Solavantage

Askew Solitaire Strategy

Askew is an original Solavant game with influences from several types of solitaire. It's a good thinking game - the unusual rules keep your brain working to remember what goes where.

Eight cards are dealt to the tableau in two groups of four. Each group has its own unique building rules. This keeps the tableau unbalanced and "askew".

The group on the left is built downward in alternating color. This group is the looser of the two, allowing for lots of different cards to be built. Also, covered cards can be moved within this group.

The group on the right is stricter. With cards build downward in suit only, it's more difficult to build here. Plus, only the end cards can be moved.

The objective of Askew is a standard one: build all cards into four ascending, in-suit foundation piles from Ace to King.

Gaps Solitaire Strategy

Gaps, also known as "Montana", is a hard, older game that's fairly well known by solitaire fans. Its large layout is somewhat difficult to play with real cards, especially during the redeals, but playing on the Mac makes that part easy. It's still hard to win, though.

Gaps is a completely open game, with all cards in view. All cards are dealt into 4 rows then all Aces are removed from play, leaving 4 gaps in the layout which provide the game's name. (I don't know where the name Montana comes from. Do any of you?) A card may be moved into a gap if it is the same suit and one higher than the card to the left of the gap. Twos are played into the leftmost spaces and nothing is played to the right of a King.

The objective is to get the cards into suit sequences, one per row, from Twos to Kings. The gaps will then be the rightmost spaces in the layout.

Fourteen Out Solitaire Strategy

Fourteen Out is a pairing game similar to the popular game Pyramid. I prefer Fourteen Out because it is completely open, with all cards visible when the game starts. Pyramid has half of the cards hidden in the stock. Fourteen Out is therefore the more strategic — and more fun, at least to me. :)

Fourteen Out starts with all cards dealt into 12 tableau columns. End cards may be paired together so that their ranks total 14 (hence the name Fourteen Out). Pairs are automatically discarded. The game is won if all cards are discarded.

Yukon Solitaire Strategy

Yukon is based on Klondike but with tableau rules from spider-type games. Yukon isn't as well known as Klondike, but many people prefer it to Klondike once they've played a few times.

The 4 foundations build upward in suit, the 7 tableau columns build downward in alternating color, with Kings played into empty spaces. Any face-up card may be picked up and built on another column.

Invasion Solitaire Strategy

Invasion is an original game created specifically for Solavant. I like this game mostly because it is unlike any other solitaire game I've played. The card movements are difficult and tedious to play on a table with real cards, but with Solavant this tedious movement is automatic. The metaphor for this game is of protecting an ancient land from an invading army by subverting the invaders to your side before they cross the sea.

The rules may look complex at first glance, but they are actually simple once you've played a few times. The goal is to build the foundations on the right from Aces to Queens regardless of suit. (The rules incorrectly state Aces to Kings, this will be corrected in the next version.) The foundations are the Homeland that you must protect from the invading Army.

The four Kings on the left are not in play. They represent the invading leaders and are just for show.

Between the Kings and Homeland are rows that make up the Sea. Cards of the Army are dealt 4 at a time from the stock pile into the rows at the leftmost side. Any cards already in the rows are automatically moved to the right one space as they sail closer to the Homeland. If any of the four rows is completely filled, cards cannot be dealt from the stock.

The rightmost card of any row may be built onto any foundation pile that can take it. This is the "subversion" process.

Only one move is allowed within the Sea rows. If the rightmost card of a row has a space beside it, you may move a card that is one lower in rank into the space. The card you move can be any card in the Sea. The gap from the moved card is automatically closed leftward, except if the gap is the leftmost space in a row, then it is filled from the stock.

The game is lost if any row is completely filled and you cannot create gaps in it because no more cards can be dealt from the stock. The Army will have successfully invaded the Homeland.

Eight Off Solitaire Strategy

Eight Off is a good strategic puzzle game where all cards are visible in the initial deal, which allows for lots of planning. Most deals are winnable. It is similar to the better-known game Free Cell.

The rules are not complex. The 4 foundations are built upward in suit, the 8 tableau columns are built downward in suit, and single cards may be moved into the 8 reserve spaces.

Provisional Solitaire Strategy

Provisional is a new game of my own invention that was recently added to Solavant. It is a variant of Golf with an extra strategic element added: a provisional reserve space. The added strategy makes Provisional much more winnable if you play well than the harder Golf.

The objective is to play the 7 columns of the fairway into the single golf hole. Only end cards are available for play. The hole is built up or down in consecutive rank, with Aces and Kings built on each other, regardless of suit.

The provisional reserve space can hold any one card.

Sly Fox Solitaire Strategy

Sly Fox is an older game that isn't well known. It's a strategic puzzle requiring a good bit of planning. Many sources consider almost all shuffles to be winnable.

The 4 foundations on the left are built in suit from Aces to Kings. The 4 foundations on the right are built similarly from Kings down to Aces.

20 reserve cards are dealt to the bottom of the layout. Reserve cards may be built onto foundations or placed onto any of the 20 tableau piles in the center. When the reserve is empty, 20 more cards may be dealt from the stock.

Xerxes Solitaire Strategy

Xerxes is a fun little game that many people are not familar with. You can win quite often with smart play.

Xerxes uses two "short decks". Short decks have certain cards removed. In Xerxes, all Twos through Eights are removed leaving mostly face cards in play.

Foundations at the top build from Nines to Aces regardless of suit or color. The first Nine is placed when the game is dealt, then cards are dealt beneath it until another Nine appears. This Nine is placed into the next foundation and cards are dealt beneath it. This continues until all cards are dealt. Because of this unusual initial deal, each Xerxes game starts with different amounts of cards in each column.

The end cards are available for foundation building. Columns are not built on, but any card may be played into an empty space.

Scorpion Solitaire Strategy

Scorpion is the game featured in this first Solavantage strategy post because it's my personal favorite. I've only ever won it a few times but searching for possible moves is a fun challenge.

Scorpion is a spider-type of game, where all building is done within the tableau. The goal is to build and discard 4 sequences from King down to Ace in suit. Any face-up card can be moved, covered or not. The 3 stock cards may be dealt to the left 3 columns at any time.

The game seems simple at first. You can move any face-up card, thus many potential moves are available. But be careful if you want to win or score well. The 12 face-down cards are Scorpion's "sting" and the game will block quickly if you don't release them. Getting these cards out is the most important step toward winning.