Solitaire (game)

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Introduction

Solitaire (game), American term applied to any of various games of cards that can be played by one person. The British term for such games is patience.

In most games of solitaire one or more full decks of 52 cards are used, with the cards dealt to the table in some plan or pattern, usually according to an arbitrary arrangement known as a tableau. This pattern customarily is laid out before the start of play, but in some games it is formed during play. The game develops out of the undealt portion of the deck, known as the hand, which is turned up one card or more at a time. Cards are played into the tableau as available or suitable.

The object of most solitaire games is to build, or form, sequences of cards in ascending or descending order—that is, from the ace up to the king or from the king down to the ace (the king is usually high card). Suits (all cards in a complete deck or pack bearing the same symbols) have no comparative rank; hearts and diamonds are called red and spades and clubs are called black. The rules of play may require that sequences be built up in one color, in alternating colors, or in one suit alone. Occasionally, more than one of these methods is permitted during the course of play.

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Canfield Solitaire

Canfield is one of the most popular games of solitaire. It is so called because it is said to have been devised in the late 19th century by the American gambler and art collector Richard Canfield. Canfield is considered the most typical, as well as the most challenging, game of solitaire.

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In Canfield 13 cards are counted off the top of the deck and placed facedown in a pile known as the stock; the top card of this stock is turned up. The 14th card turned up forms the first foundation. The next 4 cards after the 14th are dealt in a row faceup to the right of the stock and below the foundation to form the tableau. When subsequent cards of the same rank as the first foundation are revealed, they are placed in a row next to the initial foundation card. The remainder of the deck forms the hand. The object of the game is to get all 52 cards or as many as possible into the foundation piles.

The player continuously turns up packets of three cards from the hand, exposing the third card. These are placed in a waste or discard pile known as the talon. In each such turn the exposed card is available for play on a tableau card in descending order and in alternating colors—that is, red or black—or on a foundation card in ascending order and in the same suit only. The top card of the stock, which is exposed continuously, also is always available for such play. Playable cards may be shifted from one part of the tableau to another or from tableau to foundation piles, but must remain in the foundations once played there. Play stops when cards can no longer be played into the foundation. Canfield turned this game into a form of gambling by collecting from the player one chip for each card of the pack at the start of the game, and by paying five chips for each card that could be worked into the foundation piles. The odds against the player in this game are far greater than 5 to 1.

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Klondike and Other Variants

Klondike is another extremely popular game of solitaire. It is often confused with and miscalled Canfield because both games are based on similar principles. However, the layout (first dealing of the cards) and play are different. Klondike requires an initial deal of 28 cards in seven piles. Usually the cards are dealt by row, starting with 1 card turned up, then 6 cards face down in a pile at its right, and a 7th card turned up to top the pile. Then 5 cards are dealt face down to the right of this second pile, and a 6th card turned up to top the pile of 5. The deal descends in this manner until all 28 cards are arranged in seven piles, with each pile topped by a single card turned up. Aces, as they become available, form the four foundation piles and are built up in suit. The tableau is built in the same manner as in Canfield solitaire; in Klondike, however, spaces in the tableau can only be filled with kings.

Hundreds of variants of solitaire besides Canfield and Klondike are played, and many of these have several different names. Thus, one popular solitaire game is known variously as Napoleon at St. Helena, Big Forty, and Forty Thieves. Other variants are Idiot's Delight, Streets and Alleys, Spiders, Clock, Pyramid, and Tower of Babel.