Have a little extra time on your hands and want to learn how to play regular solitaire? This solo card game is a great way to pass a rainy afternoon, and it also helps keep your mind sharp.
What Is Solitaire?
With more than 100 versions in existence, solitaire may be one of the most popular games in history. First mentioned in writing in the eighteenth century, this game has entertained people for more than two hundred years. Regular solitaire is also known as "Klondike."
Klondike uses a full deck of 52 playing cards. Jokers are removed. Due to the randomness inherent in the game, it isn't possible to win every session of regular solitaire. However, the odds of dealing a solvable game are at least 82 percent. This makes Klondike solitaire a great game for beginning card players.
How to Play Regular Solitaire
The rules of Klondike are fairly simple. The object of the game is to stack the cards by suit and in order on top of the ace. When all the cards are sorted, you have won the game.
Game Setup
To get started, set up your regular solitaire game as follows:
- Remove both jokers and thoroughly shuffle the deck of cards.
- Deal seven cards face down in a horizontal line.
- Skipping the first card, deal six cards, slightly overlapping the cards already on the table.
- Skipping the first and second piles, deal five cards onto the remaining columns of cards.
- Continue dealing cards in overlapping columns. The first column will have one card. The second will have two cards. The third will have three cards. You should end up with seven columns, the last column having seven cards.
- Place the remaining cards face down on the table in a pile. This is your stockpile.
- Finally, turn over the top card in each column.
Game Play
Once you get the hang of it, solitaire game play is easy. After you learn the basics, you can refine your strategy and win more of the games you play.
- If there are any aces face up, you can place them above the columns to create the card piles for each suit.
- When you remove a card to play it, you can turn over the card beneath it.
- Continue placing cards on the piles for each suit, following numerical order.
- You can also form an ordered stack, called a "tableau," with the remaining cards. This consists of placing smaller numbered cards on top of larger numbered cards. The numbers must be consecutive, and you must alternate red and black cards. Making tableaux can help you expose more face down cards.
- When you can't play anymore, you can cycle through the stockpile. Most solitaire players feel it is acceptable to go through the stockpile three times. You can't shuffle the stock pile.
- Continue turning over the face down cards as they are exposed. The game is finished when all of the cards are divided into the suit card stacks.
Electronic Alternatives
For many board game and card game fans, there's something special about holding an actual deck of cards in your hands. There's the sound of shuffling, the little noises the cards make as you put them on the table, and other parts of the solitaire experience that simply can't be replicated on a computer. However, if you want to play regular solitaire on a computer, you can learn more about free online solitaire.
