Gargantua (card game)

Gargantua
A Patience game
Family	Klondike-like
Deck	Double 52-card
	See also Glossary of solitaire

Last updated April 12, 2023

Gargantua is a patience or solitaire card game that is a version of Klondike using two decks.^[1] It is also known as Double Klondike^[2] (not to be confused with the two-player game known as Double Klondike or Double Solitaire) and as Jumbo (in AisleRiot Solitaire which is part of the GNOME Desktop).

Rules

Instead of the seven depots forming the tableau as in Klondike, in Gargantua nine are formed. Forming these nine tableau piles of cards, i.e. dealing the cards, is like much like Klondike. One face-up card is placed on the first column, then eight cards are each placed face-down on the other eight depots. Over these eight face-down cards are one face-up card and seven face-down cards, and so on until all nine depots have a face-up card. The rest of the deck becomes the stock. The foundation/tableau should look like this:

      O   O   O   O   O   O   O   O      ┌─┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐ ┌─┐  │ │ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤  └─┘ │ │ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤      └─┘ │ │ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤          └─┘ │ │ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤              └─┘ │ │ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤                  └─┘ │ │ ├─┤ ├─┤ ├─┤                      └─┘ │ │ ├─┤ ├─┤                          └─┘ │ │ ├─┤                               └─┘ │ │                                  └─┘

As in Klondike, play consists of the following:

The eight foundations, represented by the Os in the diagram, are built up in suits starting from the ace.
Depots (piles in the tableau) and cards are built down by alternating colors in partial or complete piles.
Face-down cards are immediately turned up when they become the top cards of their piles.
Spaces can be filled only by Kings or piles with Kings as bottom cards.

For dealing the stock, cards from it are dealt to the waste pile one at a time and used if possible. The stock can only be dealt twice; afterwards the leftover cards are left at the waste pile. The game is won if all cards are transferred to the foundations.

Variations

Harp is another two-deck version of Klondike like Gargantua, but the stock can only be dealt four times.

Ultra Klondike is a Klondike variant that uses multiple packs of cards. The most simple version involves two packs, with eight foundation stacks rather than four. Instead of the standard seven columns of cards used in normal Klondike, twelve columns are used for two packs, sixteen for three packs.

As the number of packs used rises, it becomes harder to complete the game, due to the increase in the proportion of suits to stacks (four to seven in single pack games, eight to twelve in two pack games, twelve to sixteen in three pack games). The standard numbers of foundation stacks and columns are shown in the table for different numbers of starting packs.

Packs	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Foundation stacks	4	8	12	16	20	24	28	32	36	40	44	48	52	56	60	64	68	72	76	80	84	88	92	96	100
Columns	7	12	16	18	21	23	25	27	29	30	32	34	35	37	38	39	40	41	43	44	45	46	47	48	49

For 15 or more packs, an alternative starting layout is generally used with more columns, and fewer cards in the longest columns. Instead of the cards being laid out in a triangle, with one card face up in each row, two cards are turned up - one at each end of each row. A game with 20 packs would use 62 columns, with the two middle columns having just 31 cards.

Related Research Articles

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.

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.

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.

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.

Persian Patience is a patience card game which is played with two decks of playing cards. The unusual feature of this game is the fact that the two decks are decks used in Piquet and Bezique, i.e. those that have the Deuces (twos), Treys (Threes), Fours, Fives, and Sixes removed.

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.

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.

Amazons is an old patience or card solitaire game which is played with a single deck of playing cards. The game is played with a Piquet pack minus the kings or a standard 52-card pack that has its twos, threes, fours, fives, sixes, and kings removed. This game is named after the female-led tribe, the Amazons, because the queen is the highest card, and all queens are displayed if the game is won.

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.

Double Solitaire is a two-player variant on the best-known patience or solitaire card game called Klondike. While it is mostly referred to as Double Solitaire, it is sometimes called Double Klondike. Games with more players are also possible.

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.

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.

Corona is a relatively long and difficult patience or card solitaire using two decks. The object of the game is to move all of the cards to the foundations. Successfully winning the game is considered difficult.

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.

Travellers is a card game of the patience or card solitaire genre which uses a single card pack of either 52 or 32 playing cards. It is an interesting game based on "an entirely new principle" which Parlett describes as a "rhythmical feature that might be called 'shuttling'", as in the game of Weavers. It should not be confused with the twin-pack patience game, also called Travellers.

References

↑ Gargantua Solitaire Rules, Solitaire Central. Retrieved 14 October 2020.
↑ Parlett 1979, p. 118.

Bibliography

Parlett, David (1979). The Penguin Book of Patience. London: Penguin. ISBN 0-7139-1193-X.