Your first game of Solitaire

Set up

Shuffle a 52-card deck and deal seven columns, left to right. The first column gets one card, the second two, and so on up to seven in the last. Only the top card of each column faces up; the rest are face down. The 24 cards left over are the stock. Turn them over, one at a time or three at a time, onto the waste pile beside it. Above the columns is room for four foundations, one for each suit.

Your first turn

Look at the seven face-up cards. An ace can go straight up to a foundation. Any other card can go onto a card in another column if it is one rank lower and the opposite color: a red 6 on a black 7, a black 10 on a red jack. When you move a card, the face-down card under it turns face up.

When nothing on the table fits, turn over a card from the stock. If it fits a column or a foundation, play it. If not, it stays on the waste and you turn the next one. When the stock runs out, turn the waste back over and go through it again, as often as you like.

How a game ends

You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations, ace up to king in each suit. Every new deal in our game is one a computer has already won, so if you get stuck, a different order of play would have worked. Take a move back and try another.

A short example

The top cards show a black 7 in the third column and a red 6 in the fifth. Move the red 6 onto the black 7. The card that was under the 6 turns face up: it is the ace of hearts, and it goes up to a foundation. The fifth column is now one card shorter, and the next card down is closer to being uncovered. A move that turns over a hidden card is usually a good one.