Aces Up

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order
3. Setup
4. Playing
5. Winning
6. Tips for beginners
7. Variants

Overview

Aces Up, also called Idiot's Delight, is a quick patience (a card game for one player, also called solitaire). You deal the cards onto four piles and throw out every card that is beaten by a higher card of the same suit. You win if, at the end, only the four Aces are left. A game takes two or three minutes – ideal for a short break.

• Players: 1
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, no jokers, and room for four piles.

Card order

In Aces Up the Ace is high. From lowest to highest:

2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – J – Q – K – A

The suits are ♠ spades, ♥ hearts, ♦ diamonds and ♣ clubs. Only cards of the same suit are compared.

Setup

Shuffle and hold the deck face down: this is the stock (draw pile). Deal four cards face up in a row, side by side. These are the first cards of your four piles. Leave room for a discard pile where thrown-out cards go.

Playing

Only the top card of each pile (the one on top, fully visible) counts. Repeat these steps:

1. Throw out: if two of the top cards are of the same suit, the lower one goes on the discard pile. Keep doing this as long as you can – each thrown-out card uncovers the card below it, which may make new throws possible.
2. Fill spaces: if a pile is empty, you may move the top card of another pile into the space. This uncovers a new card – check again for cards to throw out.
3. Deal again: when you can do nothing more (or want nothing more), deal four new cards from the stock, one face up onto each pile, covering the cards already there. Then go back to step 1.

When the whole stock has been dealt and you can make no more moves, the game is over.

Example: After the second deal the top cards are 8♥, K♥, 9♣ and 6♣. Throw out the 8♥ (the K♥ beats it) and the 6♣ (the 9♣ beats it). Under the 8♥ lies the Q♥ – out too, because of the K♥. That pile is now empty, so move the K♥ into it; this uncovers the J♠ that was under the K♥. Under the 6♣ lies the 2♦, which stays. Nothing more fits – deal four new cards.

Winning

You win if only the four Aces are left at the end – 48 cards on the discard pile. Otherwise, count the cards you threw out: the more, the better. Winning is rare – depending on the source, about one game in 10 to one game in 35.

Tips for beginners

• An empty pile is your most valuable tool. Use it to dig out a high card (an Ace or King) that is buried under lower cards.
• An Ace can never be thrown out, so an Ace lying on other cards blocks that pile. Moving it into a space frees those cards – but don't do it automatically if another pile needs the space more.
• Before filling a space, think about which pile would reveal the most useful card.
• When the game can no longer come out, shuffle and start a new one.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Aces only: only an Ace may be moved into an empty pile. Much harder – according to Wikipedia, only about one game in 270 comes out.
• Score: keep a running total of cards thrown out over several games; 48 is a perfect game.