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Official Solitaire Rules
Solitaire, also known as Patience, is a single-player card game where you strategically move cards to four foundation piles, ultimately sorting the entire deck by suit in ascending order (Ace to King).
Objective
The objective is to move all the cards to the foundation piles.
Setup
1. Shuffle the deck and deal cards face up to seven tableau piles in the center of the playing area. The first pile gets one card, the second pile gets two cards, and so on, until the seventh pile has seven cards face up (one card short of a full pile). The remaining cards form the stock pile, placed face down next to the tableau piles.
2. Optionally, place four empty foundation piles above the tableau piles. These will eventually hold your sorted cards.
Gameplay
Here's how you can move cards:
Tableau Piles: You can move a single card (face up) to another tableau pile if the card being moved is one higher in rank and of the opposite color (red on black or black on red). You can continue building sequences on the tableau piles following this rule (higher rank, opposite color). Kings can only be placed on empty tableau piles.
Stock Pile: You can draw three cards at a time from the stock pile, turning them face up one at a time. You can only play the top face-up card from the stock pile to a tableau pile or a foundation pile (explained below). If you go through the entire stock pile once, you can usually flip it over (turning the remaining cards face down) and reuse it as a new stock pile.
Foundation Piles: You can move any Ace to an empty foundation pile. Once you have an Ace in a foundation pile, you can build upon it by adding cards of the same suit in ascending order (2, 3, 4, etc. up to King).
Winning the Game
You win the game if you successfully move all 52 cards to the four foundation piles, with each pile containing a complete suit from Ace to King.
Notes/Variations
Some variations allow you to draw one card at a time from the stock pile instead of three.
There are many different versions of Solitaire with slightly altered rules or additional mechanics introduced through special cards.
The game can be challenging but rewarding, requiring strategic planning and maneuvering of cards across the tableau piles.
Here are some popular variations of Solitaire:
Klondike: This is the most well-known version of Solitaire, as described above.
FreeCell: This variation introduces four additional empty cells that can be used temporarily to store cards, allowing for more strategic movement.
Spider Solitaire: This version uses two decks of cards and requires building sequences of the same suit in descending order (King to Ace).
Solitaire can be a relaxing and satisfying game to play, offering opportunities for strategic thinking and planning. Enjoy your solitaire sessions!
