Copyright: Dan Reed  Bad Elf SW (c) 1996


Table of Contents

The rules presented here are for some of the games that come with SOLO. If you have a game and there are no rules in this document you probably can find them in any book of solitaire games. Look in your local library or book store. Sometimes I describe variations that you may make if they sound interesting but aren't supplied yet.

I will try to provide the rules for original games by me or you. A way to figure out the rules if not supplied is to go into EDIT mode and look at the objects. Of course this is not ideal.

As always feel free to report errors or comments to:

Dan Reed

KenGuru@aol.com

Klondike

3 Cards And A Draw

40 Thieves,50 Thieves

Alhambra

Auld Lang Syne

Baker’s Dozen

Baroness

Beleaguered Castle

Belvedere

Bisley

Black Hole

Bristol

Calculation

Canfield

Captive Queens

Carpet

Chameleon

Clock

Constitution

Corner

Duke

Eight Off

Fanny

Fortress

Fourteen Out

Free Cell

Gaps

Gargantua

Golf

Higher Math

Kings Up,5 Kings Up

Kosynko

Martha

Osmosis

Peek

Pyramid

Pyro

Royal Cotillion

Scorpion

Seahaven Towers

Sixty Six

Spider

Spideress

Spiderette

Storehouse

Streets And Alleys

Sultan(1 and 2 deck)

Vertical

Windmill

Yukon


Klondike

This is 'Solitaire' for most people. Its the standard deal 7 piles down with each pile varying in size from 1 card to 7 cards.

Foundations: Build up in suit from Ace to King

Tableau: Build down in alternating colors. Empty spaces can be filled with Kings only.

Stock: turn over 3 cards at a time until stuck or done

Gargantua(Double Klondike)

A 2 deck variation of Klondike. There are 9 tableaus instead of 7.


Carpet

A very simple game. The 4 Aces are dealt into foundations that are built up in rank by suit. A ‘carpet’ of 20 cards are dealt between them. The stock is turned over 1 card at a time to the waste pile. There is only 1 pass through the stock. Any card from carpet or waste pile can be played to foundations. An empty spot in the carpet can be filled from the waste pile.


Constitution

The 8 foundations are dealt 1 card each. You must build 13 cards onto each foundation to win. Foundations are built up circularly in rank. Suit is unimportant.

8 waste piles exist that simultaneously receive 1 card from the stock at a time. The top card of  the waste piles can only be played to the foundations.

Only 1 pass through the stock is allowed.


Calculation

Foundations: The 4 foundations are built up from Ace,2,3, and 4 respectively. You build up in increments of 1,2,3, and 4 cards one card at a time. Suit doesn't matter. Successful piles look like the following:

Pile#1: Ace,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,Jack,Queen,King
Pile#2: 2,4,6,8,10,Queen,Ace,3,5,7,9,Jack,King
Pile#3: 3,6,9,Queen,2,5,8,Jack,Ace,4,7,10,King
Pile#4: 4,8,Queen,3,7,Jack,2,6,10,Ace,5,9,King

Move card from reserve onto any foundation or hold. The top card of hold can be played onto the foundations.

Higher Math

The 5 suit version of this game. There are 5 foundations and 5 reserve pile. The fifth foundation is built up in increments of 5.


3 Cards And A Draw
3 Cards And A Draw(St. Lucie)

Tableau: 3 cards are dealt to each tableau. One tableau will only get one card. This gives you 18 little piles. Only the top card can be moved. The tableaus can be built down in suit.

Foundations: Build up in suit.

You get 3 deals only. In addition once during a game you can pluck any card from a foundation and put it aside into the Draw box. This card can be played onto any foundation or tableau. A lack of this game is the real reason I wrote SOLO.


Spider

Tableau: You can build down regardless of suit. You can either move the top card OR if the cards in sequence if they are of the same suit. If a pile is

9 Hearts, 8 Spades, 7 Clubs

you could only move the 7. If the pile were all Hearts you could move all 3 cards(or less) in a single pile to another tableau.

Foundations: Can only move a complete suit from Ace to King onto an empty foundation.

This game uses two suits. Only one pass through the stock is allowed.


Streets And Alleys

Deal: All cards are visible. Deal into 8 tableaus. Four tableaus with six cards and four tableaus with seven cards.

Tableau: Move only top card. Can build down regardless of suit. Any card can go to an empty space.

Foundations: Build up in suit from Ace.

Notes: Sometimes you can't get a card off. This may not be your fault. Try to make a blank space before all else. Definitely a game that you can't just start moving cards around without thinking about it first.

Beleaguered Castle

Same as 'Streets And Alleys' except Aces are placed upon foundation before dealing cards.

Streets And Alleys 5

Same as Streets and Alleys except it uses 5 suits.


Corner

Layout: 3 by 3. The 4 corner cards are the foundations and the rest are the tableaus.

Deal: Deal 1 card to each tableau and 1 card to the upper left foundation. This card dealt to the foundation determines the starting card of the rest of the foundations.

Foundation: Build up in suit and circularly. Example: Jack is the first foundation card. Build up to 10 with Jack,Queen,King,Ace,2,...,9,10 in each suit.

Tableau: Can move top card only. Any card to empty space. Can build down in any suit and circularly.


Martha

Deal: Deal Aces to the 4 foundations. There a 12 tableaus that are dealt 4 cards each such that every other card is turned face down.

Foundation: Build up in suit.

Tableau: Build down in alternating colors. When a face down card is on top then turn it face up. A sequence can be moved from a tableau to another.

A nice game because the deal gives it a different look.


Fortress

Deal: Deal entire deck out. All cards exposed. 8 tableaus with 5 cards and 2 tableaus with 6 cards.

Foundations: Build up in suit from Ace.

Tableaus: Top card available. Build up OR down in suit.

Chessboard

Same as 'Fortress' except you choose what the rank of first foundation card is.


40 Thieves

Deal: 10 tableaus with 4 cards up in each. Use 2 decks.

Foundations: Build up in suit from Ace.

Tableaus: Move top card only. Any card can be moved into an empty space. Build down in suit.

Stock: Turn 1 card over at a time. Only 1 pass through stock.

Waste: Top card can be played onto foundation or tableau.

50 Thieves

A 5 suit variation of 40 Thieves.


Duke

Foundation: Build up in suit. The first card played to the foundation can be of any rank.

Reserve: There are 4 reserves with 3 cards each. Only the top card is available.

Tableau: Empty tableaus can only be filled from the reserve. After the reserve is empty then an empty space can be filled from anywhere. Build down in alternating colors. You can only move the whole pile onto other piles.

Stock: Deal 1 card at a time to the waste pile. The stock can be dealt through twice.


Golf

Reserve: Deal 7 piles of 5 cards.

Object: Remove all cards from the reserves.

Foundation: A card is dealt there. Any card that is adjacent to the card can be removed from the reserve and placed on top of the foundation pile. Play continues until no further cards can be removed. A new card is then dealt to the foundation.


Storehouse
Storehouse(Thirteen Up, Reserve)

Foundation: The four 2s to start the foundations. They are built up in suit to Aces.

Tableau: Four tableaus are beneath the foundations. 1 card is dealt to each tableau. The tableau can be built down in suit. Empty spaces can be filled from the reserve. After the reserve is empty then an empty space can be filled from anywhere. Only the top card is available from play.

Stock: Turn up cards 1 at a time. 2 redeals are allowed.

Reserve: 13 cards are dealt to the reserve. Top card is available for play.


Canfield

Foundation: 4 foundations are built up in suit. The first foundation is dealt a starting card that determines initial rank.

Tableau: There are 4 foundations that are dealt 1 card each. Build downward in alternating colors. Top cards are available to play to a foundation. Empty spaces can only be filled from the reserve. When the reserve is empty then an empty space can be filled from the waste pile.

Reserve: 13 cards are dealt here. The top card is available for play.

Stock: Turn cards up in batches of 3. Top card is available for play.

Rainbow

Same as Canfield except stock is turned up 1 card at a time. Only 3 passes of the stock are allowed.


Osmosis

Reserve: Deal 4 piles of 4 cards each. Only the top card is visible and available for play.

Foundation: Deal a card to the top foundation. This determines the suit that this foundation will collect. On the second foundation can be played any card that shares a rank of a card played on the first foundation. Once a card is played to the second foundation only cards of same suit can be played. The following foundations behave similarly. A card can be played to a foundation only if a card of same rank is played on foundation before it.

Stock: Deal 3 cards at a time until game is over.

Peek

Same as Osmosis except all 4 cards in reserve pile are visible.


Clock

The piles represent hands of the clock. Any face up card is moved to the appropriate hand.  Kings are collected in the center of the clock. A card is placed on the bottom of the pile and the top card of the pile is turned over. The game ends when all the Kings have been turned face up.


Eight Off
Eight Off And Friends

These games are very similar to each other. All are highly enjoyable because skill much more than luck plays how well the game goes. That is of course if the deal isn't too yucky. All cards are dealt out and visible.

Any visible card can be played to the foundations. The top card of the tableaus are playable. You can build down in suit on the tableaus. An empty tableau can only be filled with a King. The holds can hold any one card. Swap back and forth from tableau to holds until a play can be made to foundation.

Generally a game is more difficult with fewer holds and tableaus as this gives fewer options for play.

Eight Off

8 tableaus dealt 6 cards each. The other 4 cards are placed in eight hold piles. This game is usually winnable.

Seahaven Towers

SOLO version created by: ????(I hate losing things)

10 tableaus are dealt 5 cards each. 4 holds that are dealt the remaining 2 cards

Free Cell

8 tableaus. 4 tableaus are dealt 7 cards while the other 4 tableaus are dealt 6 cards. 4 holds that start empty


Scorpion

Foundations: Build up in suit. Must play entire suit at once.

Tableaus: Deal 7 tableaus of 7 cards. 4 tableaus have 4 face down cards and 3 face up cards. The remaining 3 tableaus have all 7 cards face up.

Build down in the tableaus by suit. The difference in this game from others is that if the 4-of-Clubs is the top of a pile you may move the 3-of-Clubs on top of it even if the 3-of-Clubs is buried in the middle of a tableau. When you make this move all cards on top of the 3-of-Clubs gets moved also even if they aren't in sequence.

Scorpion 2

Same as Scorpion except you can play individual cards to the foundations.


Fanny

Deck: 2 standard decks

Foundations: 8 foundation that build up from Ace. Suit is unimportant.

Tableau: 5 Tableaus that can take any card in any order. Only top card is available for play.

Hold: 12 cards are dealt here that can only be played to foundations.

Turn over 1 card at a time from stock. Place card onto foundation or tableau. You may only make 1 pass through stock.


Windmill
Windmill(Propeller)

The piles are laid out in a windmill pattern hence the games name.

Decks: 2 standard decks

Foundations: There are 5 foundations. 4 of them build down from King irregardless of suit. The other foundation builds up from Ace to King 4 times.

Reserves: 8 reserves make up the propeller: These piles can hold 1 and only 1 card at a time.

Deal: Deal 1 card to each reserve pile and put any Ace in the center foundation.

Play: Turn over 1 card at a time from the stock to the waste. The top card of the waste pile is always available to foundation or empty reserve. Go through stock only once.


Alhambra

Foundations: Four foundations build up from Ace in suit. Four other foundations build down from King in suit. An Ace and a King of each suit is dealt to the foundation piles.

Reserves: Eight reserves are dealt 4 cards each so that only top card is visible. Top card is playable to tableau or foundation.

Stock: The stock is turned over 1 card at a time onto the lone tableau. Pass through the stock 3 times. Return cards in tableau unshuffled to stock at end of a pass.

Tableau: A lone tableau that receives cards from the stock. Also can play cards from reserves if they are adjacent in rank and same suit. Ace is adjacent to King in this game(circular).


Bisley

Foundations: 4 foundations are dealt an Ace each. These foundations are built up in suit. Another 4 foundations are dealt nothing. These are built down in suit from the King.

Tableau: There are 13 tableaus. 9 are dealt 4 cards each while the other 4 are dealt only 3 cards. Only the top card can be moved. A card may be added to a tableau if it is adjacent in rank and of the same suit.

The game is won when all cards are moved to the foundations. It doesn't matter how many are in each foundation although I've set the game up so at least the King must be placed in the empty foundations.

Bisley Plus

Same as Bisley except no cards are dealt to the foundations. All 13 tableaus are dealt 4 cards instead.


Royal Cotillion

New layout and corrections by: John M. Feeney (Schlafflos@AOL.com)

Use 2 decks of cards.

Reserves: The left 3 reserves are dealt 3 cards each. Only the bottom card is available for play and when emptied they remain empty. The right side has 16 cards available for play. When a card is removed it must be filled from Waste or Stock. All of these cards are available for play to the foundations.

Foundations: There are 8 foundations. All are built up in suit by 2( A-3-5-... , 2-4-6-...). For each suit there is a foundation that starts with an Ace and a foundation that starts with a 2.

Stock: Is turned 1 card at a time. No redeals.

Old Royal Cotillion

The same game but with bugs(I prefer ‘a variation’) and the original layout. Specifically the difference is the left reserves could be emptied onto the right reserves.


Gaps

NOTE: Unless you have 1024x??  mode you won't be able to see all the cards in this game unless you scale the screen.

All cards are dealt into 4 rows of 13 cards each. A blank spot is to the left of each row. The object is to rearrange the rows into suits from King to Ace(left to right).

A card can be moved to a blank spot that is to the right of a card it follows in sequence.

Example: There is a empty space to the right of a 10 of Spades. The 9 of Spades can be moved into that empty space.

The Kings may be played to the leftmost space at the start of the game.

2 redeals are allowed. During the redeals all cards not in proper sequence are picked up and shuffled then placed back into the 4 rows. One space will follow the cards in sequence. Yes this means that no matter how bad you do you should be able to play at least 12 cards in proper sequence.


Sixty Six
Sixty Six(Six By Six)

Foundations: 4. They are built up in suit one card at a time.

Tableau: There are 6 tableau that are dealt 6 cards each. The tableaus can be built down regardless of suit. The top card and any part of a sequence can be moved to another tableau. An empty space can be filled with any card.

Stock: Only 1 pass is allowed. The top card is placed on the leftmost tableau.


Chameleon

Foundations: 4 foundations are built up in suit circularly. The left foundation is dealt 1 card. This card sets initial rank for all the foundations.

Tableau: There are 3 tableau that are dealt 1 card each. The tableau are built down regardless of suit. Any partial or whole sequence can be moved to another tableau. An empty tableau must be filled from the reserve. When the reserve is empty then an empty space can be filled from the waste or stock.

Reserve: 12 cards are dealt here at start of game.

Stock: There is no redeal.


Spiderette

Foundations: An entire suit built down must be played here.

Tableau: Deal 7 piles down with each pile varying in size from 1 card to 7 cards. The top card is the only visible card. Build down regardless of suit. Empty spaces can be filled with any card. You may move any sequence to another tableau.

Stock: Deal a card to each tableau. The last turn will place a card on the 3 leftmost tableau.

Spideress

Created by: John M. Feeney (Schlafflos@AOL.com)

The first of these, "Spideress," is basically an assisted version of Spiderette. The one additional "Tableau" is in fact an unbuildable (once filled) hold pile for swapping of individual cards or properly completed Move build sequences (Down by 1, Same Suit). The effect it produces on the game is a varyingly greater degree of flexibility in assembling Build Sequences--thus, a greater win probability--without diminishing the complexity or thought required. It does this by allowing the occasional swapping of intrusive piles (particularly, inverted sequences) in and out of the main Tableaus. Strategically, it is best employed only when the moves resulting from offloads to this Hold will allow the immediate return of this pile to the main tableaus. Otherwise, you're just stuck with another unmalleable (and in this case, unbuildable) pile. If this is as clear as mud to you (and I fear it may be), "Try it--You'll like it."

Clear enough to me. Of course I wrote the rest of the rule entries which read like mud.


Black Hole

17 tableaus of 3 face up cards each are dealt. The last card is placed on the foundation. The top card of any tableau can be moved to the foundation if it is either 1 rank less or 1 rank more than the top foundation card.

Example: If the top foundation card is a 7 then you may play either a 6 or 8 to the foundation.

The ranks are circular, a King or a 2 can be played on an Ace.


Kings Up

The object of the game is to discard all the cards except the 4 Kings.

Stock: 4 cards are turned from the Stock to 4 different piles.

Discarder: Any card lower then a card of the same suit can be discarded. Discard by either right-clicking on the lower card OR dragging lower card onto higher card. An empty pile can be filled from any top card of another pile.

Aces Up

Same game except Aces rank highest and are the 4 cards you want left. This is actually the more popular way but I need to fix SOLO to handle Ace high.

5 Kings Up( 5-Suit Firing Squad )

Created by: John M. Feeney (Schlafflos@AOL.com)

A 5 suit variation of Kings Up. I find it a little more winnable than Kings Up.


Kosynko

Contributed by: Bill Scull (Billeeeee@AOL.COM)

I am attaching Kosynka.sol.  I think you will like it. The odds of winning are just enough to keep me going and there is some strategy involved.

It was published as a DOS shareware game by Sergey Rhyzkov and he said in his documentation that it was a game commonly played in Russia. (So I guess there is no copyright problem). The word "kosynka" means "big scarf".

2 decks of cards are used

Foundations: 8 foundations are built up in suit

Tableau: there are 9 tableaus. The first tableau is dealt 1 card up. The second is dealt 1 down and 1 up. The third is dealt 2 down and 1 up. The piles increase in size except the last 2 tableaus are both dealt 7 down and 1 card up. The tableaus are built down circularly by alternating color. You can move any build sequence to another tableau. An empty pile can be filled only by a King.

Stock: Turn 1 card at a time onto Waste pile. One redeal is allowed.

Waste: Top card can be played to Tableau or Foundation.


Fourteen Out

Tableau: There are 12 tableau. Four tableau are dealt 5 cards each. The other tableau are dealt 4 cards each.

The object of the game is to discard all the cards. A card can be discarded by dropping it onto another card so that both cards total to 14. Both cards are discarded.

Example: A 8 card is dropped onto a 6 card. Both cards are removed freeing cards underneath.

King = 13

Queen = 12

Jack = 11

rest = pip value(1 to 10)


Yukon

Foundations: 4 foundations that are built up in suit.

Tableaus: 7 tableaus that are dealt like:

#1 - 1 card up

#2 - 1 card down and 5 up

#3 - 2 cards down and 5 up

....

#7 - 6 cards down and 5 up

You can move any cards from a pile as long as the card at top of the pile you move is lower in rank and of a different color than the card you place pile onto. The difference in this game is that the cards don't have to be in any order in the moving pile. If you move a black 6 onto a red 7 and there are cards on top of the black 6 that aren't in any particular order then that is OK.

An empty spot can be filled with a King and any cards on top of the King.

Yukon #2

Similar to Yukon except for the deal to the tableaus are

#1 - 1 card up

#2 - 1 card down and 2 up

#3 - 2 cards down and 3 up

#4 - 3 cards down and 4 up

#5 - 4 cards down and 5 up

#6 - 5 cards down and 6 up

#7 - 6 cards down and 7 up

This leaves 3 cards that are dealt to the stock. The stock can be turned 1 card at a time forever. This means these 3 cards are always available.


Pyramid

Deal: A pyramid of 7 rows of overlapping cards is dealt such that the point is buried.

Object: To remove all the cards from the pyramid. A pair of cards can be removed if they total 13.A single King can also be removed.

Stock: Only 1 pass through the stock is allowed. One card is turned over at a time.


Pyro

Deal: 6 pyramids that have 3 rows of overlapping cards is dealt such that the point is on top.

Object: To discard all the cards. A pair of cards can be discarded if they total 14.

Stock: Only 1 pass through the stock is allowed. One card is turned over at a time.

Care must be taken to avoid leaving buried cards in the waste pile since they are harder to get to.


Auld Lang Syne

Contributed by: John M. Feeney (Schlafflos@AOL.com)

Deal: The Aces are dealt to the 4 foundations. 4 reserves are dealt 1 card each.

Object: To build up the foundations to King irregardless of suit.

Reserves: Only top card available to play onto foundations. Empty spaces can’t be played to.

Stock: Only 1 pass through the stock is allowed. Each time the stock is used 1 card is turned over to every reserve.

New Lang Syne

Created by: John M. Feeney (Schlafflos@AOL.com)

The second variation I have included, I call New Lang Syne--a take-off of Auld Lang Syne, also included in the ZIP. It is basically the same game, but foundation builds are up from 2 aces OR down from 2 kings, instead of all up from aces, regardless of suit. Empirically, the game appears to be no more winnable than the original, but is much more interesting in the playing. (Incidentally, I won this for the first time in C. 80 plays last night.) As one who has found the progenitor incredibly HO-HUM, I can attest to an addiction to this version.


Baroness
Baroness(5 Piles, Thirteen)

Deal: Deal 5 cards at a time. 1 card to each reserve pile.

Object: To remove all cards in pairs that add up to 13. Kings can always be discarded.

Stock: Only 1 pass through the stock is allowed.

Foxfire 13

Contributed by: John M. Feeney (Schlafflos@AOL.com)

There are only 4 reserve piles otherwise it is similar to Baroness.


Vertical

Contributed by: John M. Feeney (Schlafflos@AOL.com)

Object: To remove all cards in pairs. All cards are visible after the deal. Simple yet entertaining.


Quadrille

Deal: The 4 Queens are dealt to the center while the 5s and 6s are dealt to foundations around it. Build the 5s down to Kings and the 6s up to Jacks.

The Stock is dealt 1 card at a time. 3 redeals are allowed.

Captive Queens

The only difference is that no cards are dealt to the foundations to begin with.


Sultan

The 8 Kings and an Ace of Hearts are arranged such that a King of Hearts (Sultan) is in the center of the other cards. The surrounding cards are 8 foundations that are built up to Queens by suit (Harem). Then a row of 4 cards each are dealt to the left and right of the foundations.

The stock is dealt 1 card at a time with 2 redeals. The 8 side cards (divan) can be played at any time and can be replaced from the waste pile or stock.

Sultan(1 deck)

The game is similar except only 3 Kings and the Ace of Hearts surround the King of Hearts in a cross pattern. In the 4 corners is dealt 1 card each. These 4 cards are tableaus that can be built down in suit. You may only move a card from the tableaus to be played on the foundations. An empty tableau can be filled from the stock or waste pile.

Only 1 redeal is allowed.


Bristol

Tableaus: Deal 8 fans of 3 cards each. These are tableaus which may be built down in any suit. Only the top card of a tableau can be moved. An empty tableau can not be played to.

Object: Build foundations from Ace to King in any suit.

Each turn of the stock, 1 card is moved to each of 3 reserve piles. Top card of a reserve is available to move to tableau or foundations. There are no redeals.

Belvedere

Same as Bristol except 1 foundation is dealt an Ace at start of game.


BakersDozen
Baker’s Dozen

Deal: 13 tableaus of 4 cards each. Move Kings to bottom of piles.

Object: Build foundations from Ace to King in suit.

You can move the top card of a tableau only. Tableaus can be built down in sequence in any suit. An empty tableau can not be filled.