| A Patience game | |
| Family | Spider |
|---|---|
| Deck | Single 52-card |
| See also Glossary of solitaire | |
Simple Simon is a patience or solitaire card game played with a regular 52 cards deck (4 suits of 13 cards each without Jokers). It is a close relative of the well-known Spider Solitaire. It became somewhat popular being featured in some computerized collections of Solitaire card games, but its origins possibly predate its implementation as a computerized game.
At the beginning of the play the cards are dealt all facing the player, starting from 3 columns of 8 cards each, and then 7 columns with 7, 6, and so forth cards until 1.
A card can be placed on any card on the top of a column whose rank is greater than it by one (with no cards that can be placed above an Ace). A sequence of cards, decrementing in rank and of the same suit, can be moved as one. An empty column can be filled by any card. A sequence of cards from the king down to the Ace - all of the same suit - can be moved to the foundations. The object of the game is to place all four suits in the foundations.
A mixed-suit sequence of cards can be moved to a different location, given enough empty columns or parent cards to place intermediate components and sub-sequences of cards on. This is similar to FreeCell only with the individual components of the sequence being the same-suit sub-sequences rather than individual cards as in FreeCell. Note that some implementations of Simple Simon, require the player to do all the moving of the individual components by himself.
In September 2001, Shlomi Fish adapted Freecell Solver, an automated solver for various solitaire card games, to solve Simple Simon. [1] The statistics presented by the solver when run over a range of 4000 random games showed that about 85% of the games were solvable. [2] Another programmer added another type of move which reportedly increased the percentage of games that were solvable by the solver to well over 90%. [3]
In 2009 a more up-to-date version of Freecell Solver produced the result that the solver was able to solve 4,533 (or 90%) of the deals, and generally reached a conclusion within 100 moves. [4] The comment has been made that this is "what makes the game a joy: either it's impossible to solve and you see it in the first moves or it's solvable and you only have to find the best route." [5]
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, as well as one of the most challenging in widespread play. 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.
FreeCell is a solitaire card game played using the standard 52-card deck. It is fundamentally different from most solitaire games in that very few deals are unsolvable, and all cards are dealt face-up from the very beginning of the game. Although software implementations vary, most versions label the hands with a number.
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.
Eight Off is a patience or solitaire card game, named after its employment of eight cells, played with one deck of playing cards. The object of the game is to move all the cards into the foundations. It served as a partial inspiration for and is very similar to the popular solitaire game FreeCell.
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 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.
Stalactites is a solitaire card game which uses a deck of 52 playing cards. The game is similar to Freecell, but differs in the way that cards are built onto the foundations and packed on the tableau. It has just two cells, and most games are winnable with good play.
Baker's Dozen is a patience or card solitaire using a single pack of fifty-two playing cards. The game is so called because of the 13 columns in the game, the number in a baker's dozen.
The Flower Garden is an old patience or card solitaire using a single deck of 52 playing cards, and is based on an old Japanese game. It was first called Le Parterre, but is also known under the names The Bouquet and The Garden. The terms used in this game are related to gardening. Some skill is needed to successfully complete the game, and skilful players can win more than 20% of the time.
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.
Mount Olympus is a solitaire card game using two decks of 52 playing cards. It is probably thus named because of the tableau's mountain shape and because if won, all the kings and queens are displayed, like the Greek gods and goddesses who were said to reside on Mount Olympus.
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.
Rouge et Noir is a patience card game which is played using two decks of playing cards. It is a unique game where two types of building are done in the same game.
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.
Capricieuse is an old English patience played using two packs of playing cards. Some authors call it Capricious.
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.
Miss Milligan is a patience game which is played using two decks of playing cards, and is one of the most popular of the double-deck games. According to Peter Arnold, author of Card Games for One, this classic game's enduring popularity is in part due to its amazing tendency to enable complete recovery from seemingly hopeless positions. Winning chances with good play are about 1 in 20 games.
Spider Solitaire, also known as Microsoft Spider Solitaire, is a solitaire (NA)/patience (EU) card game that is included in Microsoft Windows. It is a version of Spider. As of 2005, it was the most played game on Windows PCs, surpassing the shorter and less challenging Klondike-based Windows Solitaire.
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