Solitaire has been recognised as one of children’s and adults’ favorite pastimes. From playing with real cards to the computers and now transcending on the phone, Solitaire is now one of the most popular and well-loved games. The game, which started in the 18th century, is relevant even today. So much so that there are more than 150 different variations of Solitaire. If you aren’t entirely a pro at playing Solitaire, or you haven’t played for a long time and need to brush up your skills, read this blog to know how to play Solitaire!
History of the game
Solitaire is an exciting tabletop game that also has a beautiful history. The game originated towards the end of the 18th century. It started as a fortune-telling game that started its root in the Baltic region. The oldest known collection was seen in Russia in 1826, later followed by Germany and France. The English collection of Solitaire in seen in 1870. French terms inspire many terms in Solitaire. Words like “Tableau” is a table, and “Talon” is the heel. You can also see the mention of Solitaire in English literature. It became well known as a computer game in the 1980s.
The objective of Solitaire
The objective of the solitaire game is to move all the cards from the tableau columns and arrange the suit in ascending order: From the King to Ace. The King is the highest card in this arrangement, and Ace is the lowest. You have to arrange them in the shortest possible time limit.
There are many types of card piles that you have to know in this game
To understand the objective, you need to understand the types of card piles in the game. Solitaire has the following piles of cards:
The Deal of Solitaire game
There are four types of piles in Solitaire:
- The Tableau: The main table in Solitaire is made up of seven piles
- The Foundations: The foundation piles are hearts, diamonds, spades, and clubs—these four piles must build suit or sequence. In most Solitaire games, the four aces are at the bottom card or make up the base of the foundation and go up to the King card of each suit.
- The Stock Pile: The Stock Pile, also called the Hand Pile, is when the entire pack is not yet laid on the table; the rest of the cards form the stockpile. While playing the game of Solitaire, more cards are brought from the stockpile as required for the game.
- The Talon Pile: The cards from the “Talon Pile” or the “Waste Pile” are cards from the stock that you cannot use in the foundation pile or the tableau.
How to form a Tableau?
You need seven piles to form a tableau. Start from left to right, place the first card face up to make the first pile, deal one card face down for the following six piles.
Starting from left to right, place the first card face up on the second pile and then deal one card face down for the following six piles.
Start again from left to right, place one card face-up on the third pile and deal one card face down on piles four through seven.
Continue with this until the seventh pile has one card facing up on top of six cards facing down.
To get additional cards, form the stock (or “hand”) pile and place it above the tableau when required.
How to play Solitaire
The initial array may be changed by building and transferring cards among the face-up cards in the tableau. Certain tableau cards can be played at once- while you cannot play the other cards until the blocking cards are removed.
For instance, out of the seven cards facing up in the tableau, if one is a nine and the other has ten, you must transfer the nine below the ten to build the sequential order. Now that you have moved a nine card from the pile, you have an unblocked face-down card (this is more evident on the computer). Once you uncover this card, you can use this card in your moves.
As you keep transferring and uncovering the cards while building sequences, you will come across an ace. It would help if you placed the ace in one of the foundation piles. You have to build the foundation piles sequentially from Ace to King of the same suit.
Follow the same pattern to transfer cards on top of each other in the tableau sequentially. When you cannot use any card for tableau or foundation piles, move the card to the waste pile. To further and complete your foundation or tableau, use the cards from the stockpile.
If there is a vacancy in a tableau because of the removal of cards, it is called a “space.” This is majorly important in manipulating the tableau. If a space is created, it can only be filled in with a King card (of any suit). When you fill the vacant space with a King card, you are unblocking another card from the tableau.
Keep transferring the cards in the tableau and bring cards into play from the stockpile until you stack all the cards in sequences, all in the same suit, in all the four foundation piles!
How to win Solitaire?
Now that you know that, you need to arrange those piles in a tableau or foundations to win. Moving on, you should now understand the different ways you can deal with the remaining cards of the deck, from the stock to talon. These are;
- You are allowed to turn three cards simultaneously to the waste without any limits on passes via the deck.
- You can also turn them to the waste through three passes via the deck.
- You can turn a card to the waste with three passes through the deck.
- Turn one card at a time with a single pass through the deck; you can do that as well.
- Turn a single card to the waste without a limit on passes through the deck.
Also Read: 3 Easy Card Games You can Play Online
How to play Solitaire on MPL
In MPL Solitaire, you will be fighting against another player within a given time frame, and the player with the highest score wins.
The start score is 1000. Each move deducts the game score by 1
You have to move the cards in descending order, under the cards of a different colour.
Like regular Solitaire, you can only move the King in an empty space.
The game’s goal is to move all the cards to the foundation deck, beginning from the Ace to King.
If there are no more cards remaining, take new ones from the stockpile
Try to place all the cards on the foundation deck before the timer ends!
Types of Solitaire
1. Spider Solitaire– A tougher version of Solitaire. It uses two card decks instead of one and a ten tableau pile instead of seven. Players are required to arrange cards in a similar suit in descending order- that is- from King to Ace within a pile.
2. FreeCell– You can play Free Cell with a deck of 52 cards, and you have to deal it into eight tableaus. The first and the last piles each have 7 and 6 face-up cards, respectively.
Players have four storage piles where they can store the cards. You cannot move more than one card in a single move in the Free Cell. Since its invention during the 1980s, this game has been popular.
3. Emperor– A card game similar to Spider Solitaire. You have to play it with two standard decks instead of one. Instead of seven, it has ten piles of four cards that you have to deal with. The first three cards in a column are face down, but the fourth card is face up.
You have to move the cards one at a time; you cannot move them in groups. The gameplay of Emperor is to free the Aces and then build the foundations in the tableau. It is quite a time-consuming game.
Also Read: Top 10 Solitaire Games to Play on Your Smartphone
4. Yukon– The Yukon Solitaire game uses a standard deck of 52 cards, but there are no stock or talon piles in this game. You use all the cards to make a seven tableau pile, then add the five extra piles 2 through 7, all face-up. The sequence does not matter here; you can move a group of faced-up cards within the tableau.
5. Bowling Solitaire– In Bowling Solitaire, you can play only through Aces through 10s. In this game, the deck is without face-down cards. After shuffling, you set up pins by building a pyramid using flipped-over cards of 4 rows.
It goes in the following sequence: The first row will have one card, the second will have 2, and so on. You then set up bowling balls by making three piles, the first with five cards, the second with three, and the third with two cards. You can only flip the top card and knock those pins that have come upon the card. You score like you would in regular bowling.
In Conclusion
There you have it! Not just the rules, but now you can many different types of Solitaire too. Try out MPL Solitaire to double the fun!
