Piles
- Stock The
stock is the portion of the deck that has not been dealt
at the start of the game. Cards are turned from the
stock, usually one or three at a time, and discarded to
the waste. No building takes place on the stock.
- Waste Cards
that are dealt from the stock are discarded, face up to a
waste pile, of which the top exposed card is available
for play. No building takes place on the waste.
- Foundation A
pile to which cards are played in a certain sequence in
order to complete the game. Foundations are usually built
up in ascending family sequence.
- Tableau The
main area of play consisting of rows or columns where
cards are re-ordered according to the rules of the game.
Cards are dealt to the tableau at the start of the game.
- Fan
Variation of a tableau where no building usually takes
place on (typical of Fan Games).
- Discard A
pile to which cards may be sent for later use in the
tableau or in the foundation. Usually only one card may
be discarded in any one discard.
- Reserve A
pile of cards dealt at the start of the game. Depending
on the rules of the game, only the exposed card or any
face-up card is available for play. No building takes
place on the reserve.
Cards
- Color Cards
come in 2 colors, usually red and black but it depends on
the Card Sets design (gold and silver for example).
- Family Cards
comes in 4 families, usually hearts / diamonds (red
color) and clubs / spades (black color) but it depends on
the Card Sets design (spanish cards for example).
- Rank The
identity of a card irrespective of its family, usually 13
ranks in each family running from Ace to King.
- Available A
card is available when the rules of the game allow that
card to be picked and moved somewhere else. Usually only
exposed cards are available for play.
- Blocked A
card is blocked when it is covered by another blocked
card (although this definition may vary depending on the
rules of the game).
- Exposed A
card that is not covered by another card. Usually only
exposed cards are available for play.
- Released A
card that was previously blocked and that is now exposed
through the removal of blocking cards on top of it.
Suits
- Ascending A
sequence of two or more cards of increasing rank :
A,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K.
- Descending A
sequence of two or more cards of decreasing rank :
K,Q,J,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,A.
- Family Sequence
A sequence (ascending or descending) of two or more cards
of the same family : A,2 of clubs.
- Color Sequence
A sequence (ascending or descending) of two or more cards
of the same color : A,2 of reds.
- Alternate Color
Sequence A sequence (ascending or descending) of
two or more cards of alternate colors : K,Q of different
colors.
- Alternate Family
Sequence A sequence (ascending or descending) of
two or more cards of alternate families : K,Q of
different families.
- Full Sequence
A full ascending sequence (from Ace to King) or a full
descending sequence (from King to Ace).
- Partial Sequence
A part of a full sequence.
- Complete Pack of
Exposed Cards All face-up exposed cards in a
pile.
- Partial Pack of
Exposed Cards A part of a complete pack.
- Wrapping
This is when the rules allow an Ace to be played on a
King in an ascending sequence (10,J,Q,K,A,2,3,4) or a
King to be played on an Ace in a descending sequence
(4,3,2,A,K,Q,J,10).
- Ranking This
is when the rules allow a card to be played on another
card of the same rank (7 of clubs on a 7 of hearts).
- Head The
first (top) card in a sequence.
Actions
- Build The
act of assembling cards into a sequence according to the
rules of the game.
- Clearing Out
When all the cards in a tableau have been removed to form
a vacant space, the pile is said to have been cleared
out. The rules of the game determine which cards can fill
spaces (usually, an empty pile can only be filled with a
King or a group of cards headed by a King).
- Deal The act
of dealing cards from the stock to a waste. Usually one
or three cards are dealt.
- Redeal Once
the stock has been exhausted to a waste, if the rules
allow, the waste's cards may be returned, without
upsetting there order, to the stock and turned face down.
When all the cards from the stock have been exhausted, it
is said to have been passed. There is usually a limit to
the number of passes allowed for a given game.
Games
Here are guidelines to game types. Many
games falls between 2 or more categories so these general rules
may sometime differ from the reality (you are encouraged to look
at the dedicated rules for each game).
- Klondike You
try to build the foundation piles starting with a set of
tableau piles and a stock. Variations include a waste or
a set of discard piles where you can deal the stock.
- Spider You
try to build the foundation piles starting with a set of
tableau piles (no stock). Foundations can be built a card
at a time or as full sequence at once.
- Freecell You
try to build the foundation piles starting with a set of
tableau piles (no stock). All cards are usually visible
(open games). To help re-order the tableau a set of
discard piles are available.
- Fan You try
to build foundation piles starting with a set of fan
piles where building is usually forbidden. All cards are
usually visible (open games). Variation includes games
where no foundation piles are present, the goal being to
rearrange the tableau in a way dictated by the rules
(cards of same rank for example).
- Pyramid You
try to remove all cards from various sets of piles by
pairing cards so that their added rank is equal to 13.
- Canfield You
try to build the foundation piles starting with a set of
tableau piles, a stock and a reserve. Cleared out tableau
piles are automatically filled with the reserve.
Solo Cards - (C) 2000 -
Bertrand Vauthier