KLONDIKE FAMILY:

The four places on which a Klondike player puts the cards with the same suits increasingly are called Bases (always beginning with Aces). The place from which a player takes the cards (to the left of bases) is called Base Pile. The cards under the Bases and Base Piles (put on the table in long lines) are simply called the Piles.

To complete the Klondike solitaire, a player must put all cards on bases. Cards must be placed on bases increasingly - 2 must be put on Ace, 3 must be put on 2, etc. The cards must be of one suit. To achieve this goal, a player must use Piles. When the game is started, the first cards only are placed on piles and the rest is hidden. To complete the Klondike, a player must uncover all the cards. A card is uncovered when the card lying on it is taken away. Cards can be moved from one pile to another provided that a card is put on another one only in decreasing order in different color (a red one goes on black, and a black one goes on red). For example when on the pile there is a red 9 and on the other one there is a black 10, the 9 card may go on the 10, uncovering the next card. As a facility, there is a Base Pile from which a player moves cards to the Piles and sometimes straight to the bases. From the Base Pile a player can receive one card (Easy) or three cards (Hard) at a time. If a Pile is removed and all cards are put on Bases or the other Piles, a player can create another pile on the spot but it must always start with a King. This solitaire is not very complicated or difficult and it is worth learning the rules because it will help complete the other solitaires of the family.

There are a few differences between Canfield and Klondike. First of all, the Bases are not completed starting with Aces but with a card chosen by the computer at random. The cards on Piles are still placed increasingly in mixed colors (red 5 on black 6 etc.) and on Bases increasingly in the same suit. On the four Piles there are only four cards - players generally take cards from the Base Pile. To the left of the Piles there is a Reserve Pile. If there is a vacancy on the Piles, a card from the Reserve Pile is AUTOMATICALLY put on it. Only the upper card on the Reserve Pile is visible to player. The other rules are the same.

In FreeCell there is no Base Pile. All cards are placed on the table in eight Piles and a player can see them. The Bases are the same as in Klondike - starting from Aces. Players arrange cards increasingly in the same suits. To the left of the Bases there are four places where players can put any card - but only one on the spot! The spots help play when it is impossible to move cards. The other rules are the same-cards are put on Piles in mixed colors decreasingly.

Yukon is a solitaire which is very similar to Klondike. First of all, ALL cards are dealt onto the table, then a player can take UNSORTED rows of cards from the Piles. Of course, one cannot put those rows on any card. The latest one of the lowest value must always be one point higher and it has to be in different color (red-black, black-red). The other rules are the same.

The difference between Blind Alleys and Klondike is a different card position at the beginning of the game. The Aces are already positioned. On the Piles there is the same number of hidden cards, which is two. There are six Piles, not seven. All the other rules are the same.

PYRAMID FAMILY:

In Pyramid cards are taken from Base Pile and put onto Used Cards Pile. The cards from Base Pile can be uncovered only twice (Easy) or once (Hard).

To complete a Pyramid, a player must remove all cards from the table. Cards are removed in pairs, but only if the sum of their value equals 13. They are valued King-13, Queen-12, Jack-11, 10-10 and so on,. to Ace-1. So, Queen (12) will go off the table only with Ace (10), Jack (11) with 2 etc. King, which is13, is the only card that goes off alone. Cards from the table are removed in pairs with cards from Base Pile or with the other cards on the table. Base Pile can be uncovered twice (Easy) or only once (Hard).

The difference between Pyramid and Pyramid Golf is that the cards do not leave the table in pairs but - as in Golf - only one card is moved. It happens only if it is valued one-point higher or lower than the card removed from Base Pile or from the previous card removed from the pyramid. For example on 7 can be put on 6 or 8, 10 or Queen is placed on Jack.

Pyramid Building is a little different from Pyramid. Player puts cards onto the table from Base Pile trying to create the whole pyramid from the base to the top. A player may put cards onto seven cards on the base of the pyramid only if:

OTHER SOLITAIRES:

The essential rule is that a player must take all cards from the table but only in pairs. The paired cards must be valued 14. They are all uncovered in 12 piles (4X3) and a player can remove a card from the top only. 9 for example will go off with 5, 10 will go off with 4 and so on.

It is one of the simplest solitaires. A card is uncovered on the top of Base Pile. On the table there are seven piles with all cards uncovered. A player takes cards from the seven piles and puts them onto the cards in Base Pile but only when the value is one point higher or lower than the value of the card taken from Base Pile. For example 6 or 8 will be put on 7, Ace or Queen will be put on King, etc. The solitaire is successful if all cards are taken from the piles on the table.

The rules of this solitaire are a little bit complicated. At the beginning five cards lie on the table forming a cross. One card is situated at the corner of the cross. The cards in the cross are Piles. A player may put cards on them and they finally must be put in the corners. On the Piles cards must be put decreasingly in any suit in the corners or increasingly in a specified suit. All additional cards are taken from Base Pile lying near the table. The Base Pile can be uncovered twice during the game.

This solitaire is quite simple. 20 cards (5X4) lie on the table. Near the table there are Bases. All cards must go beginning with Aces increasingly in the same suit. When the card from the table goes to the Bases, a player may put a card from Base Pile on the spare place on table. The cards from Base Pile can be used only once.

This solitaire has similar rules to Klondike, but it is much more difficult to complete. All the basic rules are the same (Bases beginning with Aces, Piles made in decreasing value in different colors etc.). There is one exception - when a player clicks the Base Pile, seven cards are moved directly to Piles on the table. This makes the game very difficult to complete.

DIFFICULTY LEVELS

Generally, difficulty levels vary mostly in the number of cards uncovered in Base Pile, and in the number of reviews of Base Pile. In Klondike, the Pile can be reviewed as many times as one wishes, but in a Hard level three cards go from the pile once and a player must take the first one off to get access to another one. That is also the rule for Canfield. In FreeCell at an Easy level a player can move the random number of sorted cards to the specified places. At a Hard one it is possible to move only as many cards as there are vacancies in extra places. In Blind Alleys cards in Base Pile can be reviewed twice (Easy) or three times (Hard).The rule has been added because Blind Alleys is relatively the simplest solitaire to complete. In Pyramid family a player can review the Base Pile twice (Easy) or once (Hard). In Golf and Four Seasons the Base Pile can be reviewed twice (Easy) or once (Hard). Carpet, Fourteen Out, East Haven and Yukon do not have difficulty levels.