Westcliff (card game)

Westcliff
A Patience game
Type	Simple packer
Family	Napoleon at St Helena
Deck	Single 52-card
Playing time	5 min
Odds of winning	Classic game: ~1 in 4; American game: 9 in 10

Last updated August 10, 2023

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.^[3] One version is particularly easy to win, with odds of 9 in 10; the other is harder with odds closer to 1 in 4.^[2] The game has a variant, Easthaven.

History and naming

The first known rules for this two-variant family were published under the name Westcliff Patience by Mary Whitmore Jones in 1911, who describes it as a "tantalising little game."^[4] This original version had a tableau of 21 cards in three overlapping rows. Packed sequences could be moved at will to spaces or other piles, but no more rows were dealt. Coops (1939) records it possibly for the first time in US also under the name of Westcliff^[1] and this is the name Parlett (1979) uses.^[3] Parlett also points out, however, the confusion generated by Morehead & Mott-Smith in 1949 when they described two new variants. Westcliff, the version with a 21-card tableau, was renamed Easthaven, and its rules eased to allow further rows of 7 cards to be dealt, but a restriction was placed on the filling of spaces. Meanwhile, the name Westcliff was transferred to a new variant with a 30-card tableau arranged in 10 piles of three cards. Its mechanics were the same as the original Westcliff, but the larger tableau made it easier to win.^[2]

Rules

Classic Westcliff

The following rules are based on the original description by Whitmore Jones (1911), supplemented where necessary by Parlett (1979):^[4]^[3]

One pack is required. Two rows of seven cards are dealt face down, followed by a third row, face up, the rows overlapping. Aces are removed, as they appear, to begin the foundations and built up in suit sequence to the Kings. Cards are dealt singly from the talon to the foundations or tableau if possible or to a rubbish-heap if not.^{[lower-alpha 1]}

Exposed cards on the tableau may be packed on in descending sequence and alternating colour. As exposed cards are moved, the card beneath is turned up and used if possible.

Any exposed card or packed sequence may be moved either to fill a space or onto a card of the next higher value and different colour. There is no re-deal. The patience is out when all four foundations are built up in suit to the King.

American Westcliff

The following description of Westcliff reflects Morehead & Mott-Smith (1949) except where noted:^[2]

First, ten columns of three cards each are dealt face down, then the top card of each column is turned face up.

The face-up cards are available for play either on the foundations or on each other on the tableau. The foundations are built up by suit from Ace to King. The tableau cards are built down by alternating colour. A sequence of cards formed can be moved as a unit in part or altogether. Any face-down card once exposed is turned face up and a space that is exposed as a result of emptying a column can be filled with any card or sequence.

When there are no more moves to be made, the stock is dealt to the waste pile one at a time. Any card that cannot be built yet to the foundations or on the tableau is placed on the waste pile, the top card of which is available for play. The stock can only be dealt once.

The game is won when all cards are built onto the foundations and there is a 9 in 10 chance of winning.

Easthaven

The variant of Easthaven, first recorded by Morehead & Mott-Smith in 1949, differs from the later, American, form of Westcliff in the following points:

Only seven piles of three cards are dealt; thus the tableau is the same as that of classic Westcliff.
When no more play is possible, another row of seven cards may be dealt, face up, onto the seven depots of the tableau.
The last three cards in hand are dealt to the first three depots of the tableau.
A space may only be filled by a King or a sequence with a King at the base.

Footnotes

↑ Presumably the top card of the wastepile is available for play, but neither Whitmore Jones nor Parlett explicitly state this.

Related Research Articles

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Baroness is a patience or card solitaire that is played with a single deck of 52 playing cards. It is similar to other members of the Simple Addition family and is also distantly related to Aces Up.

Emperor is an English patience or solitaire card game which is played using two packs of playing cards. Although similar to other members of the large Napoleon at St Helena family, Emperor introduced the unique and distinguishing feature of worrying back as well as the novel term "sealed packet".

Napoleon's Square is a patience or solitaire card game which uses two decks of playing cards. First described in a revised edition of Lady Cadogan's Illustrated Games of Patience or Solitaire in the early 1900s, it is an easy variation of Napoleon at St Helena. It is not determined if Napoleon actually played this game, or any solitaire game named after him.

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.

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.

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.

References

1 2 Coops (1939), p. 14.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Morehead & Mott-Smith (1949), pp. 43–44.
1 2 3 Parlett (1979), pp. 96–97.
1 2 Whitmore Jones (1911), pp. 159–161.

Bibliography

Coops, Helen Leslie (1939). 100 Games of Solitaire. Whitman. 128 pp.
Morehead, A. H. & G. Mott-Smith (1949). The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games. NY: Longmans.
Parlett, David (1979). The Penguin Book of Patience, Penguin, London. ISBN 0-7139-1193-X
Whitmore Jones, Mary (1911). New Games of Patience. 2nd series. London: L. Upcott Gill.

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[5] Presumably the top card of the wastepile is available for play, but neither Whitmore Jones nor Parlett explicitly state this.

[Coops-1] 1 2 Coops (1939), p. 14.

[MMS-2] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Morehead & Mott-Smith (1949), pp. 43–44.

[Parlett-3] 1 2 3 Parlett (1979), pp. 96–97.

[Jones-4] 1 2 Whitmore Jones (1911), pp. 159–161.

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