Game Definitions

Piles

- Stock The stock is the portion of the deck that has not been dealt at the start of the game. Cards are turned from the stock, usually one or three at a time, and discarded to the waste. No building takes place on the stock.
- Waste Cards that are dealt from the stock are discarded, face up to a waste pile, of which the top exposed card is available for play. No building takes place on the waste.
- Foundation A pile to which cards are played in a certain sequence in order to complete the game. Foundations are usually built up in ascending family sequence.
- Tableau The main area of play consisting of rows or columns where cards are re-ordered according to the rules of the game. Cards are dealt to the tableau at the start of the game.
- Fan Variation of a tableau where no building usually takes place on (typical of Fan Games).
- Discard A pile to which cards may be sent for later use in the tableau or in the foundation. Usually only one card may be discarded in any one discard.
- Reserve A pile of cards dealt at the start of the game. Depending on the rules of the game, only the exposed card or any face-up card is available for play. No building takes place on the reserve.

Cards

- Color Cards come in 2 colors, usually red and black but it depends on the Card Sets design (gold and silver for example).
- Family Cards comes in 4 families, usually hearts / diamonds (red color) and clubs / spades (black color) but it depends on the Card Sets design (spanish cards for example).
- Rank The identity of a card irrespective of its family, usually 13 ranks in each family running from Ace to King.
- Available A card is available when the rules of the game allow that card to be picked and moved somewhere else. Usually only exposed cards are available for play.
- Blocked A card is blocked when it is covered by another blocked card (although this definition may vary depending on the rules of the game).
- Exposed A card that is not covered by another card. Usually only exposed cards are available for play.
- Released A card that was previously blocked and that is now exposed through the removal of blocking cards on top of it.

Suits

- Ascending A sequence of two or more cards of increasing rank : A,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,J,Q,K.
- Descending A sequence of two or more cards of decreasing rank : K,Q,J,10,9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,A.
- Family Sequence A sequence (ascending or descending) of two or more cards of the same family : A,2 of clubs.
- Color Sequence A sequence (ascending or descending) of two or more cards of the same color : A,2 of reds.
- Alternate Color Sequence A sequence (ascending or descending) of two or more cards of alternate colors : K,Q of different colors.
- Alternate Family Sequence A sequence (ascending or descending) of two or more cards of alternate families : K,Q of different families.
- Full Sequence A full ascending sequence (from Ace to King) or a full descending sequence (from King to Ace).
- Partial Sequence A part of a full sequence.
- Complete Pack of Exposed Cards All face-up exposed cards in a pile.
- Partial Pack of Exposed Cards A part of a complete pack.
- Wrapping This is when the rules allow an Ace to be played on a King in an ascending sequence (10,J,Q,K,A,2,3,4) or a King to be played on an Ace in a descending sequence (4,3,2,A,K,Q,J,10).
- Ranking This is when the rules allow a card to be played on another card of the same rank (7 of clubs on a 7 of hearts).
- Head The first (top) card in a sequence.

Actions

- Build The act of assembling cards into a sequence according to the rules of the game.
- Clearing Out When all the cards in a tableau have been removed to form a vacant space, the pile is said to have been cleared out. The rules of the game determine which cards can fill spaces (usually, an empty pile can only be filled with a King or a group of cards headed by a King).
- Deal The act of dealing cards from the stock to a waste. Usually one or three cards are dealt.
- Redeal Once the stock has been exhausted to a waste, if the rules allow, the waste's cards may be returned, without upsetting there order, to the stock and turned face down. When all the cards from the stock have been exhausted, it is said to have been passed. There is usually a limit to the number of passes allowed for a given game.

Games

Here are guidelines to game types. Many games falls between 2 or more categories so these general rules may sometime differ from the reality (you are encouraged to look at the dedicated rules for each game).

- Klondike You try to build the foundation piles starting with a set of tableau piles and a stock. Variations include a waste or a set of discard piles where you can deal the stock.
- Spider You try to build the foundation piles starting with a set of tableau piles (no stock). Foundations can be built a card at a time or as full sequence at once.
- Freecell You try to build the foundation piles starting with a set of tableau piles (no stock). All cards are usually visible (open games). To help re-order the tableau a set of discard piles are available.
- Fan You try to build foundation piles starting with a set of fan piles where building is usually forbidden. All cards are usually visible (open games). Variation includes games where no foundation piles are present, the goal being to rearrange the tableau in a way dictated by the rules (cards of same rank for example).
- Pyramid You try to remove all cards from various sets of piles by pairing cards so that their added rank is equal to 13.
- Canfield You try to build the foundation piles starting with a set of tableau piles, a stock and a reserve. Cleared out tableau piles are automatically filled with the reserve.

Solo Cards - (C) 2000 - Bertrand Vauthier