How to Play Solitaire Card Game?

If you ask any person, which is their favourite card game, most of them will answer ‘Solitaire’. It is a card game that is played by a majority of people in the world. You will hardly find any person who doesn’t know how to play solitaire. But do you really know all the solitaire rules, tips & tricks?

Solitaire is also known as ‘Patience card game’, primarily in Europe. Many people from other continents might not know what it is in the first instance, but will ask what it is? How to play patience card game? It is played by one player, but in some versions, other players can join as well. The earliest records of the Solitaire game appear in northern Europe in the late 1700s. The Solitaire game that many people identify with, is ‘Klondike Solitaire’, it was previously played (and still played though) using physical cards. But Microsoft popularized this game to mad levels by introducing the digital version in their Windows OS from the 1990s onwards, this version is still played all over the world.

Types of Solitaire

Before moving on to how to play solitaire game, let’s see some of the basic types of solitaire.

1. The most common version is ‘solitaire with cards’ or Patience card game. Its variations include the Klondike solitaire, Yukon, Spider, and FreeCell.
2. Another single-player matching card game is Mahjong solitaire. It uses Mahjong tiles instead of cards, hence it is played on a PC than with physical tiles.
3. Concentration, which is known by many other names like Pelmanism, Memory, Pexeso, Shinkei-suijaku, Pairs, etc. is played by laying all the cards face down, and 2 cards are flipped face-up in every turn.
4. More of a puzzle than a game, Peg solitaire is a type where players need to empty the board of pegs using capturing and movement. You really don’t need to know how to play solitaire game in this type, that easy it is.

How to Play

For those who still don’t know how to play solitaire, it is an easy to learn, fun, and challenging card game. Before learning about solitaire game rules, you should know, a standard solitaire game uses one pack of 52 cards. What is the objective? You have to release certain cards and arrange them systematically in a position to build each foundation. You have to do this for each suit, and in sequence from Ace card to the King. Ultimately, you have to build all 4 suits, the full pack on the foundations, and then you will win the game.

The cards in solitaire are ranked as follows, from high to low: K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A. In the quest to know how to play patience card game, you should know about 4 different piles in it:

1. Tableau: It is a set of 7 piles on the main table.
2. The Hand or Stock pile: In the beginning, all the cards are not laid on the Tableau, some cards make up the stock pile from which additional cards are brought into play.
3. Foundation: In the end, you should build the whole suit in 4 piles of Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, and Clubs. Starting from Ace and ending with King card.
4. Waste or Talon pile: Cards that are not yet eligible for Tableau or Foundation piles, are laid face up in this pile. Learn these piles and tell others how to play solitaire.

You already read the end objective above, to achieve it, start by moving your cards and forming sequences. In the tableau, sequences can be made from high to low cards, from King to Ace. You can only add alternate red or black cards in the tableau. In the foundation pile, start adding cards from Ace, then 2, then 3, etc. as soon as you get them from the stock. Further in the knowledge of how to play patience card game, open cards one by one from the stock, see if they can fit anywhere in the tableau or foundation. Keep playing until all the cards are sequentially added to the foundation.

Rules of Solitaire

Crores of people in the world know how to play solitaire game, but how many of them really know the solitaire card game rules? When you know them and follow them diligently, it will become easier for you to win the game. Without wasting much time, let’s go through the rules for playing solitaire. Also see how many of them you knew, and which ones you didn’t!

1. Foundation can be filled starting only with the Ace card. Then only the 2 number card of the same suit should be added on it, then the 3 card on it, right until the King card.
2. There are specific solitaire game rules to move cards from one pile to another. In the tableau, you can only move a 5 card on a 6 card or a 10 card on a Joker card.
3. In the tableau, cards can be arranged only in descending order. From the King card to the Ace card.
4. Alternate cards have to be of different colours in the tableau. Only a black card can go on top of a red card and vice versa. We bet most of you know this one among all the solitaire rules.
5. Once you have gone through all the cards from the stock to the talon pile, you can start considering them all over again.
6. When you create a vacancy in a tableau by moving an entire row to other positions or on the Foundation, it can be filled first only with a King card. This one is important among all solitaire card game rules.

You should know that not all solitaire games can be won, some will end up in a stalemate or draw. The above ones are the basic & general solitaire rules, some variations of this game may have some specific rules for playing solitaire. Now let us move on to some Tips & Tricks you can use in solitaire.

Solitaire Tips & Tricks

Even though solitaire seems to be a simple and easy game to play, there will be times when you will be stuck and find no way to win even though you know how to play solitaire. You can use some of the tricks here to avoid such a situation and ease your win:

1. As soon as possible, move your Ace cards to the foundation section, even 2 numbered card.
2. When you move cards to other rows in the tableau, try to move cards from those rows that have the most number of hidden cards.
3. Related to point 6 of solitaire game rules, do not rush to make an empty space. Only do it when you have a King card to put there.
4. When you put a King card on an empty space, shift the one that will help you reveal more hidden cards.
5. Sometimes it will be wise not to rush any card from the tableau to the foundation pile. You might require it to bring the next value card from stock to the tableau.

Patience or Solitaire is truly a fun game to play, especially when you have nobody else to play with. Just know all the above rules, how to play patience with cards, tips & tricks; and you are set to be an expert at playing the good old solitaire in your free time.