Alhambra

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order
3. The parts of the layout
4. Setup
5. Playing
6. Redeals
7. Winning
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Alhambra is a patience (a card game for one player, also called solitaire) for two decks. You build eight piles, two per suit: one from Ace up to King, the other from King down to Ace. Your helpers are eight small reserve piles – and an unusual trick: you may build reserve cards onto the waste pile, up or down in suit, to keep the right cards within reach. You may go through the stock three times.

• Players: 1
• You need: two standard 52-card decks without jokers (104 cards), shuffled together.
• Time: about 10 minutes per game.

Card order

The Ace is low on the foundations. From lowest to highest:

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

On the waste pile (see below) the order goes round the corner: the Ace is next to both the 2 and the King, so K–A and A–K are also steps of one.

The parts of the layout

• Foundations: a row of eight piles – one Ace and one King of each suit. The Aces are built up in suit to the King, the Kings down in suit to the Ace. Each foundation ends with 13 cards.
• Reserve: eight piles of four cards below the foundations. Only the top card of each reserve pile can be played.
• Stock: the face-down rest of the cards.
• Waste pile: the pile of cards turned up from the stock. Only its top card is available.

Setup

1. Take one Ace and one King of each suit out of the two decks and lay them face up in a row: these are the eight foundations.
2. Shuffle the other 96 cards. Deal eight reserve piles of four cards, face up and squared up so that only the top card of each pile shows.
3. The remaining 64 cards are the stock, face down.

Playing

1. Turn a card: turn the top card of the stock face up onto the waste pile.
2. Foundations: the top card of the waste pile and the top card of any reserve pile may go onto a foundation – on an Ace pile if it is the next higher card of the same suit, on a King pile if it is the next lower card of the same suit.
3. Building on the waste pile: the top card of a reserve pile may also go onto the waste pile if it is the same suit and one rank higher or lower than the waste pile's top card. The order goes round the corner, so a K♣ fits on an A♣ and an A♣ on a K♣. You may carry on as long as cards fit.
4. You may not build on the reserve piles or move cards from one reserve pile to another. An empty reserve pile stays empty.
5. Cards on the foundations stay there.

Example: The waste pile shows the 10♣. A reserve pile shows the 9♣, and below it the 8♣. Put the 9♣ onto the 10♣, then the 8♣ onto the 9♣. If the ♣ King foundation is at the 9♣, you can now play the 8♣ from the waste pile onto it. Instead of the 9♣ you could also have built a J♣ onto the 10♣.

Redeals

When the stock is used up, turn the waste pile over without shuffling – it becomes the new stock. You may do this twice, so you go through the stock three times in all. The waste pile now also contains the reserve cards you built onto it.

Winning

You win when all 104 cards lie on the eight foundations. If the third pass through the stock is over and no move is left, the game is lost. Morehead and Mott-Smith put the chance of winning at about 1 in 10.

Tips for beginners

• Use the waste pile as a store: building a long run of one suit on it keeps those cards together for the next pass.
• Watch both foundations of a suit – a card that is no use going up may fit going down.
• Try to free the cards buried at the bottom of the reserve piles before the last pass.

Variants

All optional:

• Any suit on the waste pile: some computer versions (e.g. BVS Solitaire) let you build reserve cards onto the waste pile regardless of suit, one rank up or down. Easier.