Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (27 page)

Use the topmost reserve cards to build on the foundations (you may not move them to the tableau). Once a reserve pile is empty, it stays empty for the remainder of the game. When your moves are exhausted, turn up a stock card and play it on a foundation, or leave it face up in a waste pile (the topmost waste card may always be played). There is no redeal—the game ends when the stock is exhausted.

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

Here’s another excellent choice for connoisseurs of nontraditional Solitaire variants. Royal Marriage is further distinguished by the fact that almost no skill is required (what you really need is luck), and yet the odds of winning are still very poor—about 1 in every 35 hands.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, remove Q of hearts and K of hearts, and shuffle. Place K of hearts on the bottom of the deck (this will be your last card) and place Q of hearts face up on the table.

WINNING
The goal is to remove all cards from the table except Q of hearts and K of hearts.

HOW TO PLAY
The game starts with just one card—Q of hearts—on the table. Next, deal a row of ten cards face up, stopping to remove up to two cards that fall between cards of matching suit, or up to two cards that fall between cards of matching rank.

For example, with Q of hearts-7 of diamonds-9 of spades-10 of clubs-J of diamonds on the table, you may remove 9 of spades and 10 of clubs because they fall between two diamonds. Close up empty spaces and continue dealing. Assume the table now shows Q of hearts-7 of diamonds-J of diamonds-A of spades-7 of spades, and remove J of diamonds and A of spades, since they fall between two 7s.

Continue dealing cards in rows of ten, all face up, stopping to remove cards as appropriate. When your first row reaches ten, start a new row (this is not a requirement; it simply makes dealing more manageable). The final twist is that you are allowed to remove more than two cards at a time from the table at any point, but
only if
they fall between cards of matching suit or rank and are themselves of matching suit. For example, with Q of hearts-7 of diamonds-8 of spades-J of diamonds-A of spades-K of clubs-7 of spades, your only option is to remove J of diamonds (since it falls between two spades). However, with Q of hearts-7 of diamonds-8 of spades-J of spades-A of spades-K of spades-7 of clubs, you may remove all four spades.

There is no redeal in Royal Marriage.

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

In medieval Europe, a collection of ancient Frankish customs called The Salic Law prevented women from inheriting property. This game plays on this theme by removing all queens to a lonely, powerless row in the foundations. Luck is the driving force here; your only decision is when to play cards to the foundations or to leave them in the tableau. The odds of winning are 1 in every 5 hands.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with two fifty-two-card decks (104 cards total), remove one king, and place it face up on the table. This is your first (of eight) tableau piles. The remaining cards are your stock.

WINNING
The goal is to build two completely different foundation sets. The first set comprises eight piles built in ascending rank from ace to jack (suits and colors do not matter). The second set is a single row of eight queens.

HOW TO PLAY
Move aces and queens to the foundations as they become available. Turn over a stock card and play it to the foundations if possible; otherwise you
must
move it to the existing tableau pile (on top of the king), regardless of suit or rank. Continue turning up stock cards until you uncover a second king, with which you start a new tableau pile. Each time you uncover a fresh king, start a new tableau pile.

The top card of each tableau pile may be played directly to the foundations. You may not move cards between tableau piles.

When the stock is empty, any lone king is considered an “empty” space, which means you may play any single card on top of it. There is no redeal; the game ends when the stock is empty and you’ve exhausted all moves.

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

This is a popular variant, mainly due to its unique open-ended style of building cards within the tableau. The game moves quickly and has decent odds of winning (1 in every 6 hands).

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and deal a tableau in the following seven-by-seven pattern:

The remaining three cards are your stock.

WINNING
Build four foundations by suit in descending rank from king to ace.

HOW TO PLAY
The majority of cards are visible at the start of the game, so take a moment to plan your moves. Scorpion takes a liberal approach to moving cards among tableau piles. All moves are legal as long as the top card in the set being moved matches the suit and is one rank lower than the card
it moves onto. In the
example above
, the sequence 8 of diamonds-6 of spades-7 of spades-6 of clubs may be moved onto the 9 of diamonds because 8 of diamonds is one rank lower and of the same suit as 9 of diamonds.