Grant Me the Patience to Deal (But Please Hurry!) Quiz

Answer: Klondike

Klondike developed among prospectors in the 19th century during the gold rush in (unsurprisingly) the Klondike, Canada. Build on the foundation in descending sequence in alternating color. Build in ascending sequence on the foundation by suit, always starting with the Ace.

In a variant called Aces Up, you deal seven columns of three cards apiece, face up. When you can make no more moves, you can deal new cards on top of the tableau.

Another variant called Yukon has no stock, so all the cards are dealt to the tableau initially. Other members of the Klondike family include: Batsford, Gargantua, King Albert, Seven Devils, and Westcliff.

Answer: Canfield

In the 1890s, Richard A. Canfield owned the Canfield Casino in Saratoga Springs, New York. A patron would buy a deck of cards for $50. The gambler would then earn $5 for every card he could place into the foundations; if he moved all 52 cards into the foundations, he would win $500. (This rarely happened.)

First you deal thirteen cards into the reserve, face up. The next card is laid face up and is the first foundation card. (So in the illustration, the four foundations are based on Threes rather than Aces, and they wrap.) Then you deal four more cards for the tableau, which you build down by alternating colors. Gaps are filled from the reserve. If you are stuck you can deal cards face up into the waste pile until you get a card you can use. You can you re-deal when you've exhausted the stock unlimited times.

Confusingly, in Britain, Canfield may also be known as Klondike, and Klondike as Canfield, partly because Mr. Canfield tried to call his game Klondike! Canfield is also called Demon in England. In a variant called Chameleon, there are only 12 cards, and only three tableau columns.

The Canfield (Demon) family of patience games includes American Toad, Duchess, and Eagle Wing.

Answer: Grandfather's Clock

The foundations are built ascending in sequence by suit. I must move the cards to the foundations so that the correct numbers are showing on the clock face. (So I'll never see a King on top when it's all done.) In the tableau, cards build in descending sequence regardless of suit or color. Only the bottom available card can be moved, never groups, but any available card can be moved to fill empty columns.

Grandfather's Clock is similar to another non-builder game, called Clock, but this game offers some strategic control, whereas Clock is almost entirely up to chance.

Answer: Flower Garden

The reserve, consisting of leftover cards after the columns are dealt is called the Bouquet, and each column is called a Flower Bed, while the entire tableau is the Garden. The game is also known as The Bouquet and The Garden.

In fan-type solitaire games, the layout is fanned; although the cards overlap, part of each card may be seen. They may be fanned left, right, up, or down. Fanned down, so that the card on the top of each pile is closest to the player, as in Flower Garden, is most prevalent.

Other fan-type games include Stonewall, Sharmocks, Eight Off, and Wildflower.

Answer: Spider

Groups of cards can only be moved if they are all in same suit and are in perfect descending order. For example I could move a 7, 6 and 5 of hearts as a group onto any open eight. When I manage to sequence Ace through King in one column, all of the same suit, that column is then discarded. When play comes to a standstill, 10 more cards are dealt, one in each column, but only if each column has at least one card. I win if all the cards are discarded.

You can use four decks with Gigantic Spider or three decks with Spiderwort, or you can re-deal before all spaces are filled in Relaxed Spider. There are many other variants besides, such as Ant, Mantis, Scorpion, King Edward, and Queen Eleanor. One-deck variants include Spiderette and Will o' the Wisp.

According to solitaire authority David Parlett, this was one of Franklin Roosevelt's favorite games.

Answer: Pyramid

In Pyramid, you remove all pairs that add up to 13, either from the pyramid or the stock (which is turned over one-by-one). If there's no match, it goes face up to the waste (not shown), where only the topmost card can be used. Jacks are worth 11, Queens 12, and Kings 13 (so they disappear immediately), while Aces are 1.

In a variation called Relaxed Pyramid Solitaire, you win as long as all the cards in the pyramid are paired off, regardless of what's left in the stock. Re-deals are allowed, too.

Answer: Golf

This is one of the most popular members of the adding-and-pairing family of patience games.

One nice rule: If an impossible tableau is dealt, e.g. if all queens are covered by kings, then the player may re-shuffle and re-deal (but otherwise, no Mulligans!)

In one variation, turning the corner is allowed, so that a King goes on top of an Ace, or an Ace on a King. In ordinary play, only about 26% of games are winnable, but turning the corner yields 93%!

Answer: Gaps

A gap behind the King is dead, as there is no higher card. Once you have four dead spaces, shuffle the cards and re-deal, leaving a space behind each completed sequence (if any, otherwise, the beginning of the row). In one (harder) variation, you may include the Aces in the shuffle. The number of re-deals is typically three, although some authorities give only two. You win when all four rows are arranged correctly in sequence from Deuce to King by suit.

The Montana family is also called the Puzzle family because you are essentially solving a logic puzzle, and folks who daily deal in logic (e.g. software engineers, especially coders of algorithms) may find the game more winnable. There are lots of strategic considerations, such as when to finish a row, because once it is completed in sequence there is an immovable gap at the end (behind the King) that is permanently lost.

Other members of the Montana family include Red Moon, Blue Moon, Clown Solitaire, and Vacancies. In Paganini, named after the composer, the Deuce through Five in each suit are removed. Big Montana and Grand Paganini use two decks.

Answer: Sham Battle

FreeCell is one of the most winnable solitaire games. Those cells for maneuvering make all the difference, as most games of Beleaguered Castle (and indeed the entire Castle family) cannot be won, so Castle games are among the most frustrating.

Variants of Sham Battle or Beleaguered Castle include Castle of Indolence (two decks), and Streets and Alleys, in which you don't separate the Aces beforehand, so it makes it that much harder! Other members of the Castle family include Congress, Fortress, and Seahaven Towers.

Answer: Penguin

David Parlett, an authority on solitaire, invented this version of FreeCell as he was writing 'The Penguin Book of Patience' (1979), an excellent reference for lovers of these solo card games (and for neophytes, too!)

Any card can fill the flipper (reserve) as a transition between tableau and foundation. The object is to release the beak and get it to be the fourth foundation, and then build up the remaining foundations in suits in sequence, building Ace upon King as needed.

FreeCell became extremely popular the USA after Microsoft created a version of the game for its Windows operating system. The FreeCell family includes, besides Penguin, Baker's Game, Eight Off, and Stalactites.