Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (24 page)

When you run out of moves, turn up the topmost stock card and play it to the foundations, if possible. Otherwise, play it face up onto a waste pile (the top waste card may always be played). You may turn over and redeal the stock as many times as you like.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   high
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   medium
   
3. DECKS
   : 2
   

Some Solitaire games appear easy to win, and are easy to win. Other games appear easy yet have some twist that makes them difficult to win. Parallels belongs to the latter group. The odds of winning here are 1 in every 25 hands.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with two fifty-two-card decks (104 cards total), and deal four aces and four kings (one per suit) to your foundations. Next, shuffle and deal ten cards face up, in a row. This is the first row in your tableau.

WINNING
Build eight total foundations: four by suit in ascending rank from ace to king, four by suit in descending rank from king to ace.

HOW TO PLAY
Build cards from your tableau to the foundations, and fill any gaps in the tableau with cards from the stock.

If all gaps are filled and you still cannot move, deal ten new face-up cards in a row directly below the original row of ten tableau cards. Continue building your foundations, filling any gaps in the tableau from the stock. Deal another row of ten cards to the tableau each time you run out of moves.

As your tableau grows, note that you may play any tableau card to the foundations as long as there is at least one empty space either above or below the
card. Because of this rule, don’t be in a rush to full gaps in the tableau. The gaps definitely come in handy!

There is no redeal in Parallels; the game is over when the stock is exhausted.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   high
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   medium
   
3. DECKS
   : 2
   

This game enjoyed its fifteen minutes of fame back in the 1920s, when it was featured in a silent Mary Pickford film titled
Sparrows
. The game has since fallen out of favor, placing it near the top of any “Endangered Solitaire Games” list. Even though luck plays only a minor role in Patriarchs, the odds of winning are a daunting 1 in every 80 hands.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with two fifty-two-card decks (104 cards total), and deal four aces and four kings (one per suit) to your foundations. Next, shuffle and deal three rows of three cards, all face up. This is your tableau. The remaining cards are your stock.

WINNING
Build eight foundations in total: four by suit in ascending rank from ace to king, four by suit in descending rank from king to ace.

HOW TO PLAY
Tableau cards may be built only on the foundations; they may not be built upon or moved to other tableau piles. When two foundations of the same suit meet (e.g., when one is built up to an 8 and the other is built down to a 9), you may transfer cards between them. However, you may not transfer the bottom card of a foundation.

When you cannot move, turn up a stock card and build it on a foundation. Or, discard it face up on the waste pile (the topmost waste card may always be played). Fill any tableau vacancies with the topmost waste card, or if the waste pile is empty, with a stock card.

There is just one redeal in Patriarchs. When the stock is empty, pick up the waste pile and turn it over (do not shuffle) to create a new stock.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   medium
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   short
   
3. DECKS
   : 2
   

This version of Solitaire is popular in Iran, hence the name. The game uses a “short” or stripped deck, a legacy of the thirty-two-card decks common throughout ancient Persia and modern Iran. The odds of winning are 1 in every 6 hands.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with two fifty-two-card decks, and remove all 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s, and 6s, leaving sixty-four cards total. Deal eight tableau piles in a row, with eight face-up cards per pile.

WINNING
Build eight foundations, each by suit in ascending rank from ace to king (A-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K).

HOW TO PLAY
The topmost tableau cards may be built on your foundations, or on other tableau piles in descending rank and by alternating color (e.g., J of hearts-10 of spades-9 of diamonds…). You may move only one tableau card at a time.

When all moves are exhausted, pick up all cards
not
in a foundation pile (gather one pile at a time, top to bottom and left to right, and do not shuffle). Redeal eight tableau piles, one card at a time, moving left to right until you run out of cards. You may redeal twice in Persian Patience.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   medium
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   short
   
3. DECKS
   : 1