New Solitaire Rule
Apr. 15th, 2008 09:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
livingdebThere's a version of solitaire I like. I don't know what it's called, but it's one of those games with simple rules but interesting strategies.
Set up: Lay out the cards in groups of three so that you can see each card in the pile. At the end, you will have one card--just set that one down in a one-card pile. If any aces are at the top of any of the piles, move them off the piles to form a new pile of their own.
Yes, you need a lot of space for this, and you may need to stretch a bit.
Play: You may now move only the top card in each stack, and you may move it in only one of two ways. a) Move it on top of the card with the next higher number in the same suit. b) Move it to the ace pile, on top of the card with the next lower number in the same suit.
You win the usual way: organize the cards into four piles, one for each suit, starting with the ace on the bottom and ending with the king on top, following the rules. You probabaly won't be able to do it, so...
That's round one.
For round two, gather up all the cards that are not on the ace piles, shuffle them well, set them out in new three-card piles, and continue play as before. You still probably won't be able to win, so...
Round three, the final round, is like round two, only you get one "cheat." Specifically, you may pull any card out of any pile (from any position) and use it to create a new one-card pile.
**
I really like this game and have enjoyed creating various strategies. However, I have two problems with the game: 1) That's a lot of shuffling for one game. 2) Sometimes when I deal out the cards for round three, it's obvious right away that I would need at least two "cheats" to win. So then you move right back to the shuffling again.
So I decided to try to see if I could make it into a one-round game.
Plan A: Set it up like usual, and when you're done, pull any remaining aces and twos out of their stacks and put them into the ace piles. Plus you get your one (additional) "cheat." This turns out to be way too easy (for me, anyway).
Plan B: Like Plan A, only just pull out the aces. I still win almost every single time. It's eerie just how much of a difference this small change makes over the usual rules.
(Then I started writing this post and decided to do a tiny bit more research.)
Plan C: Like Plan B, but pull the aces out before setting up your groups of three. This way you have two fewer piles and they all have a full three cards in them. I played this version four times and lost miserably each time, twice before even laying out all the cards.
Plan D: Pull out three aces. Then set out the cards in threes and go from there, using one "cheat." Or, equivalently, pull out all four aces, start with a pile of one, then lay out piles of three, and the last stack will be a pile of two. I played this version twice and won both times, but barely.
Journal entry of the day - Green Home Resources on No Debt Plan. I haven't really dived into that page yet, but there's a picture of a small building made from some giant containers and glass and wood and concrete pillars that is strangely beautiful.
Set up: Lay out the cards in groups of three so that you can see each card in the pile. At the end, you will have one card--just set that one down in a one-card pile. If any aces are at the top of any of the piles, move them off the piles to form a new pile of their own.
Yes, you need a lot of space for this, and you may need to stretch a bit.
Play: You may now move only the top card in each stack, and you may move it in only one of two ways. a) Move it on top of the card with the next higher number in the same suit. b) Move it to the ace pile, on top of the card with the next lower number in the same suit.
You win the usual way: organize the cards into four piles, one for each suit, starting with the ace on the bottom and ending with the king on top, following the rules. You probabaly won't be able to do it, so...
That's round one.
For round two, gather up all the cards that are not on the ace piles, shuffle them well, set them out in new three-card piles, and continue play as before. You still probably won't be able to win, so...
Round three, the final round, is like round two, only you get one "cheat." Specifically, you may pull any card out of any pile (from any position) and use it to create a new one-card pile.
**
I really like this game and have enjoyed creating various strategies. However, I have two problems with the game: 1) That's a lot of shuffling for one game. 2) Sometimes when I deal out the cards for round three, it's obvious right away that I would need at least two "cheats" to win. So then you move right back to the shuffling again.
So I decided to try to see if I could make it into a one-round game.
Plan A: Set it up like usual, and when you're done, pull any remaining aces and twos out of their stacks and put them into the ace piles. Plus you get your one (additional) "cheat." This turns out to be way too easy (for me, anyway).
Plan B: Like Plan A, only just pull out the aces. I still win almost every single time. It's eerie just how much of a difference this small change makes over the usual rules.
(Then I started writing this post and decided to do a tiny bit more research.)
Plan C: Like Plan B, but pull the aces out before setting up your groups of three. This way you have two fewer piles and they all have a full three cards in them. I played this version four times and lost miserably each time, twice before even laying out all the cards.
Plan D: Pull out three aces. Then set out the cards in threes and go from there, using one "cheat." Or, equivalently, pull out all four aces, start with a pile of one, then lay out piles of three, and the last stack will be a pile of two. I played this version twice and won both times, but barely.
Journal entry of the day - Green Home Resources on No Debt Plan. I haven't really dived into that page yet, but there's a picture of a small building made from some giant containers and glass and wood and concrete pillars that is strangely beautiful.
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no subject
on 2008-04-16 10:14 am (UTC)There are several free online versions of it, one of which is here (http://www.freeworldgroup.com/games/solitaire/labellelucie.html).
I'll have to try it with cards one of these days. I like your variations!
no subject
on 2008-04-17 03:47 am (UTC)I am too chicken to download the plug-in, especially since I prefer having the cards in my hands, but it turns out wikipedia has an article on La Belle Lucie (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Belle_Lucie) and that is the game I play.
They have a nice description where you get to read about "fans" instead of "piles" and where my "cheat" is called a "merci." Besides these wonderfully elegant terms, I also learned "foundation" and "tableau."
According to them, being able to use the merci is an alternative version of the game called "three shuffles and a draw." The entry lists several other alternative rules. I find the king rule intriguing: When you play all the cards from a fan, you may move a king from the top of another fan into that space.
I really like the merci rule, though, because it often really feels like if you pull just the right card out, everything else will fall into place.