Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (8 page)

If a stock card can’t be played on a foundation, place it face up on a waste pile. You may create up to four waste piles; however, you may play only the top card from each pile (e.g., the most recently added). And you may use the trash cards only to build on a foundation pile; you may not move them among trash piles. Experienced players will tell you to reserve one of your trash piles for kings, since these may be played only at the end of a game. There is no redeal in Calculation.

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

Canfield began life as a gambling game, invented by Richard Canfield and made famous at his Saratoga Clubhouse (casino) in Saratoga, New York. The game seems easy enough, though the actual odds of winning are just 1 in 35 hands. No doubt that’s why Mr. Canfield excelled at separating suckers from their money.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and deal thirteen cards, face up, into a single pile. This is your stock. Turn up the next card and place it on the table. This is your first foundation (out of four). Just below the first foundation card, deal four cards side by side and face up. These are your four tableau piles. The remaining thirty-four cards are called your “hand.”

WINNING
The goal is to build four foundations so that each pile contains thirteen cards organized by suit in ascending rank. The trick to Canfield is that the foundation cards vary from game to game. They also have a nasty habit of becoming buried beneath cards in your stock pile. Canfield is not an easy game to win.

HOW TO PLAY
The rank of that first foundation card determines the start ing rank of your other three foundation piles. So if you turned up J of diamonds, for example, the other three foundations will be J of clubs, J of diamonds, J of spades. Once the foundations are established, build each pile by suit and rank (J of diamonds-Q of hearts-K of hearts-X of diamonds-2 of hearts…), up to thirteen cards.

The top card of each tableau pile may be played on a foundation. You also may move cards among tableau piles, building
down
by suit and rank in alternating red-black or black-red sequences. If your tableau cards are 4 of hearts, Q of clubs, 5 of spades, K of diamonds, for example, you may build 4 of hearts on 5 of spades and Q of clubs on K of diamonds. It’s com pletely kosher to move groups of tableau cards, as long as you follow these matching rules.

When a tableau pile is empty, fill it first with a card from your stock pile—not from your hand, at least not until your stock pile is also exhausted. The top card of the stock pile can be played on a tableau card or the foundations.

When you’re out of cards to build or move, deal three cards from your hand, face up. Play the top card on either a foundation or tableau pile. When your moves are once again exhausted, deal three more cards, and keep dealing until you run out. Pick up the unplayed cards, turn them over (do not shuffle), and start dealing again from the top. You may redeal as often as you like—it doesn’t make this game any easier, however.

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

After getting roughed up by the really difficult Solitaire variations, players sometimes need an easy win. Carpet is part of that great Solitaire tradition of games that are intentionally easy (you can expect to win every 1 in 2 games).

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and remove the four aces. Place these face-up on the board; these are your four foundations. Next, deal twenty cards in four rows of five cards each. This is your tableau (called
carpet cards
). Set aside the remaining cards as your reserve.

WINNING
The goal is to build each of your foundation aces by suit in ascending rank.

HOW TO PLAY
You may play any card from the tableau (carpet cards) onto the foundations. You may not build or move carpet cards onto each other. And whenever a carpet card is played, deal a replacement card from the reserve (or from the waste pile, if the reserve is exhausted).

Deal one card from the reserve once you’ve exhausted all moves. If you can’t play it, place it face up in a waste pile. The top card of your waste pile may always be played on a foundation pile. There is no redeal in Carpet, otherwise this easy-to-win game would become an impossible-to-lose game!

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

Feeling obstinate? This quirky game has “I am stubborn, you shall not easily win me” written all over its smug clock face (the odds of winning are less than 1 in 100 games). If you enjoy the game play of Clock but are frustrated by its long odds, try the similar but easier game called Grandfather’s Clock.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and deal thirteen piles, face down, with four cards per pile. Arrange twelve piles into a circle, mimicking a clock face, and set the thirteenth pile in the center of the circle.

WINNING
The goal is to create thirteen piles sorted by rank—for example, a pile of 4s, a pile of 5s, a pile of 6s, etc. The game is lost as soon as all four kings are turned up.

HOW TO PLAY
Turn up the top card of your thirteenth pile (the one in the circle’s center) and place it face up
at the bottom
of the pile that corresponds to its position on the clock face. Turn up a 3, for example, and place it face up at
the bottom of the pile in the 3:00 position; turn up a 9 and move it to the 9:00 position, etc. In Clock, jacks count as 11, queens as 12, kings as 13 (center pile), and aces as 1.