Black Hole

Full rules

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

Overview

Black Hole is a quick patience (a card game for one player, also called solitaire) invented by the British games author David Parlett. The Ace of Spades sits in the middle as the "black hole", and the rest of the deck lies around it in small fans. You try to swallow every card into the black hole, one after another, each card one rank higher or lower than the one before. Every card is visible from the start, so the game rewards planning ahead.

• Players: 1
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, no jokers.
• Time: about 5 minutes per game.

Card order

The ranks run A – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 10 – J – Q – K, and they turn the corner: the King and the Ace count as neighbours. So a King may follow an Ace and an Ace may follow a King (Q-K-A-2 is a valid run). Suits and colours play no part.

Setup

1. Take the A♠ out of the deck and put it face up in the centre of the table. This single pile is the black hole – the only foundation (the pile where all cards end up).
2. Shuffle the other 51 cards and deal them face up in 17 fans of 3 cards around the black hole. In each fan the cards overlap slightly, so you can see all three. The fans together are the tableau (the layout).

Only the top card of each fan – the last one dealt, lying fully uncovered – can be played. When it is gone, the card beneath it becomes the top card.

Playing

There is only one kind of move: put a top card from any fan onto the black hole if it is one rank higher or one rank lower than the card now on top of the black hole. The suit does not matter.

• You may change direction whenever you like: after 5-6 you may go on with a 7 or go back to a 5.
• Cards never move from one fan to another, and an emptied fan stays empty.
• There is no stock and no redeal: all 51 cards are in play from the start.

Example: The black hole shows the A♠. Top cards include 2♦, K♣, 3♥ and Q♠. You could play the 2♦ (one up) and then the 3♥, or the K♣ (one down, turning the corner) and then the Q♠. Before choosing, look at what lies under each of these cards – the better path is the one that frees cards you can use next.

Winning

You win when all 52 cards are in the black hole. When no top card is one rank above or below the black hole's top card, the game is lost. Computer analysis by Shlomi Fish found that about 87% of deals can be won with perfect play – so a lost game is usually a planning mistake.

Tips for beginners

• Look several moves ahead before each card. Count how many cards each possible path will clear.
• Watch out for fans with two cards of the same rank or neighbouring ranks stacked on each other – they need care.
• Parlett advises not to switch between going up and going down too often.
• Keep an eye on each rank: once all four 7s are in the black hole, there is no more way from the 6s to the 8s.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Any card as the black hole: shuffle all 52 cards, deal 17 fans of 3 and use the last card as the black hole.