The KPatience Handbook

# The KPatience Handbook

Paul Olav Tvete

Maren Pakura

Stephan Kulow

Reviewer: Mike McBride
Developer: Paul Olav Tvete
Developer: Stephan Kulow
Revision KDE Gear 21.04 (2021-06-20)

Copyright © 2000 Paul Olav Tvete

Copyright © 2001, 2004 Maren Pakura

Copyright © 2007 Stephan Kulow

Legal Notice

This documentation describes the game of KPatience version 21.04

Chapter 1. Introduction
Introduction

# Chapter 1. Introduction

### Gametype:

Card

### Number of possible players:

One

To play patience you need, as the name suggests, patience. For simple games, where the way the game goes depends only upon how the cards fall, your patience might be the only thing you need.

There are also patience games where you must plan your strategy and think ahead in order to win.

A theme common to all the games is the player must put the cards in a special order — moving, turning and reordering them.

Chapter 2. How to Play
How to Play

# Chapter 2. How to Play

### Objective:

Rearrange the cards by suit in as few moves as possible.

As KPatience offers you a multiplicity of different solitaire games, there is no straightforward how-to which could fit all of them. Therefore, it is essential that you read each individual subsection of Game Rules, Strategies and Tips section before you start playing a version you are not familiar with.

Essentially there are two types of solitaire games – the ones that let you arrange the cards by same color and the ones that let you arrange the cards by alternating color. You can easily determine which game you are trying out using trial-and-error method. Once you know which one you are dealing with the rest is easy; keep arranging and rearranging the cards and collecting the matching ones.

From the beginning, however, pay attention to your card stacks. Do not rush to move individual cards around. See if it might be more useful elsewhere.

For additional help you can also take quick peeks onto the statusbar. Each of the games has a built in solver which informs you whether the game you are currently playing can be completed or not. If you see that solver could not complete the current game, chances are you will not be able to do so as well. At this point you can either restart the current game, or start a completely new game.

### Note:

Playing solitaire games helps you to greatly improve your attention span and enhance the ability to concentrate.

Chapter 3. Game Rules, Strategies and Tips
Game Rules, Strategies and Tips

# Chapter 3. Game Rules, Strategies and Tips

## General Rules

A card game contains one or more card decks of 52 cards each. Each deck contains the four suits:

| Clubs
| Spades
| Hearts
| Diamonds

Each of these suits contains the following card types: ace, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, and king.

This complete order of cards is called a family. There are real families and alternating ones. The real families are all of one suit (e.g. Hearts). In the alternating families the card color changes from one to another, between a black color (Clubs and Spades) and a red color (Hearts and Diamonds).

If the family is not complete it is called a sequence.

There are a number of features found in typical patience games. These are described below.

1. Talon

  At the beginning of each game all cards are mixed in the deck. In some games not all cards are dealt out. The remaining cards are put down on the talon (also called the stock). You can find this quite easily, since in most games it is the only pile in which all cards are face down.

2. Waste Pile

  Many games use a waste pile to hold cards taken from the talon. Typically clicking on the talon will cause the topmost card to be flipped face up and placed on the waste pile, at which point the card enters play.

3. Foundation

  The foundation piles are where you want your cards to end up. Typically, the game is won only once all cards have been moved to the foundation piles in the correct order. The number of foundation piles and the ordering required varies from game to game.

  Most games start with the foundation piles empty. Choosing the Drop action from the menu or toolbar will cause KPatience to scan through all the piles move as many cards to the foundation piles as it can. If you have the Enabled Autodrop setting activated, KPatience will attempt to perform a drop whenever possible.

4. Playing Piles

  These piles are those where the actual reordering happens. The rules for these piles vary a lot between games. Some show all cards on them, some do not. Some allow only one card to be removed, some allow every card to be removed, etc.

Rules for Individual Games
Rules for Individual Games

## Rules for Individual Games

### Klondike

Klondike is the most famous patience — most likely because it comes with a well-known operating system. It is played with one deck.

The goal in Klondike is to put all cards, as real families, ascending on the foundation. This gets easier once all cards are lying face up in the playing piles.

The sequences on the playing piles have to be put there in descending order. The cards should alternate in colors (red and black). You can move whole sequences or parts of it, if the first card fits on another pile.

On a free pile you can put a king of any color, or a sequence starting with a king.

When you click on the talon, one card from it will be moved to the waste pile. You can move it to the playing piles or the foundation from there. If the talon is empty, you can move the complete waste pile to the talon by clicking on the empty talon.

You can look through the cards on the talon as much as you like.

### Grandfather

This game was introduced to Paul Olav Tvete, the original developer of KPatience, by his grandfather; it is named after this. No other patience games are known to implement this patience game variant.

In Grandfather, one deck is dealt to seven playing piles. Some cards on each pile are face down on the initial deal.

The goal is to put all cards as real families ascending on the foundation piles.

You can move every card on every pile if it fits on another card, to build a real sequence of descending order. For example, you can move the five of spades on top of the six of spades, no matter how many cards on are on top of the five of spades. Just the six of spades has to be on top of its pile.

On a free pile you can place a king (again no matter how many cards are on top of it).

If there are no more possible moves, you can redeal the cards. A redeal consists of picking up the cards from the playing piles (pile by pile, left to right) and redealing them in the starting pattern (zigzagging rows of face down cards forming a peak and then left to right rows of face up cards on top). Note that the cards are not shuffled and that cards on the foundation piles are left untouched. You may redeal no more than twice in a single game.

Even though the rules are simple and allow many moves, the game is still hard to win. Despite this, or because of it, this game remains a joy to play.

### Aces Up

This patience has simple rules, yet is hard to win. It is played with one deck. The goal is to put all cards besides aces onto the foundation. There should be an ace left on every playing pile afterwards.

Each top card that is of the same suit (e.g. spades) and has a lower value than another top card (e.g. six of spades and four of spades) can be put on the foundation by clicking on it.

If you cannot move any more cards to the foundation, you can get a new card for each playing pile by clicking on the talon.

On a free pile you can move every other card on top of a pile. You should use these moves to free piles. That way, new cards can be moved to the foundation.

The auto drop feature is disabled in this patience game.

### Freecell

Freecell is played with one card deck. You have four free cells in the top left corner. In addition there are four foundation piles, and eight playing piles below.

The goal of the game is to have all cards as real families ascending on the foundation. You can achieve this often if you know how to play: Freecell is solvable at a rate of 99.9% approximately — of the first 32,000 deals there is only one unsolvable (11,982 if you want to know).

In the playing piles you have to build descending sequences, where red and black cards alternate. You can put any card in a free cell.

You can only move one card that lays on top of a pile or a free cell. Sequences can only be moved if you have enough free space (either free cells or free playing piles) to place the cards.

The maximum amount of cards you can move is calculated by:

Variations:

- “Baker's Game” is like “Freecell”, but the piles are built down by suit.

- “Eight Off” is like “Freecell”, but the piles are built down by suit. You have 8 reserves and only kings can fill empty spaces. Four reserves are filled at game start.

- “Forecell” is like “Freecell”, but the reserves are filled at game start, and only kings can fill empty spaces.

- “Seahaven Towers” is like “Freecell”, but with 10 piles which are built down by suit, and only kings can fill empty spaces. Two reserves are filled at game start.

To solve this game it is recommended to grab the cards out of the playing sequences in the same order they have to be put into the foundation (first the aces, then the twos, etc.)

You should try to keep as many free cells and/or playing piles empty, so you can build sequences as long as possible.

### Mod3

Mod3 is played with two card decks. The goal is to put all cards on the top three rows. In those you have to build sequences of the same color. In the first row you have to create the sequence 2-5-8-J, in the second row the sequence 3-6-9-Q, and in the third row the sequence 4-7-10-K. The suit of the cards must be the same in each sequence, so you can only put a five of hearts on top of a two of hearts.

The fourth row is both your waste pile and playing pile. On an empty slot you can put any card from the first three rows, or one from the top of the fourth row.

You can put aces on the aces piles, on top of the talon. They are in the game so you have a starting point for creating free slots.

If you cannot move any more cards, you can get new cards on the fourth row by clicking on the talon.

The auto drop feature is disabled in this patience game.

### Normandy

Normandy is played with two card decks. The aim is to put all cards in real families ascending on the foundation.

The playing piles have to be descending, while red and black cards have to alternate. You can only move sequences or single cards. On a free slot you can put any card or sequence.

If you cannot move any more cards, you can click on the talon to get new cards on each playing pile.

In using the Undo feature you can ease the game quite a lot, as you have to take many decisions and some of them might turn out to be wrong after you clicked the talon.

This game is also known under the name "Gypsy", but because this term is considered derogatory and offensive by many, we have chosen to use the alternative name "Normandy" instead.

### Forty & Eight

Forty & Eight is played with two card decks. The goal is to put all cards as real families on the foundation.

The playing piles have to be descending. Colors are important. You can only put a five of hearts on a six of hearts, for example.

You can only move one card on top of a pile. You can put any card in a free slot.

By clicking on the talon you can put a card on the waste pile; from there you can put it on a playing pile or the foundation (KPatience will do this for you). If the talon is empty you can put all cards on the waste pile back on the talon. This works only once: after the second time the talon empties, the game is over.

This patience is difficult to solve. With some experience you can solve many of the deals, especially if you use the Undo feature from time to time to correct your decisions, and the decisions KPatience makes in putting cards on the foundation.

### Simple Simon

Simple Simon is played with one card deck. The goal is to put all cards as real families on the foundation.

In the playing piles you can build sequences. In general you don't have to care about the suits of the cards, but sequences can only be moved if they are part of a real sequence. For example, you can move the six of spades if the five of spades is on top of it, but may not move it if the five of clubs is on top of it.

The cards can only be moved to the foundation if all 13 cards of one family lay on top of each other in the playing piles.

### Suggestion

You should try as soon as possible to move the cards to the correct piles, to create free piles to place cards on temporarily, since you can put any card on those.

With enough free room you can build families on free slots independently of the color. If you have all cards in such families you can sort them by color, so they can be moved to the foundation.

### Yukon

Yukon is played with one card deck. The goal is to put all cards as real families ascending on the foundation.

The sequences on the playing piles have to be descending with alternating red and black cards. You can move every face up card no matter how many cards are on top of it. So you can put a five of hearts on a six of spades if that one is on top of its pile.

In a free slot you can put a king of any color (again, no matter how many cards are on top of it).

### Grandfather's Clock

Grandfather's clock is a simple patience game. With some experience you should be able to solve most deals. It is played with one card deck. The aim is to put the cards as real ascending sequences on the foundation.

The foundation is on the right-hand side and consists of 12 piles that form the shape of a clock. The nine is at 12 o'clock, the queen is at 3 o'clock, the three is at 6 o'clock and the six is at 9 o'clock.

There are 8 playing piles beside the clock and on each are 5 cards. On the playing piles you can build descending sequences. The color of the cards is not important. You can only move one card at a time.

### Golf

Golf is played with one card deck. The goal of Golf is to move all the cards on the tableau to the foundation.

The layout of golf solitaire is straightforward. At the beginning of the game you will see the tableau. On it are seven columns each containing five cards. The talon and the foundation are below.

Playing golf solitaire is simple, but requires strategy to win. The cards at the base of each column on the tableau are available for play. Available cards are built upon the top foundation card in ascending or descending sequence regardless of suit. If there are no moves available a card may be dealt from the talon to the foundation. The game is over when all the cards in the talon have been dealt and there are no more possible moves.

### Spider

Spider is played with two card decks. The cards are dealt out into 10 playing piles, 4 of 6 cards and 6 of 5 cards each. This leaves 50 cards that can be dealt out 10 at a time, one on each playing pile.

In the playing piles, a card can be placed on another card of any suit and of one higher value. A sequence of descending cards of the same suit may be moved from one playing pile to another.

The goal of spider is to put all cards as real families descending from Kings anywhere in the playing piles. When such a family is built in a playing pile, it is removed to the lower-left corner of the window.

The different levels determine how many suits are dealt - Easy uses 1 suit, Medium uses 2 suits, and Hard uses all 4 suits. The game is fairly easy to win at Easy level, and very difficult to win at Hard level.

### Baker's Dozen

Baker's Dozen is played with one card deck. The game's name originates from the 13 columns in the game, the number in a baker's dozen. The cards are dealt into columns of four on the tableau, resulting in 13 columns. Any king that is in the top or middle of each column must be placed on the bottom before the game starts. Two kings that are mixed into one column are placed on the bottom without changing their order.

The object of the game is to build all the cards onto the four foundations by suit, each from ace to king

In the playing piles you have to build descending sequences, regardless of suit. You can only move one card that lays on top of a pile.

Variations:

- In “Spanish Patience”, any card can fill empty tableau spaces. (In some sources, the foundations are built up regardless of suit).

- “Castles in Spain” is akin to “Spanish Patience”, but the cards in the tableau are built down by alternate color. In some variations, the tableau is dealt face-down aside from the top cards of each column.

- “Portuguese Solitaire” is halfway between “Baker's Dozen” and “Spanish Patience” because empty columns can only be filled with Kings.

To solve this game it is recommended to grab the cards out of the playing sequences in the same order they have to be put into the foundation (first the aces, then the twos, etc.) Typically, you want to avoid emptying a column until the last card is ready to be moved to a foundation.

### Castle

Castle is a family of patience or solitaire card games typically played with a deck of 52 playing cards. It is sometimes described as "Freecell without cells" because its game play is similar but without extra empty spaces to maneuver in most variations.

The object of the game is to build all the cards onto the four foundations by suit, each from ace to king.

In the playing piles you have to build descending sequences, regardless of suit. You can only move one card that lays on top of a pile.

Variations:

- “Beleaguered Castle”. Aces are dealt to the foundations. Any card can fill empty spaces.

- “Citadel” is like “Beleaguered Castle”, but matching cards are moved to the foundation during the deal, leaving uneven piles.

- “Exiled Kings” is like “Citadel”, but only kings can fill empty spaces.

- “Siegecraft” is like “Beleaguered Castle”, but with one free cell.

- “Streets and Alleys” is like “Beleaguered Castle”, but aces are included in shuffling.

- “Stronghold” is like “Streets and Alleys”, but with one free cell.

To solve this game it is recommended to build evenly on the foundations. Try to create empty piles which can be used to facilitate longer moves to free up buried cards.

Chapter 4. Interface Overview
Interface Overview

# Chapter 4. Interface Overview

## The Game Menu

Game → New Game… (Ctrl+Shift+N)

  Return to the game selection screen. This action abandons the deal in progress.

Game → New Deal (Ctrl+N)

  Start a new deal of the same game type. This action abandons the deal in progress.

Game → New Numbered Deal… (Ctrl+D)

  Start a new deal by specifying the game type and deal number. This action abandons the deal in progress.

  KPatience gives each deal a unique indentifying number (which it uses internally to randomize the deck during the initial deal). This feature allows you to replay a deal of interest or to attempt a particularly difficult deal recommended by a friend. Especially dedicated players may wish to “beat” KPatience by playing all 2147483647 deals consecutively for each of the game types.

  Note that for Freecell, KPatience's deal numbers match those described in the Freecell FAQ.

Game → Restart Deal (F5)

  Return the current game to its initially dealt condition.

Game → Load… (Ctrl+O)

  Load a saved game. This action abandons the deal in progress.

Game → Load Recent → `List of recently accessed files`

  List recently accessed save files in order of last use. Selecting a game will load it. This action abandons the deal in progress.

Game → Save As… (Ctrl+S)

  Save the current game to disk.

Game → Statistics

  Display various statistics about your performance broken down by game type.

Game → Quit (Ctrl+Q)

  Quit KPatience.

The Move Menu
The Move Menu

## The Move Menu

Move → Undo (Ctrl+Z)

  Undo your last move.

Move → Redo (Ctrl+Shift+Z)

  Redo the move that was just undone by Undo.

Move → Hint (H)

  Provide some hints as to possible moves, should the player become stuck. Cards that can be legally moved to another pile are temporarily highlighted.

Move → Demo (D)

  Start the demo mode. While in demo mode, KPatience attempts to solve the deal for you. Activate this action a second time to exit demo mode.

Move → Draw (Space)

  Flip one of more cards from the talon and move them to the waste pile. This action is available in only certain games.

Move → Deal Row (Enter)

  Flip several cards from the talon and place one on each playing pile. This action is available in only certain games.

Move → Redeal (R)

  Collect all the card left in play and redeal them without shuffling. This action is available in only certain games.

The Settings and Help Menu
The Settings and Help Menu

## The Settings and Help Menu

Apart from the common KDE Settings and Help menus described in the Menu chapter of the KDE Fundamentals documentation KPatience has these application specific menu entries:

Settings → `Game Type Options` → `List of game type specific options`

  List options specific to the current game type. This menu is available in only certain games (Klondike and Spider).

Settings → Stack Options → Face Down (harder)/Face Up (easier)

  Allows you to choose if the card faces should be shown. This menu is available in Spider only.

Settings → Enable Autodrop

  Enable automatically moving cards to the foundation piles when possible.

Settings → Enable Solver

  Enable the automatic solving engine. When enabled, the solver will constantly try to determine whether the current game state is winnable. You may wish to disable the solver to conserve processor or battery usage.

Settings → Play Sounds

  Sounds are played when you taken or place cards. More sounds are expected in the future.

Settings → Remember State on Exit

  Enable automatic saving of the game state when KPatience is shut down. If enabled, KPatience will load the previous game state automatically the next time it is started.

Help → Help with Current Game (Ctrl+Shift+F1)

  Opens the section with the Rules for the current game in this handbook.

Chapter 5. Frequently asked questions
Frequently asked questions

# Chapter 5. Frequently asked questions

5.1. I want to change the way this game looks. Can I?
5.2. Can I use the keyboard to play the game?
5.3. Even with hints I still have no clue how to play. Help!

5.1. | I want to change the way this game looks. Can I?
| You can change the faces and backs of the playing cards and the game theme. To do so please use Settings → Change Appearance… (F10) on the menubar.
5.2. | Can I use the keyboard to play the game?
| No, KPatience features no keyboard only play. However, most menu options do have keyboard shortcuts.
5.3. | Even with hints I still have no clue how to play. Help!
| Besides the “Hint” feature there also is a useful “Demo” mode, where the built-in artificial intelligence will play the game for you. You can try to watch and learn. However, if you have any questions it is better to read the How to Play and Game Rules, Strategies and Tips sections of this handbook.

Chapter 6. Credits and License
Credits and License

# Chapter 6. Credits and License

KPatience

KPatience Copyright (c) 1995-2000 Paul Olav Tvete

KPatience Copyright (c) 2001-2007 Stephan Kulow `(coolo AT kde.org)`

Freecell Solver by Shlomi Fish `(shlomif AT vipe.technion.ac.il)`

Documentation Copyright (c) 2000 Paul Olav Tvete

Documentation updated for KDE 2.0 by Mike McBride `(no mail)`

Documentation rewritten for KPatience 2.0 (KDE 2.1) by Maren Pakura `(maren AT kde.org)`

Documentation proofread and update for KPatience 3.6 by Richard Hawthorne `(techno_plume-coding AT yahoo.com)`

This documentation is licensed under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.

This program is licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License.