Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (3 page)

WINNING
In Accordion, the goal is to build all fifty-two cards into a single pile.

HOW TO PLAY
You may build cards of matching rank (queen on queen)
or
of matching suit (club on club). However you may only build a card one position to its left
or
three positions to its left. For example, you may build 7 of clubs on top of Q of clubs in the sample below because both are clubs and because Q of clubs is one position to the left of 7 of clubs.

Things get complicated when you have more than one option, as in the deal 10 of hearts-Q of clubs-7 of clubs-2 of diamonds-Q of spades. It is legal to build 7 of clubs on Q of clubs (both are clubs)
or
to build Q of spades on Q of clubs (both are queens). It’s a bit easier contemplating the deal 5 of hearts-7 of clubs-Q of diamonds-5 of clubs. Move 5 of clubs to 5 of hearts, then move 7 of clubs to 5 of clubs. This consolidates your piles and gets you one small step closer to victory. The game ends when you deal out the deck and run out of moves.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   low
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   short
   
3. DECKS
   : 1
   

Here’s a simple Solitaire game that is easy to learn. And because the odds of winning are around 1 in 10 hands, there’s a decent chance you might actually win a few games.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a standard fifty-two-card deck, and deal four cards, face up, in a square pattern. This is your tableau. Leave space in the middle for a discard pile.

WINNING
The goal is to finish with all cards—except the four aces—in the discard pile. You have won if only the four aces are left facing up—hence the name, Aces Up.

HOW TO PLAY
Deal one card to each tableau pile, then discard the lower- ranking card (or cards) of any cards in the same suit. In the example above, discard 5 of hearts, since it is of the same suit as and of lower rank than Q of hearts. Deal four more cards when you can no longer move. Aces are ranked high, so once you deal an ace onto the table, it must stay on the table.

When a slot is empty, you must move the topmost card (and only the topmost card!) from another pile onto the empty slot. You are not allowed to deal directly from the deck onto an empty tableau slot.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   medium
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   medium
   
3. DECKS
   : 2
   

Alhambra is just hard enough to provide a challenge, but not so hard as to be discouraging (you should win one in every seven games). Luck plays a starring role here, as it does in most Solitaire games. But with two decks of cards and eight foundation piles in play, Alhambra is rarely dull.

HOW TO DEAL
Shuffle together two fifty-two-card decks (104 cards total). At the start of the hand, promote a random king and ace to the foundations. Deal eight tableau piles below, face down, with four cards per pile and the topmost cards face up. The remaining cards are your stock pile.

WINNING
It’s a two-step process. First, promote all kings and aces to the foundations (kings to the left, aces to the right). On kings, you build down in suit (K-Q-J…3-2-A), while on aces you build up in suit (A-2-3…J-Q-K). The goal is to end the game with eight piles of cards, each organized by suit.

HOW TO PLAY
After the initial deal, move exposed kings and aces to the foun dations, then build any cards of matching suit to the foundations. There is no other building in Alhambra—either you move a card from the tableau to the foundations or you move nothing at all. After moving a tableau card to the foundations, turn up the next card in that same tableau pile.

If you have no moves on the board, expose the top stock-pile card. You may play stock cards directly onto the foundations or the tableau. If there is no valid play for the stock card, turn it face down in a waste pile and then turn up the next stock card. Shuffle the waste pile and create a new stock pile once you’ve exhausted all stock cards. You are allowed to shuffle the waste pile twice. After that, the game is over.