Solitaire

Solitaire

Klondike is the most common form of solitaire in the United States – so common in fact, that it is often known simply as “solitaire.” In reality, there are many varieties of solitaire, which, as the name implies, refers to any card game played by one person.

To play Klondike, deal one card face up from a standard deck. Then deal six additional cards face down, to form a row to the right of the first card. Next a card is dealt face up on top of the second card in the row, and five more cards are dealt face down on top of the remaining piles to the right. This pattern continues until 28 cards have been used and there are seven of columns of cards, ranging from one card (in the left column) to seven cards (in the right column). The reminder on the desk is placed face down on the table.

Cards are then shifted from one column to another to form descending sets (from King to 2) that alternate by color (red-black or black-red). For a example, if the red 8 is the last in the row, it can be placed on top of a black 9 if this card is the last in the row in another row. Then the card beneath the 8 can be flipped over. If a red 10 were to appear, then the 9 and 8 could be placed on top of the 10, allowing the player to flip over more cards.

A lonely lady.Photo by Elena

Aces are immediately removed from the layout when they appear, and are used as starting points to build ascending sets. These sets are based on suit, rather than then the black-red pattern already described. If the Ace of diamonds appears and if the two of diamonds appears, it will be placed on top of the Ace, and then the 3 of diamonds, and so on. The game is won if all four of these Aces piles are built into Ace-through-King sequences.

If one of the seven columns ever becomes empty because all of its cards have been shifted, a King (and anything stacked beneath it) can be moved to the column to fill the empty space. Once there are no cards that can be moved, cards are taken three at a time from the reminder of the deck, and played off on any of the columns if possible. If you can play the top card, you can play the next one as well. The cards that can’t be played are set aside, face up. When the entire deck has been played through three times, the game is over.

A variation on the game, which many people use to make it easier, involves flipping the discard pile over and going through the cards a second time, or even a third time before calling it a loss.