There are numerous variations of solitaire, a single-player card game. Solitaire is known as patience in the United Kingdom, which is a fitting name for such a card game. Solitaire is a card game in which the player must return randomly dealt cards to their own suit in numbered order, regardless of the variations. Solitaire is a popular tabletop game that uses real playing cards as well as a computer game that uses virtual playing cards.
Solitaire begins with a single deck of cards being shuffled. The cards are then dealt out in a specific order, usually forming seven tableau piles. The cards are dealt from left to right, with the first card dealt face up to form the first pile and six cards dealt face down to form the second pile. The deal continues with a face-up card on the second pile, then five face-down cards, and so on, until each of the seven piles has a face-up card. The remaining cards are stacked to the left of the tableau in a “stock pile.”
After the cards are dealt, the game of solitaire begins by arranging any of the face up cards in the proper order. The cards can be moved around to form descending, chronological stacks of alternating colors beginning with one of the four Kings, depending on the variation. To put it another way, a Queen of spades could be stacked on top of a King of hearts or diamonds, but not spades or clubs.
After making any initial plays, the player can begin drawing from the stock pile in the playing field’s upper left corner. In most variations, every third card from the stock pile is turned over. The card beneath it can be used if the card above it can be played. Three more cards are turned over if the card cannot be played. Play continues until there are no more moves available or the game’s goal is achieved.
As the game progresses and an Ace is encountered, a new area of play called the foundation is created above the tableau, where each of the four Aces begins a foundation pile. The goal of the game is to move all of the cards to their respective foundation color, this time in ascending chronological order from Aces to Kings, and this time by suit.
Some solitaire variations allow any rank card to be placed in a free cell, or tableau pile with no cards in it, while others only allow a King to be placed in a free cell. Other solitaire variations use more than one deck of cards. Any restricted move will not be allowed when playing a computerized version of the game. Free Cell, Spider Solitaire, and standard solitaire are examples of computerized versions. At least one version of solitaire comes pre-installed on almost every Windows operating system. The game is also available on a variety of online card game sites.