| A card solitaire | |
 Game setup | |
| Type | Half-open builder |
|---|---|
| Deck | Two 52-card packs |
| Playing time | 20 min [1] |
| Odds of winning | 1 in 4 [1] |
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 .
First three cards, a 2, a 3, and a 4, are placed vertically, and beside each of these three cards a row of seven cards is laid out. The first row is known as the "2s' row," the second row the "3s' row," and the third row the "4s' row," with the first card indicating the rank of all the foundations in that row.
A fourth row of eight cards is dealt beneath this, and serves as the reserve.
The foundations are built up by suit in intervals of three, as illustrated in the table below.
| 2 | 5 | 8 | J |
| 3 | 6 | 9 | Q |
| 4 | 7 | 10 | K |
To play, a card can be moved to a foundation or to a rightful row from the other rows or from the reserve. When a card is moved from anywhere in the tableau, the gap it leaves behind must be filled with a card appropriate for the row where the gap is located. For instance, when a card has left the 2s' row, the gap it left behind must be filled with a 2, either from the other rows or from the reserve. This is especially true at the beginning of the game, where some cards are on each other's rows like a 4 in the 3s' row and a 3 in the 4s' row; a special rule allows exchanging cards to their rightful rows in this case.
While the first card in each row is already a foundation in itself and it can be built on, once a card ends up in its proper row it becomes a foundation itself.
The top cards in the reserve are in play and can be placed on the foundations, or be placed on a row (if it is a 2, 3, or 4). Empty spaces in the reserve are not filled until eight new cards are dealt when no more moves are possible.
Aces play no part in this game, and aces in the reserve are immediately discarded. An ace in any of the rows must be replaced by any applicable card for that row, e.g. to discard an ace from the 2s' row, a 2 must be available to replace it.
The game is considered won when all the cards are in foundations, with all face cards on top.
Royal Parade is played much the same way as Virginia Reel, and is a classic two-deck game with alternative names Financier, Hussars, and Three Up. [2] It is the original game on which Albert H. Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith based Virginia Reel, which they created as an improvement on Royal Parade. [3]
One difference between Royal Parade and Virginia Reel is that in Royal Parade when a card is moved from anywhere in the tableau, the gap it leaves behind does not have to be filled right away, but can be filled later by a card appropriate for the row that the gap is located in.
Several variants of both games exist, most of which adjust how the reserve works, e.g. allowing empty spaces in the reserve to be filled with other cards.
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.
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.
Beleaguered Castle is a patience or solitaire card game played with a deck of 52 playing cards. It is sometimes described as "Freecell without cells" because its game play is somewhat akin to the popular solitaire computer game of that name but without extra empty spaces to maneuver. Beleaguered Castle is also called Laying Siege and Sham Battle.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Odd and Even is a solitaire card game which is played with two decks of playing cards. It is so called because the building is done in twos, resulting in odd and even numbers.
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.
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.
Royal Parade is an old, English, two-pack patience of the half-open builder type. The object of the game is to move cards to the foundations to create a 'gallery' full of picture cards.
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