Design for Web: Card game research.

How to Play Solitaire

Game Type

Solitaire

Age

Kids, Adults

Players

1

Deck

Standard

Solitaire is a one-player game that can be played on a computer or with standard 52 playing cards. Sometimes the games are impossible to solve, but that's all part of the fun and also explains why the alternative name for this game is "Patience". The first two sections of this article cover a basic and well-known approach to playing Solitaire. The last section covers how to play the top variations of the game.

1

Understand the object of the game. It is to create four piles of cards - one per suit - in ascending order (beginning with Ace and ending with King.

2

Start building the layout. Put down one card face up and lay six cards face down next to it. Then, put one card face up on top (but lowered slightly) of the first face down card, then put a face down card on top of the other five cards. Continue doing this, so that each pile has one face up card on top and so that the left pile has one card, the next has two, then three, four, five, six, and finally seven.

3

Put the remaining cards in a separate pile and set it either above or below the piles. This pile is where you will go to get more cards if you run out of moves.

4

Leave room at the top for four piles of cards.

Part 2 of 3: Playing the Game

1

Look at the cards on the table that are face up. If there are any aces, place them above the seven piles. If there are no aces, rearrange the cards you have, moving only the face up cards. When you place a card on top (slightly lower so that you can still see both cards), it must be a different color than the card you are placing it on top of and have a value of one less. Thus, if you have a six of hearts, you can either place a five of spades or a five of clubs on top.^[2]

• Keep placing the cards on top of each other until you cannot move anymore.
• Each pile should be alternating in color and move in descending order.

2

Keep the top card obvious. The card on top of each of the seven piles should be face up. If you move a card, remember to turn the card underneath it over.

3

Build your piles using aces as foundations. If you have an ace above your cards, (eventually you should have all four aces there), you may move cards of the place cards of the corresponding suit on top of the pile in ascending (A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K) order.

4

Use the reserve deck if you run out of moves to make. Flip over the top three cards, and see if the top one can be placed anywhere. Much of the time, there will an ace in there! If you put down the top card, see if you can put down the next. If you put down the second card, see if you can put down the last card. Then, if you put down the last card, put down another three cards from the reserve deck. If you cannot make a move with any of these cards, put them in a separate waste stack (taking care not to disturb the order). Repeat until your reserve deck has run out.

• Once your reserve deck runs out, use the waste stack. However, make sure that you do not shuffle it!

5

If you have a card that's hidden, you can move cards around until you find places that you can hold and grab the desired card and, eventually, put it in the desired slot.

6

If you use all the cards in one of the seven piles, you may place a king (but only a king) in the empty space.

In some games, the layout includes a special packet of cards called the "reserve," which the player attempts to use by turning up and playing one card at a time. In many games, a vacancy in the tableau created by the removal of cards elsewhere is called a "space," and it is of major importance in manipulating the tableau. In some games, a space can only be filled in with a king The rank of cards in Solitaire games is: K (high), Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A.

The first objective is to release and play into position certain cards called "foundations." In most Solitaire games, the four aces are the bottom card or base of the foundations, and the objective is usually to build up each foundation, in sequence and in suit, from the ace through the king. The ultimate objective is to build the whole pack onto the foundations, and if that can be done, the Solitaire game is "won."


http://www.bicyclecards.com/card-games/rule/solitaire