How to Play Solitaire

Use a full deck and remove all Jokers. Aces are the lowest card while Kings are the highest. Each game of Solitaire has a specific layout or tableau. Cards which are not a part of the tableau but are turned face up are called foundation cards. The object is to place cards on the foundation card piles, in an order which enables the player to see the top of each card (in an overlaying pattern.) Sometimes suits or colors are alternated (i.e. black, red, black, and red.) A place which is empty and just waiting for an acceptable card is called a space. A row of cards moving either upward or downward is called a file. Cards are drawn from a pile called the stock (this is he deck) and any drawn cards that are not useful at that moment are thrown into the discard pile. A card which is played is released and when cards are played according to the logic of the game, it is called building.

Seven stacks of cards are laid out (the file.) In the first stack, the card is placed face up, while in the other six, the card is face down. Then that pattern is repeated starting with the second stack, third, and so on, so that ultimately there are seven stacks, the first containing one card and the last seven, each with a face-up card on top. Within the file, Kings are the high cards and rows of alternating colors are built in descending order of rank (King, Queen, Jack, etc.) Then there are the foundation piles, which can only be started with an Ace and which are built up in ascending order: Ace, Two, Three, etc. There are four foundation piles, one for each suit. The idea is to draw cards from the deck, add them to the rows of stored cards (stacks,) and eventually transfer them to the foundation piles. 


Three cards are drawn from the deck at a time, but only the top card can be used to add to either the rows or foundation piles. Once the top card is used, the card under it becomes the top card and, in turn, it too can be used. Once the player has gone through the entire deck, it’s time to turn the deck over and go through it again, hopefully finding useful cards. Alternately, cards can be turned one at a time but in this case when the deck is finished, it’s finished: there’s no repeating! The game is won when and if all of the cards wind up in the suit-specific foundation piles, from Ace up to King.

Burn brightly, Pete