Golf

Introduction to Golf Solitaire

Golf Solitaire is a card game played using a 52-card deck of standard playing cards. It gets its name from the fact that, like golf, some players play for the lowest score.

Golf Solitaire rules are easy to learn and quick to play. However, it is not easy to win.

A variation of Golf Solitaire called Easy Golf Solitaire adds a feature to make winning easier: it allows a King to be placed onto an Ace and vice versa.

Goal

The goal of Golf Solitaire is to empty all the cards from the Tableau into the Foundation. To win the game, the Stock does not have to be emptied.

How to Play Golf Solitaire

When the game starts, 5 face-up cards are dealt into each of the 7 Tableau columns, for a total of 35 cards. A single card is dealt face-up into the Foundation. The remaining 16 cards are placed face-down and squared into the Stock.

An exposed card is one that is completely visible. In this game, only the bottom-most card in every pile is exposed. At any point during the game the player may move an exposed card onto the Foundation as long as it is either next to or prior in rank to the current top Foundation card. The newly added card then becomes the current top Foundation card, and the process can continue.

The game does not allow ranks to be wrapped, which means that the player can neither place an Ace onto a King nor a King onto an Ace. However, wrapping is allowed in the Easy Golf Solitaire variant.

No card is ever allowed to be moved from the Foundation.

When the player is either unable or unwilling to move any more cards from the Tableau to the Foundation, they must click on the Stock, which deals a new top Foundation card. The player then has another opportunity to send cards from the Tableau to the Foundation.

The process continues until either no cards remain in the Tableau, in which case the game is won, or the Stock is empty and no more cards can be removed from the Tableau, in which case the game is lost since the Stock allows only one pass.

Strategy

Here are seven gameplay tips on how to beat Golf Solitaire:

• Since a King can only be placed onto a Queen, the player should track all the Queens to be sure that they are available to use in order to remove all of the Kings from the Tableau. Note that in the Easy Golf Solitaire variant, a King can also be placed onto an Ace.
• Since an Ace can only be placed onto a Two, the player should track all the Twos to be sure that they are available to use in order to remove all of the Aces from the Tableau. Note that in the Easy Golf Solitaire variant, an Ace can also be placed onto a King.
• At the start of a game and before making any moves, the player should scan the Tableau and attempt to devise a plan. Since Kings and Aces both only have one card that they may be move on top of (except in Easy Golf Solitaire), there are difficult to remove and can block cards underneath them. Of course, other problem areas should be looked for as well.
• Try to find sequences of moves that get rid of several cards at once. Cards may sometimes be included in a potential sequence even if they are not currently exposed, as long as they will be exposed by the time they are to be played.
• It's often advantageous to have several cards that are close rank exposed so that, when the time is right, a long sequence can be moved to the Foundation.
• It's often advantageous, even necessary, to forgo moving a card onto the Foundation.
• When there's a choice between moving one card to the Foundation or another, carefully consider what's beneath each exposed card before making a decision.

Layout

The game screen is made up of 3 different areas.

In the upper part of the screen is the Tableau. It consists of 7 unmarked columns, each containing a pile of face-up cards. This is where the majority of the action occurs during a game.

The Stock and the Foundation areas work together. They are located below the Tableau on the left.

The Stock is a container for the reserve cards that will be put into play as the game progresses. It contains a pile of face-down squared cards, but it can be empty at the end of a game.

The Foundation is directly to the right of the Stock and consists of zero or more face-up cards spread out horizontally, with the top card being on the right.

A click on the Stock causes one card to be removed from it and placed face-up onto the top Foundation card, which brings the card into play.