Klondike is almost certainly the most
famous type of solitaire, but is probably not the most mentally challenging.
To give strategy a bigger role, this implementation has a deck display option
which will list the upcoming cards in the deck (after the initial pass through
it). This will enable planning to obtain the optimal deck order in the
subsequent pass. Other options are available which alter the difficulty of the
game. (Klondike
Instructions)
FreeCell has probably become at least
the second most popular type of solitaire since its inclusion in Win95. Even
though FreeCell requires considerable strategy, winning is still quite common
for experienced players. The frequency of victory can be decreased (or
increased), by setting the game's options appropriately. The most notable
variation is in the number of free cells, which can range from one to eight.
(FreeCell
Instructions)
Canfield is a classic variation of
solitaire which originated in an upstate New York casino in the 1890s.
Gamblers paid $50 per game and received back $5 for every card they moved to
the suit stacks. As you would expect, the rules were designed so that players
would remove, on average, fewer than the ten cards needed to break even.
Removing all cards and attaining victory is quite rare, but can be made
somewhat more common by using easier options. (Canfield Instructions)
Golf is a fast-moving game which has
nothing to do with its title besides some of the terminology it uses. The
quick pace of Golf facilitates playing several games in succession, with each
game considered a "hole", and the total number of cards remaining compared to
"par". The objective of Golf solitaire is to put all the cards in the layout
in a single pile instead of placing the deck in four suit stacks. (Golf Instructions)
Pyramid has the objective of
eliminating the entire deck by finding pairs of cards which total thirteen
(Kings are eliminated singly). At the start of the game, only the cards in
bottom row of the pyramid are available. The other rows in the pyramid become
accessible as the cards below them are removed. (Pyramid Instructions)
Spider is a challenging (and
time-consuming) game using two decks which was supposedly the favorite
solitaire of FDR. While Spider has the usual objective of arranging all suits
in order, Spider does not provide a stack for each suit to be assembled in.
Instead, the suits must be ordered in the building stacks and are then moved
to a discard pile. The game is won when all cards in both decks are in the
discard pile. Stacks in Spider can be built with any suit, but multiple cards
moved between stacks must all have the same suit. Several non-standard options
have been implemented to make the game less daunting for beginners. (Spider Instructions)
Clock is an ideal game to play when
you do not want an exceptionally strenuous mental workout. The game is
entirely deterministic, meaning that there is only one possible move that can
be made at all stages of play. If this is still too arduous, it is possible to
make that move (and finish the game) automatically. (Clock Instructions)
Calculation has the usual goal of
arranging the entire contents of the deck in four stacks of thirteen cards,
but the suits of the cards in these stacks is irrelevant. Instead, the four
stacks accept cards whose ranks differ by a specified interval. Even though
the computer calculates the accepted sequences of cards, the game is still
extremely challenging. (Calculation
Instructions)
Shamrocks has the most building stacks
(18) and the most generous building rules of any game on the site. To counter
these advantages, the stacks cannot accept more than three cards and become
unusable once all cards have been removed. (Shamrocks
Instructions)
Scorpion allows cards other than kings
can be moved to only one location, but the game is less mechanical and more
challenging than it would appear. The Scorpion layout has two areas which
represent the body and tail of a scorpion. When an impasse is reached, the
stack representing the "tail" of the scorpion is moved to the building stacks.
This will hopefully end the deadlock. (Scorpion Instructions)
King Albert is named after the Belgian
monarch during World War I and is another "FreeCell without free cells"
variation. It is necessary to obtain a free space by removing all cards from a
stack. To facilitate creation of empty spaces, seven cards are available
(representing King Albert's reserve army) which can be moved to a building
stack when the time is opportune. (King Albert
Instructions)
Yukon begins with the same layout as
Klondike, but the remaining 24 cards are placed face up on the stacks instead
of being cycled through 3 cards at a time. Yukon has the most liberal card
moving rules of any game on this site. Not only can an unlimited number of
cards be moved at a time, the transferred cards do not even need to be in
order. (Yukon
Instructions)
Beleaguered Castle has the the
objective of eroding away the contents of the "wall" stacks by placing their
contents in the suit stacks in the middle. Despite the different layout,
Beleagured Castle can be viewed as "Free Cell without free cells." To
compensate (partially) for this lack, stacks do not need to have alternating
colors and the aces are removed before the start of the game. (Beleaguered Castle
Instructions)
Flower Garden has a layout consisting
of six columns which represent the "garden". The 16 cards outside the garden
compose the "bouquet" and are used to build the columns as needed. (Flower Garden
Instructions)