Understanding the Rules of the Game

Solitaire

Understanding the Rules of the Game

Solitaire has three game areas:

The deck in the upper left of the playing area.

Four suit stacks in the upper right of the playing area, which start out empty.

Seven row stacks below the deck and suit stacks. The number of cards in each row stack increases from one to seven, from left to right. The top card of each row stack is face up; the rest are face down.

You draw cards from the deck in the upper left of the playing area and move them to your suit and row stacks. Solitaire shows either one or three cards in the deck, depending on which Draw option you select from the Options dialog box.

When you get to the end of the deck, you can "turn the deck over" and continue to draw cards by placing the cursor over the upper-left deck and clicking the mouse.

You build row stacks in descending order, alternating between red and black cards (light and dark, if you have a black-and-white screen).

You can move a card in a row stack to another row stack or to a suit stack if the card below which you place it is one card higher than the one that you intend to move, and of a different suit.

If you uncover a face-down card in a row stack, you can turn the card face up.

You can only move a King to an empty row stack.

You build suit stacks in ascending order, starting with the Ace.

You can move an Ace only to an empty suit stack.

You win the game when you have used all the cards in the deck to build the four suit stacks from Ace to King. For example, you first place an Ace in a suit stack. Then you must place a two of the same suit over the Ace, then a three, etc.