Foster's Complete Hoyle: An Encyclopedia of Games / Including all indoor games played to-day. With suggestions for good play, illustrative hands, and all official laws to date

by R. F. Foster

SOLITAIRE.

All games of Solitaire are played with the full pack of fifty-two cards. The games may be roughly divided into two classes; those in which the result is entirely dependent on chance, and cannot be changed by the player after the cards have been shuffled and cut; and those which present opportunities for judgment and skill, the choice of several ways to the same end being offered to the player at various stages of the game. The first class is of course the simplest, but the least satisfactory, as it is nothing more than a game of chance.

Of the many hundreds of patience games, it is possible to give only a few of the best known.

TAKE TEN. Shuffle and cut the cards, and deal out thirteen face upward in two rows of five each, and one row of three. Any two cards, the pip value of which equals 10, may be withdrawn from the tableau, and others dealt from the top of the pack in their places. Only two cards may be used to form a 10. The K Q J 10 of each suit must be lifted together, none of these cards being touched until all four of the same suit are on the table together. When no cards can be lifted, the game is lost.

The object in most patience games is to arrange the cards in sequences. An ascending sequence is one in which the cards run from A 2 3 up to the King; and a descending sequence is one in which they run down to the ace. Sequences may be formed of one suit or of mixed suits, according to the rules of the game.

THE CARPET. Shuffle and cut the pack. Deal out twenty cards in four rows of five cards each, face up. This is the carpet. Any aces found in it are taken out and used to form a fifth row, either at the bottom or the side. The holes made in the carpet by removing the aces are then filled up from the pack. Cards are then taken from the carpet to build upon the aces in ascending sequence, following suit, and the holes in the carpet are continually filled up with fresh cards from the top of the pack. As other aces appear they are laid aside to start the sequence in the suit to which they belong. When you are stopped, deal the cards remaining in the pack in a pile on the table by themselves, face upward. If any card appears which can be used in the ascending sequences, take it, and if this enables you to make more holes in the carpet, do so. But after having been driven to deal this extra pile, holes in the carpet can no longer be filled from the pack; they must be patched up with the top cards on the extra pile until it is exhausted.

FOUR OF A KIND. Shuffle and cut the pack, then deal out thirteen cards face down in two rows of five each and one row of three. Deal on the top of these until the pack is exhausted, which will give you four cards in each pile, face down. Imagine that these piles represent respectively the A 2 3 4 5 in the first row; the 6 7 8 9 10 in the second, and the J Q K in the third. Take the top card from the ace pile, turn it face upward, and place it, still face upward, under the pile to which it belongs. If it is a Jack, for instance, it will go face up under the first pile in the third row. Then take the top card from the second pile, and so on, keeping the left hand as a marker on the pile last drawn from. When you come to a pile which is complete, all the cards being face up, you can skip it, and go on to the next. If at the end you find that the last card to be turned up lies on its proper pile, and needs turning over only, you win; but if you have to remove it to another pile, you lose.

TRY AGAIN. Shuffle and cut the pack, and deal the cards face upward into four heaps. You are not obliged to deal to each pile in succession, but may place the cards on any of the four piles, according to your judgment or pleasure. In dealing out in this manner it is not good policy to cover one card with a higher, unless you are compelled to do so. Every time you come to an ace, separate it from the others, placing it in a new row, as a foundation for an ascending sequence, which may be continued regardless of the suit of the cards used. The top cards of the four piles are used to build up the sequence. After an ace has appeared, the player may examine the cards in any or all of the piles, but their order must not be disturbed. The object in looking at the cards is to select the pile which is least likely to stop you, or the one having the fewest cards in it.

TAKE FOURTEEN. Shuffle and cut the pack, and deal the cards one at a time, face upward, into twelve piles, and continue dealing on the top of these twelve until the pack is exhausted. This will give you four piles which contain one card more than the others. Then take off any two of the top cards which will make 14, reckoning the Jack as 11, the Queen as 12 and the King as 13, all the others at their face value. Only two cards must be used to make 14. If you succeed in taking off all the cards in this manner, you win. You are at liberty to look at the underneath cards in the various piles, but you must not disturb their positions.

HELP YOUR NEIGHBOUR. Take from the pack the four aces, and lay them face upward on the table in a row. These are to be built upon in ascending sequences, following suit. Shuffle and cut the remaining forty-eight cards, and deal off four starters in a row, below the aces. These cards are to be built down on, in descending sequence, regardless of suit. The remainder of the pack is then taken in the left hand, and the cards turned up one by one from the top. Any card which can be used to build up on the ace row, or down on the second row, is placed on its proper pile at once. If the card is unavailable for either purpose, it must be placed in a separate and ninth pile, known as the talon, or deadwood. The ascending sequences may be built up from any of the three sources; cards from the top of the pack, those on the top of the various descending sequences, or those on the top of the deadwood.

The top card in any descending sequence may be moved from one pile to another, or a card may be taken from an ascending sequence and placed on a descending, always provided that such a card continues the sequence in the pile to which it is removed. If any of the piles occupied by the descending sequences are exhausted, new cards may be placed there at any time the player thinks fit. Such new piles may be started from the pack, from the deadwood, or from any other pile.