Amazons (solitaire)

Amazons is a solitaire card game which is played with a deck of playing cards. The game is played with a stripped deck, i.e. one that has its twos, threes, fours, fives, sixes, and kings removed. This game is named after the female-led tribe, the Amazons, because the queen is the highest card, and all queens are shown if the game is won.[1]

Rules

First, four cards are dealt. They would be the reserve. Above it is a space for the foundations. Once an ace is available, it is placed on the foundations and each ace should be placed in order on which they become available.

The first four cards dealt are the bases of the reserve piles, the top card of each being available only to the foundation immediately above it. The exception to this rule is a queen can be moved to its foundation from any pile. The order of placing is A-7-8-9-10-J-Q.

When play goes on a standstill, four more cards are then dealt, one on each reserve pile, and stop to see if any of the cards dealt can be placed on the foundations. Spaces are not filled until the next deal. This process is repeated until the stock runs out. When it does, a new stock is formed by placing each pile over its right-hand neighbor, turn them face down and deal; this should be done without reshuffling. The process of dealing the cards, building to the foundations, and redealing, is repeated without limits until the game is won or lost.

The game is won when all cards are built onto the foundations, with the queens at the top.

Strategy

Given the unlimited redeals, one of the best strategies for winning Amazons in as many as half the games played is to only play one Ace at a time rather than all of them initially, working on a single foundation at a time, and only playing another Ace when stuck despite redealing.

References
  1. "Amazons" (p.14) in The Little Book of Solitaire, Running Press, 2002. ISBN 0-7624-1381-6

See also
  • List of solitaires
  • Glossary of solitaire
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