Ultimate Book of Card Games: The Comprehensive Guide to More Than 350 Games (6 page)

WINNING
The object is to build four foundations, each from ace to king by suit in ascending rank.

HOW TO PLAY
You may build the bottom (exposed) card from any column. When an ace is exposed, move it below the board to start a foundation pile. The interesting thing about Baker’s Dozen is that you may build on both the foundations and the tableau. Tableau builds are always in
descending
rank and you are
not
required to match the suit. In the sample deal above, here are some moves you can make:

Move A of spades to foundation

Build 3 of spades on 4 of spades

Move A of hearts to foundation

Build 6 of spades on 7 of spades

Build 8 of clubs on 9 of hearts

The resulting layout is shown above, and there are still many more moves to play (the 7 of clubs-8 of clubs-9 of clubs build looks promising), which is why Baker’s Dozen is such a great game. Plenty of cards, plenty of action.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   medium
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   short
   
3. DECKS
   : 1
   

Baroness is good one-deck Solitaire. It’s not easy to win (the odds of doing so are 1 in every 25 hands), but what really sets it apart from other Solitaire games is that there is no building.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and deal five cards, face up. This is your tableau. All other cards are set aside as your reserve.

WINNING
In Baroness, you may remove kings and any two cards from the tableau that add up to 13 points. You win by discarding the entire deck of cards in this manner.

HOW TO PLAY
All kings and any two cards that add up to 13 points may immediately be removed. In Baroness, cards are assigned the following values: aces count as 1, kings 13, queens 12, and jacks 11. All other cards are worth their
index value
. As a result, you may remove the following pairs from the table, as long as both are top cards on one of your five piles: Q-A, J-2, 10-3, 9-4, 8-5, 7-6.

After discarding all kings and pairs that add up to 13, deal five more reserve cards onto your five tableau piles and continue the discarding process. Note that you may not move cards from one tableau pile to another unless you first discard all the cards from one of your five piles. Then you may fill the empty slot with the top card from any other pile. If your other piles have no spare cards, deal a card from the reserve.

The final two cards in your reserve are treated a bit differently: don’t deal them to the tableau. Instead, lay them face up on the table, and discard either (or both) cards in combination with each other or in combination with the top card from any of your tableau piles.

The game is over when all cards are discarded or you exhaust the reserve. There is no redeal.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   low
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   short
   
3. DECKS
   : 1
   

The odds of winning Belvedere are about 1 in every 3 hands. It will do quite nicely when you need a morale boost.

HOW TO DEAL
Start with a fifty-two-card deck, and deal eight piles (three cards per pile), all face up. This is your tableau. Next, deal three cards side-by-side, face up. These are the beginnings of your reserve.

WINNING
The game is won by building four foundations in ascending rank (not by suit—just rank) from ace to king. Belvedere is unique in that suits are not taken into consideration at all.

HOW TO PLAY
After the initial deal, move any kings in your eight tableau piles to the bottoms of their respective piles. Now you may play any top card from your tableau or reserve piles. Start by promoting any playable aces to the foundations.

In addition to building your foundations
up
in rank from ace to king, you are allowed to build your tableau and reserve piles
down
in rank from king to ace. Again, suits do not matter and you may move or build only one card at a time.

Deal three more reserve cards when all moves are exhausted. And note that when a reserve pile becomes empty, it is not filled until the next group of three cards is dealt. There is no redeal in Belvedere.

1. DIFFICULTY
   :
   medium
   
2. TIME LENGTH
   :
   medium
   
3. DECKS
   : 2
   

This game is named in honor of London’s most famous clock—the clock that towers proudly above Westminster and the River Thames. This game is challenging and moderately hard to win (odds say you’ll win 1 in 15 hands). The goal is to build and reverse-build cards to replicate an accurate clock face (chimes not included).

HOW TO DEAL
Start with two fifty-two-card decks (104 cards total), and set aside the following: 2 of clubs, 3 of hearts, 4 of spades, 5 of diamonds, 6 of clubs, 7 of hearts, 8 of spades, 9 of diamonds, 10 of clubs, J of diamonds, Q of spades, K of diamonds. These are your foundations, also called the “inner circle.” Arrange these cards in a circle—meant to resemble a clock face—like so: