Solitaire Rules

Part 1 Dealing Your Cards

Step 1: Shuffle the deck... 1 Shuffle the deck. To play Solitaire, you will need a
traditional 52-card pack of standard playing cards. Open your pack and discard
the instruction and Joker cards. Before you start dealing, shuffle the cards a
couple of times to make sure that the deck is all mixed up.

Step 2: Deal seven cards in a row. 2 Deal seven cards in a row. Deal the first
card and place it face up on your left-hand side. Then, deal six more cards face-
down in a row to the right of this card so that each card has its own spot. When
you are finished, you should have seven cards total. The first one on the left
should be facing up and the other six should be facing down. The cards that you
are dealing with are called your “Tableau.” These are the main cards that you will
use to play solitaire.[1] When you are finished dealing all of the cards, your
Tableau will look similar to an upside down staircase.

Step 3: Skip the first card and then deal six cards. 3 Skip the first card and then
deal six cards. Next, you will need to deal six more cards onto the stacks. Place
the first card face up on the second stack of cards from the left. Then, deal one
card face down card onto each of the stacks moving to the right.[2]

Step 4: Count over to the third card and then deal five cards. 4 Count over to the
third card and then deal five cards. Starting with the third stack over from the left,
deal one card face up. Then, deal four more cards facing down on each of the
stacks to the right of this stack.[3]

Step 5: Deal four cards starting with the fourth stack. 5 Deal four cards starting
with the fourth stack. Starting with the fourth stack over from the left, deal one
card face up onto this stack and then deal three cards facing down. Place one
card onto each of the stacks to the right of this stack.[4]

Step 6: Skip the first four cards and deal three. 6 Skip the first four cards and
deal three. Count over to the fifth card from the left in your row of seven card
stacks. Deal one card facing up on this stack and then deal one card facing down
onto each of the two stacks to the right.[5]
Step: 7 Count over to the sixth card and then deal two. 7 Count over to the sixth
card and then deal two. Next, count over to the sixth stack from the left and deal
one card facing up onto this stack. Then, deal one card facing down onto the
stack to the right of this stack. This stack should be the last one in your row of
seven.[6]

Step 8: Deal one last card face up. 8 Deal one last card face up. There should
only be one stack left that does not have a face up card on it. This stack should
be all the way on the right of your Tableau. Deal one card onto this stack facing
up. Now this stack should have six cards facing down and one on top that is
facing up.[7] After you have dealt this last card, your Tableau is complete!
Dealing the Tableau is the hardest part of setting up solitaire, so the next part will
be easy.

Part 2 Placing the Rest of the Cards

Step 1: Place the remaining cards face down. 1 Place the remaining cards face
down. After you have finished setting up your stacks, you can place the cards
that you have left just above the Tableau on the left-hand side. This will be your
“Stock” or “Hand” pile. You will draw cards from this pile as you play the game.[8]
If you want to be extra sure that the cards are shuffled, then you can shuffle them
again before placing your Stockpile. This is optional though.

Step 2: Identify the space for your discard pile. 2 Identify the space for your
discard pile. The discard pile, also known as the “Talon'' or “Waste” pile, is where
you will discard any cards that you draw and cannot use.[9] At the start of your
game, the Talon pile will be empty. Reserve a space next to your Stockpile to
create your Talon pile during gameplay. The Talon pile is usually just to the right
of the Stockpile. When you have exhausted your Talon pile, you can flip it over
(face down) onto the Stock pile space again and continue playing.

Step 3: Leave room for your Foundation piles. 3 Leave room for your Foundation
piles. The Foundation piles are where you will place the cards that you will clear
from the Tableau stacks as you play solitaire. At the start of your game, your
Foundation piles will be empty, so you just need to reserve some space above
your Tableau. Leave enough room to place four stacks of cards as you play.[10]
Part 3 Playing a Game

Step 1: Learn the object. 1 Learn the object. If you have never played solitaire
before, then you will need to take a few minutes to learn how to play solitaire first.
The object of a game of Solitaire is to transfer all of the cards in the deck and in
the tableau stacks to your foundation piles.[11] You begin the game with nothing
in these piles and arrange cards in these stacks going from lowest to highest and
separated by suit.[12] For example, one stack might begin with the ace of
spades, so only the two of spades can be placed in this stack next. You cannot
place the three of spades until the two of spades are in place.

Step 2: Draw and place cards. 2 Draw and place cards. You will need to draw
and place cards to play. Draw one card at a time and either play it on one of your
stacks or discard it if you cannot use it. You can play a card on one of your
tableau stacks if the color and sequence are right.[13] The colors need to
alternate between red and black. For example, if one stack has a five of hearts
on it and you draw a four of clubs, then you could play the four of clubs on the
five of hearts.

Step 3: Move and flip face-up cards. 3 Move and flip face-up cards. You can
move cards between stacks to expose face-down cards. When a face down card
is exposed, then you can flip it over and use it. For example, if one stack has a
five of hearts on it and another stack has a six of spades on it, then you could
move the five of hearts to the six of spades stack. This will expose a face-down
card that you can then flip over and either leave it in place or use it.

Step 4: Reuse the discard pile. 4 Reuse the discard pile. When you have
exhausted the discard pile, then you can flip over the stack and begin using
those cards again. Continue to draw one card at a time and to flip the deck each
time you go through it.

Step 5: Transfer cards to the foundation piles to clear them. 5 Transfer cards to
the foundation piles to clear them. As you expose cards and draw cards, you will
be able to transfer them to the foundation piles above your tableau stacks.
Remember that each pile needs to begin with an ace card and there should only
be one stack per suit.[14] When each stack contains an ace through king set,
then you will have won the game!