| A Patience game | |
 Initial setup | |
| Named variants | Scorpion II, Three Blind Mice, Wasp |
|---|---|
| Family | Spider |
| Deck | Single 52-card |
| See also Glossary of solitaire | |
Scorpion is a patience or solitaire card game using a deck of 52 playing cards. [1] 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.
The game starts with 49 cards dealt into seven columns of seven cards each on the tableau. The first four columns each have three face-down cards with four face-up cards placed over them. The cards in the remaining three columns are all faced up. The three leftover cards are set aside for later.
Cards in the tableau are built down by suit and every face up card is available for play, no matter where in the column it is. That means that any card can be placed on top of a card that is a rank higher. Once a card from the bottom or middle of a column is moved, all cards on top of it are moved as well, as one unit. Nothing can be placed on an ace and gaps on the tableau can only be taken by kings or sequences with Kings as their top cards. Once a face-down card is exposed, it is turned face up.
When no more moves are possible, the three leftover cards are dealt onto the first three columns and put into play.
As earlier mentioned, the object of the game is to build four columns of suit sequences from king down to ace. So when one such column is built successfully, it is a general rule to leave this column alone, unless it covers a face-down card.
The game is won when the object is fulfilled.
Scorpion II is an alternate version of the game in which the number of columns containing three face-down cards and the number of columns in which all cards are faced up are the reverse of the prevalent version, i.e. the first three columns each have three face-down cards with four face-up cards placed over them while the cards in the remaining four columns are all faced up. Despite the reversal, the game remains the same but making it easier than regular "Scorpion".
Wasp is almost identical to Scorpion, except that when a space is formed in the tableau, any card or sequence can be placed in it. This gives the player more chances of winning than in Scorpion.
Three Blind Mice is another Scorpion variation with a starting tableau of 10 columns of five cards. [2] The three rightmost columns should each have three bottom cards faced down and two top cards face up. The three cards in each of those columns gave the game its name after the nursery rhyme. The five cards in each of the rest of the columns are all face up. The two leftover cards are set aside face up to be used any time in the game whenever necessary. Game play is the same as in Scorpion.
Curds and Whey is another spider type game in the style of Scorpion, and was created by David Parlett. [3]
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.
Gargantua is a patience or solitaire card game that is a version of Klondike using two decks. It is also known as Double Klondike and as Jumbo.
Black Hole is a patience or solitaire card game. It is of the open builder type; its play is similar to Golf and Tri Peaks, but with a tableau of fans like that of La Belle Lucie. Invented by David Parlett, this game's objective is to compile the entire deck into one foundation.
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 your 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.
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.
Stonewall is a solitaire card game using a deck of 52 playing cards. It is probably thus named because the player seems to break down walls in exposing more of the face-down cards.
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.
Rouge et Noir is a patience card game which is played using two decks of playing cards. Invented by Charles Jewell, it is a unique game where two types of building are done in the same game.
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."
Penguin is a patience or solitaire card game, invented by David Parlett, which uses a deck of 52 playing cards. The game play is similar to solitaire card games like the popular Freecell and its predecessor Eight Off.
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.
German Patience is a solitaire card game which is played with two decks of playing cards shuffled together. It is an unusual game because building in the tableau or playing area is up, as opposed to building down in many others. Despite its name, it is not known if this game originated from Germany.
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.
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.
Archway is a solitaire card game using two decks of 52 playing cards. Its goal is to bring all 104 cards into the foundation. It was invented by David Parlett, and is based on an old French solitaire game called La Chatelaine.
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.
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.
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