- Solitaire is a popular single-player card game.
- The game is played with a 52-card deck and involves building sequences within the tableau and foundations.
Objective: In solitaire, your goal is to build four foundation piles, one for each suit, in ascending order from Ace to King.
- Start with Aces: As soon as you find an Ace, move it to one of the foundation spaces.
- Ascending Sequence: Place cards on the foundation in a sequence from Ace to King, making sure the cards are of the same suit.
- Suit-Specific: Keep hearts with hearts, diamonds with diamonds, and so on. Mixing suits is not allowed in the foundations.
Game Setup
To start, shuffle a standard 52-card deck. You’ll lay out cards to form the tableau:
- Place one card face up on the table.
- To the right of the face-up card, lay six cards face down.
- On top of the second pile, place one card face up and then five cards face down to the right.
- Continue this pattern until each pile has a face-up card, with the piles increasing in size from one to seven cards.
The Tableau:
- It consists of seven piles with varying numbers of cards; the first pile has one card, the second two, and so on, up to the seventh pile.
- The top card of each pile is face-up; the rest are face-down.
The Stock and Waste:
- The remaining 24 cards form the stockpile after setting up the tableau and foundation.
- You can deal from the stock to the waste, either one card at a time or three at a time, with varying difficulty.
The Foundation Piles:
There are also 4 imaginary empty spaces right above the 7 columns. Here, you will form piles that:
- Starts with an Ace and continues up to the King in the same suit.
- Represents one suit (Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, Spades)
Gameplay:
There is no strict sequence of play.
Once the cards are laid out, if you see a legal move, you can make it at any time.
If you wish to draw a card from the stock, you can do so.
If you wish to move a 7 of hearts onto an 8 of clubs, you can do so.
If you wish to move a 5 of spades, onto a 4 of spades in the foundation pile, you can do so.
You do not have to make a move, just because it is possible.
The trick is managing the order of these moves so that you can reveal all the cards and complete your foundation piles.
In this starting tableau, legal moves are:
– 2 of diamonds could move onto the 3 of spades, revealing the card below.
– Ace of spades could be moved to start the foundation pile.
– 3 of spades could be moved onto the 4 of hearts, freeing up a space for a king.
– A card can be revealed from on top of the stock (and either added, or placed face up in the waste)
Play:
- Arrange tableau cards in descending order (K, Q, J, 10 to 2, A).
- Cards must also alternate in color (red/black/red)
- You can move cards or sequences to other tableau piles to reveal hidden cards
- When you move cards, turn over any hidden cards below.
Fully complete or partial sequences of cards can be moved together. - An empty tableau space can be filled with a King or a sequence starting with a King.
- Aces serve as the foundation pile’s starting point.
- Foundations are built in ascending order by suit (A to K).
- You can move cards from the waste or the tableau to the foundations.
Flip cards: Turn over the top card of the stock pile to the waste pile. You can flip through the stockpile, one card at a time, or with variations that flip three cards.
Waste Pile: You can move any uncovered face-up card from the waste pile to any spot on the tableau piles or foundations.
Recycle: In the common version, there is no limit to the number of times you can go through the deck in Solitaire. Pick up the waste, turn them over, and start again.
Do you draw 1 or 3 cards in solitaire?
Dealer’s choice. The one-card draw makes the game easier, as you’ll see the same card on the next cycle. The three-card draw offers more challenge and strategy, as you may miss out on cards. So, start with one.
Can you move a King to an empty slot in Solitaire?
Yes, you can move only a King, and only a king, to an empty slot of the seven piles in Solitaire. You can then add other consecutive cards below the King. The cards must alternate in colors, too. For instance, you can place a Queen of Spades below a King of Hearts, followed by a Jack of either Clubs or Spade, and so on.
Can you move cards from the foundation back to the tableau?
Yes, you can move cards from the foundation back to the tableau. However, you can only move back the top revealed card one at a time.
Can you move multiple cards at once in Solitaire?
Yes. In most variants of solitaire, you can move stacks of cards or multiple cards at once from one pile to another. The only rule is that the group of cards must keep the same order when moved.
Can you move part of a pile in Solitaire?
Yes, you can move part of a pile or sequence in Solitaire, but they must be in the correct sequence and remain so. In Klondike Solitaire, only face-up cards in a complete or partial pile can be moved to another column following the order from the highest to the lowest. Any empty column can be replaced with a King or a sequential pile of cards with the King as the base card.
Can you remove cards from the foundation in Solitaire?
Yes. In Solitaire, you can remove only the top face-up cards from the foundation piles. For instance, if a foundation pile has been stacked up to a 6, you can only move card number 6 back to the tableau. It will fit below a 7 of a different color.