Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (15 page)

In Golf, aces are always low, and you may build A-2-A but not 2-A-K. In fact, you may not build up or down on a king at all. Simply deal another card from the stock and move along to the next tee. You may play through the stock pile only once. No mulligans allowed.

VARIATION: DOUBLE GOLF

The two-player version of Golf is a good-spirited head-to-head competition. Each player plays his or her own game, following the rules of Golf exactly as
above. Scores are compared at the end of a round to determine a winner. In Double Golf, it’s traditional to play nine hands, the solitaire equivalent of a nine-hole golf round. Or go for master’s status with an eighteen-or thirty-six-round tournament.

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

The name Grand Duchess probably alludes to a French family of card games in which a portion of the deck is set aside and remains unused until the end of the hand. Grand Duchess has such a feature, in the form of a reserve that is continuously built upon but not played until the entire stock is exhausted. This unique feature is what makes this game more about skill than chance, with low odds of winning (about 1 in every 30 games).

HOW TO DEAL
Start with two fifty-two-card decks (104 cards total), and deal four cards, face up. This is your tableau. Next, deal two cards face down; these are your two reserve piles. All other cards form the stock.

WINNING
Build eight total foundation piles, four by suit in ascending rank from ace to king, four by suit in descending rank from king to ace.

HOW TO PLAY
Move aces and kings to the foundations as they become available.

You may not build on your tableau piles—the topmost tableau cards may be played only to the foundations. Because building is so heavily restricted, the process of dealing four face-up cards to the tableau and two face-down cards to the reserve is continued until the entire stock is exhausted.

At this point, turn up all cards in the reserve and play them in any order you like to the foundations. You still may play the topmost tableau cards to your foundations.

Once all moves are exhausted, pick up the tableau (stack the piles from left to right, one atop the other) and turn them over to form a new stock (do not shuffle!). Add the unplayed reserve cards to the bottom of the new stock. You are allowed to redeal this way three times. Do not deal any cards to the reserve on the third round. The game is over when you run out of cards on the third round, or when all cards have been appropriately moved to the foundations.

VARIATION: LA PARISIENNE

This variation is slightly easier than Grand Duchess—the odds of winning are 1 in every 20 games. The rules are exactly as above, with one exception: Before the game begins, the foundations are “seeded” with one ace and one king from each suit.

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

The odds of winning Grandfather are a morale-boosting 1 in every 3 games.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with two fifty-two-card decks (104 cards total), and deal twenty cards, face up, in five rows of four cards each, leaving space between rows. These are your twenty tableau piles.

WINNING
Build eight foundation piles, four by suit in ascending rank from ace to king, four by suit in descending rank from king to ace.

HOW TO PLAY
Play the topmost tableau cards to the foundations; move up aces and kings as they become available.

Though you may not build or move cards among tableau piles, you may play stock cards on
any
tableau pile regardless of rank, color, or suit. That’s correct—it is legitimate to play, for example, 6 of hearts from the stock to a tableau starting with Q of spades, A of clubs, or 5 of clubs. The only restriction is that each tableau pile may never contain more than two cards total.

Your other option with the stock is to play cards directly to the waste pile (and you may always play the topmost waste card to the foundations or the tableau). Fill vacancies in the tableau either with a card from the stock or the topmost waste card (your choice).

Once you exhaust the stock, pick up all cards
not
in a foundation pile (e.g., all tableau and waste cards) and shuffle to form a new stock. You are allowed one redeal in Grandfather.

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

This game has many of the same features as Clock; it’s just a lot easier to play and to win. You should win 75 percent of the time (about 3 in every 4 games).

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and remove the following: 2 of hearts, 3 of spades, 4 of diamonds, 5 of clubs, 6 of hearts, 7 of spades, 8 of diamonds, 9 of clubs, 10 of diamonds, J of spades, Q of diamonds, K of clubs. Arrange these twelve cards into a circle (mimicking a clock face) in sequence, starting with 9 of clubs at the 12:00 position, 10 of diamonds at 1:00, J of spades at 2:00, etc., ending with 8 of diamonds at the 11:00 position. These are your foundation cards. Next, deal eight piles (five cards per pile) so that all cards are face up and visible. These are your tableau piles.

WINNING
The goal is to build each foundation pile, by suit and in ascending rank, to its corresponding position on the clock face. For example, the pile at the 2:00 position builds from J of spades to 2 of spades, the pile at 6:00 builds from 3 of spades to 6 of spades, the pile at 12:00 builds from 9 of clubs to Q of clubs (in this game jacks count as 11, queens as 12, aces as 1). This game allows
continuous ranking
, and all foundation piles require three cards,
except
the piles starting with 10 of diamonds, J of spades, Q of diamonds, and K of clubs, which require four cards.