Sir Tommy

Sir Tommy
A patience or card solitaire game
Alternative names	The Old Patience, Sir Tommy Patience, Try Again
Type	Planner
Deck	Single 52-card pack
Playing time	5 min
Odds of winning	1 in 5

Last updated December 12, 2023

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.^[2] 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^[2] and Numerica. Ednah Cheney (1869) calls it Solitaire and says "it is the simplest form of patience".^[3]

Rules

Cards are dealt one at a time. When an ace turns up, it forms a foundation which builds up to King regardless of suit. Four such foundations should be built. A card that cannot yet be placed on the foundation is placed onto one of four wastepiles; once placed, it cannot be moved, but the top card of each wastepile remains available to be placed on a foundation.^[2]

The game is won if all cards are emptied from the wastepiles and built on the foundations.

Strategy

To achieve a win, skilled players typically reserve one wastepile for Kings and for other high cards, and trying to avoid trapping a lower-ranked card under all four cards of some higher rank. With good play, it's possible to win 1 in 5 games.

Variants

Many variants exist, including one where four cards are turned up at a time rather than one, and must all be placed before making other moves. Puss in the Corner has a slightly different layout, and is a very similar game except that building happens by colour rather than suit.

Closely related to Sir Tommy are Auld Lang Syne^[4] and Tam O'Shanter, both of which are considered nearly impossible to win; Old Fashioned and Acquaintance are both slightly easier versions of Auld Lang Syne.

In the less flexible Alternate, the foundations are built in alternate colors, building one upwards, and the other downwards. Building happens by colour in the variant Colours , with six waste-piles making the game easier.

Strategy is a Sir Tommy variant invented by Albert H. Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith, and uses eight tableau piles to make the game much easier. Last Chance is also easier courtesy of seven tableau piles and a reserve pile.^[5]

The popular patience game Calculation is also derivative from Sir Tommy, and changes the goal to place cards on the foundations by increasing ranks of 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively, and is a game of great skill.

Related Research Articles

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.

Musical is a patience or card solitaire using a single deck of 52 playing cards. It is similar to another old game called Calculation except there is no tableau to play in and there is only one wastepile rather than four.

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.

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.

Eagle Wing is a Patience game which is played with a deck of 52 playing cards. The game takes its name from the tableau which depicts an eagle-like bird spreading its wings in flight. It is somewhat related to the Canfield variant Storehouse.

Big Ben is a patience or card solitaire which uses two decks of playing cards mixed together. It is named after Big Ben, the nickname of the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster in London.

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."

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.

Puss in the Corner, also called Puss in Corner is a patience or solitaire card game that is played with a single pack of 52 playing cards. It is of the half-open, planner type and is a "thinly disguised variant of Sir Tommy," but with modifications and with the waste piles placed at the corners of the foundations, hence the name. It has the rare feature that the suits are built up in colour, not in suit.

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.

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.

Frog is an old French patience or solitaire card game which is played with two decks of playing cards. It belongs to the same family of solitaire games as Strategy, Sir Tommy, Calculation, and Puss in the Corner. Game-play is like Sir Tommy, but with two decks, a fifth waste pile, and a Canfield-like reserve. In its native France it is known as Le Crapaud.

Patience (Europe), card solitaire or solitaire (US/Canada), is a genre of card games whose common feature is that the aim is to arrange the cards in some systematic order or, in a few cases, to pair them off in order to discard them. Most are intended for play by a single player, but there are also "excellent games of patience for two or more players".

References

1 2 Morehead & Mott-Smith (2001), p. 54.
1 2 3 Parlett (1979), p. 214.
↑ Cheney (1869), p. 2.
↑ "Auld Lang Syne" (p.17) in The Little Book of Solitaire, Running Press, 2002. ISBN 0-7624-1381-6
↑ Morehead & Mott-Smith (2001), pp. 99–100.

Literature

Cheney, Mrs. E. D. (1869). Patience: A Series of Games with Cards. 2nd edn, with additions. Boston: Lee & Shepard. NY: Lee, Shepard & Dillingham.
Parlett, David Sidney (1979). The Penguin Book of Patience. London: A. Lane ISBN 0-7139-1193-X OCLC 6633144
Pole, W. (1875). "Games at Cards for One Player" in Macmillan’s Magazine . January 1875, Toronto: Robarts. pp. 242 ff. Account of "The Old Patience".
Morehead, Albert H. and Geoffrey Mott-Smith (2001) The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience. Slough: Foulsham OCLC 1357504346
Whitmore Jones, Mary (1888,90). "Old Tommy Patience" in Games of Patience for One or More Players. 1st Series. London: L. Upcott Gill. pp. 9–10.