Solitaire is a constant favorite among those who enjoy playing games that improve concentration, patience, and attention span. Since it also helps you develop strategic thinking, it can be said that it allows the players to improve their cognitive skills all around. The game's history dates back several centuries and has continued to develop over the years.
Now, there's a multitude of different types of solitaire you can enjoy playing, and there are even more you can come up with on your own. If you've just started playing, you probably still feel safer with the standard game versions. However, if you've already been playing for years, you're likely looking for a bit of a challenge compared to the usual, traditional games. Here are some of the ones you should try.
Spider Solitaire
This solitaire version is one of the most popular among players. However, that's not exactly because it is overly easy, and you might find it quite challenging. The game was created in the late 1940s, with its name referencing the eight foundation piles you must complete in order to win, akin to a spider's eight legs. The rules are relatively easy, as you play with fifty-four cards arranged in ten piles and facing down. The cards at the top of each pile, however, should be facing upwards. Each time the stock is used, one card is dealt to each pile.
You win the game by moving all the cards into the foundation piles. This must be done from the Ace to the King in ascending order. The foundation piles should also be repositioned in sequence, and each card ranks higher than the one before until you reach the King.
There are several variations of the game. The classic one is played with all four suits. In Spider solitaire 2 suit, you play with two suits instead of the standard four. Generally, Spades and Hearts are used. There is even an easy one-suit variation that is usually played with Spades alone.
Relaxed Spider gets its name because not all empty columns must be filled before you start drawing new cards from the deck. In Spiderette, you use a classic Klondike layout that ranges from one to seven cards. Will o' the Wisp roughly follows the same rules, with the exception of twenty-one cards dealt into seven columns. For Mrs. Mop, you deal all the cards face-up.
Pyramid
The purpose of this solitaire game is to remove card pairs adding up to thirteen from a pyramid of twenty-eight cards. The deck used consists of the remaining cards. Queens are typically valued at twelve, while a Jack equals eleven, and a King is thirteen and hence can be removed on its own. Your odds of winning at Pyramid are around one in fifty, making it a good challenge for experienced players.
Here too, there are many alternative games you can try. King Tut deals three cards from the stock and continues to repeat the pattern until there's no way to create additional matches. For Apophis, you use three waste piles instead of just one, while for Giza, the cards that remain after the formation of the pyramid are dealt in three rows of eight cards each.
Double Klondike
The name of this game comes from the best-known standard solitaire variant, Klondike. The only difference comes from the fact that this game is a two-player one, hence its designation. Derivative variants with three, four or more players are also possible without having to change the rules. Double Klondike is played with two full decks from which the Jokers were removed. It's important that the decks are distinguishable from one another, so you can look for ones that have different designs of card backs.
The players should be facing each other for the entire duration of the game. The communal foundations must have eight stacks, two for each pair of suits. There are several playing conditions that, although informal, are important. The first and most important is that players must ensure there's no way to add consecutive cards to an unchallenged foundation stack. No throwing cards are permitted, and players are also not allowed to move partial stacks.
Gargantua
Gargantua Solitaire is a special version of the Klondike game that uses two decks. There are nine columns on the tableau, compared to the seven in classic Klondike. Dealing the cards to form them is the same as in the original game. In the first column, there's one card that's placed face-up, then each pile has one more card than the next, until the last column with nine cards, eight of them face down.
The cards can be stacked in descending order and with alternating colors, and they are either complete or partial. Only kings or piles with kings at their head can be used to fill empty spaces, and all face-down cards are turned up immediately upon becoming the top of their respective piles. You can draw cards from the stock, moving them to the waste pile one at a time. Ideally, they should be used. As you can only go through the stock twice, the remaining cards are left in the waste pile afterward.
To win in Gargantua solitaire, you must complete transferring all the cards into the foundations.
FreeCell
To play FreeCell, you'll need a standard 52-card deck. Only a few deals can be deemed completely unsolvable, and you position all of the cards face-up from the very beginning. There are four foundations and four cells, although alternative rules can use as many as ten. The cards are arranged into eight columns, overlapping slightly, but giving the player a full view of each card's suit and value.
The top card begins a sequence, and you can build sequences by alternating colors. All of the foundations are made based on the suit, starting with Aces all the way to the Kings. You win the game by depositing all the cards into the foundation piles.
Solitaire is one of the oldest games in the world. People have enjoyed it for generations, and it remains a popular pastime activity for many. The reason for this is that the rules are generally straightforward, but the game can still become quite complex and satisfying to master.
