Solitary Fours

Instructions

Solitary Fours is a solitaire game often called Calculation.

Goal

The goal of Solitary Fours is to move all 52 cards to four foundations. The first foundation increases in multiples of one, the second foundation grows by two, the third by three, and the last foundation increases in multiples of four. Cards of any suit can be played onto any foundation.

Layout

The layout consists of four foundations (at the top), four tableau piles (center), and one stack (left).

At the start of the game, the first card is already in each foundation. If you have hints enabled, the image above each Foundation will indicate the next card and the remaining cards.

The first foundation order is A,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,King.

The second foundation is 2,4,6,8,10,Q,A,3,5,7,9,J,King.

The third foundation is 3,6,9,Q,2,5,8,J,A,4,7,10,King.

The fourth foundation order is 4,8,Q,3,7,J,2,6,10,Ace,5,9,King.

Playing

The stock reveals one card at a time. This card must then be moved to either a foundation or the tableau.

To be placed on the Foundation, the card must match the value of the next card in the sequence. The foundations must grow in multiples of one, two, three, or four, depending on the foundation. Once a foundation has 13 cards, no more cards can be added to it. Cards cannot be removed from a foundation once they are added.

The tableau can have as many cards as you want, but only the top card can be removed. This card can only be placed on one of the foundations. Cards cannot be moved between the tableau stacks.

Cards can be dragged and then dropped onto the desired destination.

Scoring

Each card moved to the foundation scores four points.
Each time you undo a move, it will reduce the score by one point.
There is a bonus for completing the solitaire hand quickly.
The score is carried over to the next hand if you move all 52 cards to the foundations.

Options

The option window enables you to change several of the game settings. This window is displayed the first time you start the game and whenever you press the options button.

The deck can be changed.
Hints can be disabled. The image above each foundation shows the cards played, the next card, and the remaining cards. With hints off, the image will be hidden.
Autoplay can be disabled. With autoplay on, cards will move to the foundation automatically.

Gameplay Tips

Leave one tableau stack empty until you play a King. Kings are always the last card to be placed on each foundation pile. If all four kings are placed on over another card, you have lost.

Place cards on the tableau stacks in the order they will be needed for the foundation stacks.

When placing cards in tableau, try to keep them under the foundation they will eventually be placed. For each card, ask yourself which tableau would need it last and place it there. If you deviate from the ideal placement, try to keep track of which order you intend to play the cards so you don’t block future moves.

Terms

Wikipedia has a great description of many common solitaire terminology. Some of them are repeated here to better explain this game.

Stock: A pile of cards, face down, which are left over after setting up the other layout areas. These can be turned over into the waste, usually one-by-one, but sometimes in groups of two or three, when the player wishes.
Waste: The area where the cards from the stock go when they are brought into play. Only cards from the stock can be played to the waste. Only the topmost card is available for play.
Tableau: This consists of a number of piles of cards where cards can be moved from one area to another, under varying rules. Some allow stacks of cards which match the building requirements to be moved, others only allow the top card to be moved, yet others allow any stack to be moved.
Foundation: The aim of many solitaire games is to clear the tableau and move all the cards to the foundations. Usually they are built up by suit from Ace to King, but some games have different rules. Usually only thirteen cards are allowed in each foundation.
In multiples: Cards can only be placed on the card two, three or four higher or lower: a Jack is considered as an eleven, a Queen as a twelve and a King as a thirteen. Modular arithmetic is often applied - eg: an Ace can be placed on a Queen if building up by two is required

Cards

The cards are derived from David Bellot's SVG-Cards at SVG-Cards.