How to Play Solitaire - Card Games
Solitaire is a card game that one can play alone; hence the name. It is an easy game to learn and can provide hours of enjoyment for those who want to relax. This card game has been played for centuries and was particularly useful in the days prior to computers and television.
To play Solitaire, take an ordinary deck of playing cards and, in front of you, put one card face up and six cards in face down, all in a horizontal row. You should have a row of seven cards with the card on left end facing up, the rest of the cards facing down.
You then skip the face up card and put another card face up on the pile to right and five other cards on the other piles facing down. Next you skip the two face up piles and place a card face up on the third pile to the left, placing the other cards face down. You continue to do this, moving down the row, until you have laid the last face up card on the pile farthest to the right. The remaining cards you place next to you, face down.
The objective of the game is to move the cards around so that you have only four piles consisting of four different suits (hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades) with the Ace at the top and the remaining cards (King, Queen, Jack, 10 and so one) in order in a row coming towards you. The only way you can move the cards, however, is by placing cards of the same suit next to one another in order. The cards that you place on piles move towards you in a vertical row.
For example, if you have a King of hearts on the top of one pile, and a Queen of hearts on another pile, you can move the Queen underneath the King, in a vertical row. If the Queen was covering up a pile of cards, you can then flip over the next card in the pile to reveal the card. The horizontal row of seven cards is eliminated when you continue to move the top cards from the pile to other piles.
If you do not have a move, you can take a card from the remaining pile of cards next to you and flip it over to see if you can place it anywhere on the vertical piles of cards.
People do not always "win" when playing Solitaire. There are times when all of the high cards remain buried and you run out of cards in the stock pile next to you and you do not have a move. When this happens, the game is over and you lost. People generally win when playing Solitaire one out of every four times they play.
Most computers have a form of Solitaire in their games applications. One of the easiest ways to learn how to play this game is on the computer as it will not allow you to cheat. There are also many different variations of this game, including some that only allow you to use the stock pile of cards once and those that allow you to keep trying until you get the game right. Solitaire is a fun and relaxing game to play for those times you just want to sit and unwind.
