A Patience game | |
Type | Open builder |
---|---|
Family | Salic Law |
Deck | Single 52-card |
See also Glossary of solitaire |
Stalactites is a solitaire card game which uses a deck of 52 playing cards. [1] 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.
Stalactites was invented by Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith for their 1950 treatise on patience games and given the alternative names of Old Mole and Grampus. [2]
The player deals four cards from the deck. These four cards form the foundations. They are turned sideways (although it is not necessary to do so).
The rest of the cards are dealt into eight columns of six cards each on the tableau. These cards can only be built up on the foundations regardless of suit and they cannot be built on each other.
Before the game starts, the player can decide on how the foundations should be built. Building can be either in ones (A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K) or in twos (A-3-5-7-9-J-K-2-4-6-8-10-Q). Once the player makes up his mind, he begins building on the foundations from the cards on the tableau. The foundations are built, as already mentioned, up regardless of suit, and it goes round the corner, building from King to Ace (if building by ones) or from Queen to Ace (if building by twos) if necessary. The foundation cards turned sideways, though not necessarily be done, is a reminder of the last card's rank on each foundation.
The cards in the tableau should be placed in the foundations according to the building method the player decides to use. But when there are cards that cannot (or does not want to) be moved to the foundations, certain cards can be placed on a reserve. Any card can be placed on the reserve. But once a card is placed on the reserve, it must be built on a foundation; it should never return to the tableau. Furthermore, the reserve can only hold two cards.
The game is won when all cards are built onto the foundations, each having 13 cards. The four starting cards in the foundations don't have to be of the same rank; so results vary with each won 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.
Virginia Reel is a patience or card solitaire game which uses two decks of 52 playing cards mixed together. The object of the game is to place all the cards in the 24 foundations. It was created by Albert H. Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith as an improvement on the older game of Royal Parade.
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.
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. 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 and Numerica. Ednah Cheney (1869) calls it Solitaire and says "it is the simplest form of patience".
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."
Capricieuse is an old English patience played using two packs of playing cards. Some authors call it Capricious.
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.
Intrigue is a solitaire card game which is played using two decks of playing cards. It is similar to another solitaire game called Salic Law, but it also involves the queens and building in the foundations goes both ways.
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.
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.
Four Corners, also known as Les Quatre Coins, Cornerstones, or Corner Patience, is a solitaire card game which is played with two decks of playing cards. It is so called because of the pile of four cards at the corners of the tableau.