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Beetle is a difficult patience or solitaire card game using two decks of playing cards. The game is similar to Spider, except the Tableau cards are faced up. The object of the game is to group all of the cards into sets of 13 in suit.
Beetle has ten tableau stacks. Six of these contain four cards, and the other four consist of five cards. The deck is present towards the bottom left.
Group all of the cards into sets of 13 building down from King to Ace in suit (e.g. K♠, Q♠, J♠, 10♠...).
The Tableau Stacks can be built down regardless of suit, but ordered groups can only be moved if they share the same suit (e.g. If there is [4♥, 3♣, 2♣], only the 3♣ & 2♣ can be moved as a group).
Once a complete set of suited cards from King to Ace have been built, it will be removed from the Tableau. An empty space can be filled with any card or stack. When the gameplay comes to a standstill, click or tap the Deck to deal out one card to each Tableau Stack. The game is won after all the cards have been grouped into suited sets and removed.
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.
Klondike, also known as Canfield, is a card game for one player and the best known and most popular version of the patience or solitaire family, something which "defies explanation" as it has one of the lowest rates of success of any such game. Partly because of that, it has spawned numerous variants including Batsford, Easthaven, King Albert, Thumb and Pouch, Somerset or Usk and Whitehead, as well as the American variants of the games, Agnes and Westcliff. The distinguishing feature of all variants is a triangular layout of the tableau, building in ascending sequence and packing in descending order.
Yukon is a type of patience or solitaire card game using a single deck of playing cards like Klondike, but there is no deck or stock, and manipulation of the tableau works differently.
Spider is a type of patience game, and is one of the more popular two-deck solitaire games. The game originates in 1949, and its name comes from a spider's eight legs, referencing the eight foundation piles that must be filled to win the game.
Napoleon at St Helena is a 2-deck patience or solitaire card game for one player. It is quite difficult to win, and luck-of-the-draw is a significant factor. The Emperor Napoleon often played patience during his final exile to the island of St Helena, and this is said to be the version he probably played. Along with its variants, it is one of the most popular two-deck patiences or solitaires. The winning chances have been estimated as 1 in 10 games, with success typically dependent on the player's ability to clear one or more columns. The game is the progenitor of a large family of similar games, mostly with variations designed to make it easier to get out.
Scorpion is a patience or solitaire card game using a deck of 52 playing cards. Although somewhat related to Spider, the method of game play is akin to Yukon. The object of this game is to form four columns of suit sequence cards from king down to ace.
Bisley is a patience or card solitaire which uses a deck of 52 playing cards, and while difficult, it often can be completed successfully. It is closely related to Baker's Dozen, but the foundations are built upwards from Ace and downwards from King simultaneously. It is one of the few one-deck games in which the player has options on which foundation a card can be placed.
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.
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.
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.
Martha is a patience or solitaire card game that is played with a deck of 52 playing cards. It has a novelty of having half of the cards in the tableau faced down.
Mrs. Mop is a patience or solitaire card game which is played using two decks of playing cards. Invented by Charles Jewell, it is a relative of the solitaire game Spider in which all of the cards are dealt face up at the beginning of the game. The game seems easy at first, but when played, winning is difficult and it is rare to be able to complete the game 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.
Leoni's Own is a 19th century American card solitaire played with two decks of playing cards shuffled together. This game may have come from Austria, takes approximately 20 minutes and is described as medium regarding difficulty and also uses an ingenious method called weaving. It is often confused by card game book writers with Weaver's which has a similar mode of play but different rules and terminology.
Duchess of Luynes is a patience or card solitaire game played with two packs of playing cards. It is a two deck game in 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.
Algerian or Algerian Patience is a unique and difficult patience or card solitaire using two decks of playing cards. The object of the game is to build 8 foundations down from King to Ace or up from Ace to King in suit.
American Toad is a patience or card solitaire game played using two standard packs of playing cards. It is similar to Canfield except that the tableau builds down in suit, and a partial tableau stack cannot be moved, only the top card or entire stack. The object is to move all cards to the foundations.
Backbone is a unique and difficult patience or card solitaire game using two packs of playing cards. The object is to move all cards to the foundations.
Batsford is a patience or card solitaire similar to Klondike except that it uses two decks instead of one. The cards are turned up one at a time during a single pass through the deck, and there is also a reserve pile available for a single King.
Australian Patience is a patience or card solitaire using one deck of playing cards. This game is a challenging combination of Klondike and Scorpion, and is also closely related to Yukon. The object of the game is to move all of the cards to the Foundations.