Most lost games of patience are lost in the first dozen moves, long before anyone notices. A minute spent reading the deal is the cheapest improvement there is.
1. Find the Aces
Look for every Ace and count the cards lying on it. An Ace at the end of a column is a gift. An Ace under five cards is the main problem of the deal, and the first plan should be how to reach it. On our numbered deal pages this is the line "Aces under other cards".
2. Count the hidden cards
In Klondike, Yukon, Scorpion and Spider some cards start face down. Columns with many hidden cards deserve your attention first, because every hidden card you turn over gives you new choices. In Klondike the seventh column hides six.
3. Look for a column you can clear
An empty column is the most valuable space on the table. Find the shortest column and ask what it would take to clear it, and what you would put there: in Klondike, Yukon and Scorpion only a King may go in.
4. Check what is already built
Sometimes a few cards already lie in order. In Spider and Forty Thieves, cards of the same suit next to each other are worth keeping together.
5. Count the moves open to you
If only one or two useful moves are open, the first decision matters a lot; look a few moves ahead before you choose. If there are many, prefer the ones that turn over a card or free an Ace.
6. Only then turn the stock
In games with a stock, play the columns first. The stock is a supply of new cards; turning it too early often buries a card you could have used.
Try it on a numbered deal
Every page in the library lists these points for its deal: buried Aces, hidden cards, open moves and, for the checked deals, the first moves of the solver's winning line. Read the notes, plan, then play.
Guides
- Empty columns and free cellsThe most valuable space on the table, and how to spend it.
- Which patience to playThe seven games compared, with the solver's results.