Solitaire Games

Storehouse Rules

Storehouse

1 Deck. Medium (50%). Mostly Luck.

Object
To move all the cards to the foundations.

Layout
4 foundation piles (top right) - build up in suit from Twos up to Kings, then Aces. At the start of the game the Twos are dealt here.

4 tableau piles (below foundations) - build down in suit. Move groups of cards if they are in sequence down in suit. Spaces are filled from the Storehouse if possible, then by any card. At the start of the game 1 card is dealt face up to each pile.

stock (top left, face down) - turn over 1 card at a time to the waste, by clicking. Two redeals.

waste (next to stock) - Top card always available for play on the foundations or tableau.

reserve (the "Storehouse", left of tableau) - Top card always available for play on the foundations or tableau. At the start of the game 13 cards are dealt to this pile.

History
Storehouse is a variation of Canfield. The first reference to Storehouse is in 100 Games of Solitaire in 1939.

Similar Games
Canfield
Chameleon
Rainbow
American Toad

Beleaguered Castle

Beleaguered Castle is a classic open solitaire game. In an open game, all of the cards are dealt face up at the start of the game, so you can see the placement of all cards. Like most open games, Beleaguered Castle is mostly a game of skill.

At the start of the game, all the cards of one deck are dealt to eight piles, four on the left and four on the right. Six cards are dealt face up to each pile, while the Aces are placed in the middle to start four foundation piles. These foundation piles are to be built up in suit from the Aces to Kings. The game is won when all the cards are played here.

Within the eight tableau piles, one card can be moved at a time. Building is down regardless of suit. An empty space can be filled by any card.

Winning Beleaguered Castle requires that you build long runs of cards in the tableau. The first thing to do is to empty a tableau pile or two so that you can begin a long run starting with a high card, ideally a King. Then try to build that pile down as far as possible and also create another empty space to do it again. It is not a good idea to let one of the foundation piles get too far ahead of the others because you may need those cards to build a long run.

Beleaguered Castle is a hard game to win. An average player can win only about 20-25% of the time, but since it is a game of skill a good player can increase that percentage significantly. This classic and strategic game is underrated by players and is not played as often as it should be.

Beleaguered Castle is one of the 600 games in Pretty Good Solitaire.

Rules to Beleaguered Castle
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Scorpion Rules

Scorpion

1 Deck. Medium (35%). Mostly Skill.

Object
To group all the cards into 4 sets of 13 cards in sequence down in suit from King to Ace within the tableau.

Layout
7 tableau piles (top) - build down in suit. Groups of cards (regardless of any sequence) can be moved. Fill spaces with Kings or groups of cards headed by a King (see KingOnly for option). At the start of the game 7 cards are dealt to each pile. In the first 4 piles, 3 cards are face down and 4 face up, in the next 3 piles all cards are face up.


reserve (top left, face down) - Clicking deals 1 card to each of the first 3 tableau piles (this can be done only once).

Notes
Any face up card, regardless of where in a pile it is, can be moved, along with all cards above it (this is like Yukon).

Tips
· It is imperative that the face down cards be uncovered as soon as possible. There are often several choices of builds to make and it is beneficial to work through possibilities. This is very much a game of skill, and it is difficult.

History
This game is related to Spider. The first reference to Scorpion is in the 1949 book The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience Games.

Similar Games
Scorpion II
Double Scorpion
Scorpion Tail
Spider
Antares
Applegate
Scorpion Head
Three Blind Mice
Triple Scorpion

Baker's Dozen

Baker's Dozen is a simple but strategic open solitaire game. As a open game, all of the cards are dealt face up at the start of the game, so you can see the placement of all cards. Like most open games, Baker's Dozen is mostly a game of skill.

The single deck of cards is dealt out into 13 piles (hence the name of the game). Each pile contains 4 cards, face up. During the deal, Kings are moved to the bottom of their piles. There are 4 standard foundation piles, which start the game empty and are built up in suit from Aces to Kings. The game is won when all the cards are moved here.

Within the tableau, cards are built in descending sequence but regardless of suit. Only one card can be moved at a time and no card may be played to an empty pile.

It is important to keep close track of all cards that lie beneath a higher card of the same suit in the same pile. In order to win, the lower card must be pulled out somehow. Your objective in moving cards should be to get all of these cards out from under. In the process, be careful of playing cards to the foundations too soon. If you let one foundation pile get too far ahead of the others, you may find yourself in a situation where you need some of the cards that have been played to the foundations in the tableau to build on to free another card. Also keep in mind that you cannot refill an empty pile, so once a pile is gone, it's gone.

Some positions will be very difficult to win. An average player can win about 75% of the time, and a good player can approach winning all the time, but there will be some very difficult positions, and occasionally a position that cannot be won at all.

Baker's Dozen is among the 600 solitaire card games in Pretty Good Solitaire.

Rules to Baker's Dozen

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Deuces Rules

Deuces

2 Decks. Medium (25%). Mostly Luck.

Object
To move all the cards to the foundations

Layout
8 foundation piles (in box in middle) - build up in suit from Deuces (Twos) to King to Ace. At the start of the game the Twos are dealt here.

10 tableau piles (in a ring around the foundations) - build down in suit. Only the top card available for play. Empty piles can be filled by any card. At the start of the game 1 card is dealt to each pile.

stock (top left, face down) - move 1 card to waste by clicking. No redeals.

waste (below stock) - top card available for play on the foundations or tableau.

History
Deuces is a game in the Busy Aces family. Deuces is slightly harder to win than Busy Aces. Although in the beginning the first card in each foundation is already played for you (unlike Busy Aces, where you must wait for all the aces to come out), because there are only 10 tableau piles rather than the 12 of Busy Aces, it is harder to win.

Deuces originally appeared under the name "Le Deux" in Le Livre Illustre des Patiences in 1860.

Similar Games
Courtyard
Busy Aces
Three's Company
Fours Up
Penta
Eights Down

Spider Wizard

Spider Wizard is a solitaire game based on the classic game Spider, a challenging 2 deck game that requires skill and a little bit of luck. Also includes the games Spider One Suit and Spider Two Suits. 16 games total!

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Is Spider Always Winnable?

Q. Is the game Spider always winnable?

A. No, but it appears that it is usually winnable with a few exceptions. A game of Spider will be unwinnable if there are no possible plays in the final 10 card deal. When this happens, the game is blocked and cannot be won. This does not happen very often.

Australian Patience

Australian Patience is a solitaire game that combines elements from the popular games Klondike, also known as the standard Windows solitaire game, and Yukon.

To begin the game, 28 cards are dealt out to the tableau, 4 cards each to 7 piles. All of the cards are face up. The remainder of the cards form a stock, which will be turned over 1 card at a time to a waste pile. The 28 card layout is the same number of cards as Klondike, although the fact that all the piles have the same number of cards is different from Klondike.

There are 4 foundation piles, each pile built up in suit from Ace to King, as in both Klondike and Yukon. The object of the game is to move all of the cards to these piles.

The 7 tableau piles are built down by suit. Empty spaces in the tableau may only be filled by a King or a group of cards headed by a King. Among the 7 tableau piles you can move groups of cards regardless of any sequence. This means that any face up card, no matter how deeply buried, can be moved by picking it and all the cards on top of it up together. This is like Yukon.

When you have no moves, you can turn over the top card of the stock to the waste pile. The top card of the waste pile is available for play on the foundations or on a tableau pile. You can play only once through the stock, there is no redeal.

Australian Patience is harder than Yukon primarily because of the stock and waste piles. Needed cards are often buried in the waste pile and unavailable. A low ranked card that gets buried deep in the waste pile will usually spell doom for the game. To win, you need to get as many cards out of the waste pile as possible. Average players can win Australian Patience only about 20% of the time, while very good players can get their winning percentage up to around 33%.

Australian Patience is among the 600 solitaire card games in Pretty Good Solitaire. It's origin is in Australia, hence it's name.

Rules to Australian Patience

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Will o the Wisp Rules

Will o the Wisp

1 Deck. Hard (19%). Skill/luck balanced.

Object
To group all the cards in sets of 13 cards in sequence down in suit from King to Ace.

Layout
7 tableau piles - build down regardless of suit. Groups of cards in sequence down in suit may be moved as a unit (see Rules option below). A space can be filled by any card or legal group of cards. At the start of the game 3 cards are dealt to each pile, 2 face down and 1 face up.

stock (above the tableau) - Clicking deals 1 card to each tableau pile. All empty spaces must be filled before a deal.


Notes
Whenever a sequence of 13 cards down in suit from King to Ace is formed, it will automatically be removed from play.

Tips
Same suit sequences should be preferred even though building is down regardless of suit. The object is to build down in suit sequences.


History
Will o' the Wisp is a variation of Spiderette where the cards are dealt in the same fashion as EastHaven. With fewer face down cards to clear, the game becomes slightly easier. Will o the Wisp was invented by Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith in their book The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience Games in 1949.

Similar Games
Spiderette
EastHaven

Solitaire Wizard

Solitaire Wizard is a solitaire game based on the classic game Klondike, the standard 7 pile solitaire game. Also includes the games Double Klondike, and Gargantua. 16 total games.

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