| A Patience game | |
 Screenshot of Baroness | |
| Alternative names | Five Piles, Thirteens |
|---|---|
| Type | Closed non-builder |
| Family | Adding and pairing |
| Deck | Single 52-card |
| Playing time | 5 min [1] |
| Odds of winning | 1 in 5 [1] |
| Related games | |
| Eight Cards, Good Thirteen | |
Baroness is a patience or card solitaire that is played with a single deck of 52 playing cards. It is similar to other members of the Simple Addition family and is also distantly related to Aces Up. [2]
The original name was The Baroness Patience, although the most common name since is just Baroness. [3] It has also been occasionally referred to "boringly and not very descriptively" as Five Piles [2] or Thirteens after two of its ludemes. [1] Arnold describes Baroness as "a most pleasant name... maintaining a tradition in which patience games were often named after ladies of the aristocracy." [4]
The first author to publish its rules, Mary Whitmore Jones, says, in 1890, that it is a "very old Patience." [3] Brock plagiarises the text verbatim in his 1909 work, but renames it The Baroness Solitaire. [5] In these earliest accounts, the Kings are first discarded as they do not pair with any other card. [3] In later accounts, the Kings are discarded singly. [a] Baroness has continued to feature in games literature down to the present day.
In the classic rules, the Kings are discarded at the outset; [3] otherwise they are discarded singly during play. The following is based on Arnold (2011), except where noted: [4]
Five cards are dealt in a row as the bases of the five piles in the tableau. The top cards of each pile are available for removal to the discard pile. [4]
The aim is to discard all the cards by removing any Kings and pairs of available cards that total 13. In this game, spot cards are taken at face value, Jacks are worth 11, Queens 12, and Kings 13. So the following combinations of cards may be discarded: [4]
When all available discards have been made, five fresh cards are dealt, one onto each pile in the tableau either filling a space or covering the existing card. The new top cards are available for play and, once again, any Kings or combinations totalling 13 are moved to the discard pile. When the top card of a pile is discarded, the card beneath becomes immediately available. Play continues in this way until there are only two cards left in hand; these are used as grace cards, [b] being added to the end of the tableau, face up and side by side, and are available for play. [4] [c]
The game is out when all cards have been discarded. [4]
Keller records several variations to increase the chances of winning: [2]
The name Thirteens also refers to a closely related game that plays similarly, but begins with a tableau of ten cards in two rows or non-overlapping columns of five each. Cards are replaced individually from the stock as they are played. [d]
Games of patience, or (card) solitaires as they are usually called in North America, have their own 'language' of specialised terms such as "building down", "packing", "foundations", "talon" and "tableau". Once learnt they are helpful in describing, succinctly and accurately, how the games are played. Patience games are usually for a single player, although a small number have been designed for two and, in rare cases, three or even four players. They are games of skill or chance or a combination of the two. There are three classes of patience grouped by object.
Accordion is a patience or card solitaire using a single deck of playing cards. It is so named because it looks like accordion pleats, which have to be ironed out. The object is to compress the entire deck into one pile like an accordion.
Canfield (US) or Demon (UK) is a patience or solitaire card game with a very low probability of winning. It is an English game first called Demon Patience and described as "the best game for one pack that has yet been invented". It was popularised in the United States in the early 20th century as a result of a story that casino owner Richard A. Canfield had turned it into a gambling game, although it may actually have been Klondike and not Demon that was played at his casino. As a result, it became known as Canfield in the United States, while continuing to be called Demon Patience in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. It is closely related to Klondike, and is one of the most popular games of its type.
Agnes is a patience or solitaire card game that emerged in England about the same time as Klondike appeared in the US. The classic version has the unusual feature of packing in colour, a feature it shares with Whitehead. By contrast, the later American variant appears to have been influenced by Klondike with packing is in alternate colours. The classic game has been described as the best single-pack patience yet invented.
Quadrille is the name of two loosely related card games of the Patience or solitaire type which are often confused. Both use a pack of 52 playing cards. The earlier one was also known as La Française or Royal Quadrille, the slightly later one as Captive Queens. The name is derived from the desired outcome of the earlier game in which the four Kings and Queens are arranged in a square formation as in the European dance of quadrille that was fashionable in the 18th and 19th centuries.
British Square is a patience or solitaire card game which uses two decks of 52 playing cards each. It is a fan-type game in the style of La Belle Lucie. It has an unusual feature of switchback building whereby each foundation is first built up and then built down.
Sir Tommy, also called Old Patience, is a patience or solitaire card game using a single pack of 52 playing cards. It is said to be the ancestor of all patiences, hence its alternative title. It is a half-open, planner type of patience game in the same family of card-building games as Calculation and Strategy. It is also known as Try Again and Numerica. Ednah Cheney (1869) calls it Solitaire and says "it is the simplest form of patience".
Bristol is a Patience game using a deck of 52 playing cards. It is a fan-type game in the style of La Belle Lucie. It has an unusual feature of building regardless of suit on both the foundations and on the tableau; it is also one of the easiest to win. It was invented by Morehead & Mott-Smith around 1950.
Crescent is a solitaire card game played with two decks of playing cards mixed together. The game is so called because when the cards are dealt properly, the resulting piles should form a large arc or a crescent. An alternative and less common name for the game is La Demi-Lune.
Tournament is a patience or solitaire card game which uses two decks of playing cards shuffled together. It is a variant of the much older game of Napoleon's Flank or Nivernaise and was first known as Maréchal Saxe.
Duchess or Glenwood is a patience or solitaire card game which uses a deck of 52 playing cards. It has all four typical features of a traditional patience or solitaire game: a tableau, a reserve, a stock or talon and a wastepile. It is relatively easy to get out. It is a reserved packer, the same type of game as Canfield or Demon. Arnold describes it as "an interesting game with a fair chance of a favourable outcome."
Capricieuse is an old English patience played using two packs of playing cards. Some authors call it Capricious.
Colorado is a solitaire card game which is played using two decks of playing cards. It is a game of card building which belongs to the same family as games like Sir Tommy, Strategy, and Calculation. It is considered an easy game with 80% odds of being completed successfully.
Westcliff is the name of two closely related patience or card solitaire games of the simple packer type, both of which are played using a deck of 52 playing cards. One version is particularly easy to win, with odds of 9 in 10; the other is harder with odds closer to 1 in 4. The game has a variant, Easthaven.
Napoleon's Square is a patience or solitaire card game which uses two decks of playing cards. First described in a revised edition of Lady Cadogan's Illustrated Games of Patience or Solitaire in the early 1900s, it is an easy variation of Napoleon at St Helena. It is not determined if Napoleon actually played this game, or any solitaire game named after him.
Deuces or Twos is a patience or card solitaire game of English origin which is played with two packs of playing cards. It is so called because each foundation starts with a Deuce, or Two. It belongs to a family of card games that includes Busy Aces, which is derived in turn from Napoleon at St Helena.
Duchess of Luynes is a patience or card solitaire game played with two packs of playing cards. It is a member of the Sir Tommy family. A unique feature of this game is the building of the reserve, which is not used until the entire stock runs out.
Four Seasons is a patience or card solitaire which is played with a single deck of playing cards. It is also known as Corner Card and Vanishing Cross, due to the arrangement of the foundations and the tableau respectively. Another alternate name is Cross Currents.
British Constitution is an English patience or card solitaire played with two packs of playing cards. It is a card game with a high chance in winning.
Fortune's Favor or Fortune's Favour is a patience or card solitaire which is played with a deck of 52 playing cards. It is so-called probably because the chances of winning are completely on the player's side. It is a significantly simplified version of the game Busy Aces, a member of the Forty Thieves family of solitaire games.
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