are dealt at the beginning; however, some are face down.

Variations

• Russian Solitaire is another solitaire card game which is very similar in layout and gameplay to Yukon. Its difference from Yukon is that building is by suit.

Strategy

• Expose the face down cards as soon as possible, so you can start moving cards around.
• Moving the Aces to the Foundations as soon as possible is critical to gameplay.

Aces and Kings

There are eight foundations in total. Four foundations start with an Ace and build up regardless of suit, the other four start with a King and build down regardless of suit.

The games include two reserve piles of thirteen cards each that can only be played onto the foundations. At the bottom left, there is a stock pile and a waste pile. At the bottom right, there are the four tableau piles of one face-up card each.

Aces and Kings layout

Rules

The cards in the tableau can only be moved to the foundations, making Aces and Kings a difficult game to win. Empty tableau spaces are automatically filled with the top card from the stock pile. After the stock pile is emptied, any card from the waste pile can be moved to the tableau. If necessary, the cards can be transferred from one foundation pile to another. The game is won after all the cards have been moved to the foundations.

Algerian

Rules

Algerian has eight tableau stacks. Four of the tableau stacks contain only one card. The other four contain two cards each. Towards the bottom are six reserve stacks of four cards each. Eight foundations are present towards the top. Four start with an Ace and build up in suit (e.g. A♥, 2♥, 3♥, 4♥...), while the other four start with a King and build down in suit (e.g. K♣, Q♣, J♣, 10♣...)

• 
  Algerian Layout

Cards in the tableau or the reserve can be moved to a foundation or onto another tableau stack. Only the topmost card of any stack can be moved. The tableau builds up or down in suit (e.g 4♦, 5♦, 6♦... OR 6♠, 5♠, 4♠...)

Tableau stacks can wrap from King to Ace, and an emptied stack can be filled with any card. Cards from the reserve can play onto the tableau or foundations, but not onto other reserve piles. When game play comes to a standstill, deal two cards from the stock onto each reserve pile. The final time you go through the deck, deal one card to each tableau pile.

When the foundations of the same suit will meet (e.g. one builds up A♣, 2♣, 3♣, 4♣, 5♣, 6♣ and the other builds down K♣, Q♣, J♣, 10♣, 9♣, 8♣, 7♣), cards can be transferred between these two foundations.

The game is won after all cards have been moved to the foundations.