over the next card.If the card is either the same suit (both clubs, for example) or the same rank (both jacks) as the first card, put the second card on top of the first. If you don’t have a match, use the card to start a new pile.
3 Turn over the third card and compare it to the second card.Again, if the suits or ranks of the cards match, put the third card on top of the second card; if not, start a third pile with the third card. You can’t match the third card with the first card. However, when matching cards (of suit or rank) are three cards apart, you can combine them as if the cards were adjacent. In other words, you can build the fourth card on the first one.
4 Continue by going through every card in the deck in this way.I told you it was easy! The game ends after you turn over the last card. To win, you must assemble all the cards into one pile.
Your initial cards may look like one of the examples in Figure 2-1 after you lay out three cards.
FIGURE 2-1: At the start of Accordion, your cards may fall in this manner.
In the first example, you must create three different piles because the cards are unrelated in rank or suit. In the middle example, you can put the ♦4 on top of the ♦Q (because they share the same suit), leaving you with only two piles. In the bottom example, you can put the ♦7 on top of the ♦Q, which allows you to combine the two 7s, resulting in a single pile.
To see how you can combine cards placed three piles away from each other, look at Figure 2-2.
FIGURE 2-2: You can match cards that are three places away from each other to further your game progress.
After you turn up the ♣Q, you can place it on the ♦Q (because they’re three apart and match in rank) and then put the ♣K on the ♣Q (same suit). The ♥J then moves to the first row.
Choosing between moves
When moving the cards, you frequently have to be careful to make the plays in the correct order to set up more plays. You may have a choice of moves, but you may not be sure which move to execute first. Look at a possible scenario in Figure 2-3.
After you turn up the ♥4, you can place it on the ♥9, which opens up a series of moves that you can play. The best option is to move the ♥4 onto the ♠4 and then move the rest of the cards into their new spaces.
Because the ♠K is three cards away from the ♣K, you can combine the two cards and then move the ♥4 onto the ♥J. Now the ♦9 is three cards away from the ♦Q, so you can combine those two cards.
Figure 2-4 shows you how waiting can help you make up your mind when you have a choice.
FIGURE 2-3: Look ahead to see which move to make first.
At this point, you may not know whether to put the ♠A on the ♣A or on the ♠K because your piles don’t indicate whether you should keep aces or kings on top of your piles.
FIGURE 2-4: Playing the waiting game can help you make up your mind.
Now you can see daylight: Put the ♠J on the ♠A and then on the ♠K, and then you put the ♠J on the ♥J. Now you can combine the 9s. Next, put the ♠4 on the ♠J, allowing the ♣A to go on the ♣K and the ♦9 to go on the ♦Q. Put the ♠4 on the ♠7 to move down to three piles. Wasn’t that fun? Getting a series of moves to come together like that makes up for the hundreds of unexciting plays you go through.
Play continues until you end up with one pile of cards — good luck!
Piling It On in Calculation
Different people have different criteria for what makes a good game of Solitaire. The version called Calculation should satisfy most tests, because you can solve it in a fair amount of the time (so long as you work at it), it takes up little space, and you can devote your full attention to it or play without thinking — depending on your mood. However, unless you plan your plays carefully, the game will likely stymie you fairly early on.
In this game, only the card rankings matter — the suits of the cards are irrelevant. The object of the game is to build up four piles of cards on the foundation, from the ace on up to the king.
You begin by taking out an ace, 2, 3, and 4 from the deck and putting the four cards in a row from left to right, horizontally. These cards are the foundation on which you build — you hope — using the rest of the cards in the deck. Underneath those four foundations are precisely four waste piles, where you put cards that do not immediately fit on the foundation. Determining which pile to put those cards on is the challenging part of the game.
You build on each of the foundation piles one card at a time; however, you build up each pile in different sequences:
On the ace pile, you can only put the next ranking card — that is, the play sequence must go A, 2, 3, and so on.
On the 2 pile, you go up in pairs: 4, 6, 8, and so on.
On the 3 pile, you go up in intervals of three: 6, 9, Q, 2, 5, and so on.
And you shouldn’t be surprised that on the 4 pile, you go up in fours: 8, Q, 3, 7, J, 2, and so on.
For each of the four piles, you have 13 moves available. After the last move, you reach the king, and your piles are complete.
You turn up cards from the stock one at a time. If the card you turn over has no legal place, you put it directly on top of one of the four waste piles that you create below the foundation. As soon as the card becomes a legal play on a foundation pile,