Cruel

Full rules

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

Overview

Cruel is a patience (a card game for one player, also called solitaire) in which every card lies face up from the start. You sort the deck onto four piles, one per suit, from Ace up to King. There is no stock to turn: instead, whenever you like, you gather up the layout and deal it out again – without shuffling, so the cards keep their order but end up in different piles. Seeing what a redeal will do is the whole trick.

• Players: 1
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, no jokers.
• Time: about 10 minutes per game.

Card order

The Ace is low. From lowest to highest:

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

Only the suits matter (♠ ♥ ♦ ♣); red or black plays no role.

The parts of the layout

• Foundations: four piles, one per suit, where you collect the cards in order from Ace to King. They start with the four Aces.
• Tableau: the twelve piles of cards in front of you. Each pile is spread slightly so you can see all its cards, but only the top card – the last one dealt, lying fully uncovered – can be moved.

Setup

1. Take the four Aces out of the deck and lay them in a row. They are the foundations.
2. Shuffle the other 48 cards and deal them face up into 12 piles of 4 cards: four cards on the first pile, the next four on the second pile, and so on. Lay the piles out in two rows of six. Remember their order: left to right along the top row, then left to right along the bottom row – pile 1 is top left, pile 12 bottom right.

Playing

Move one card at a time – the top card of any pile:

• To a foundation if it is the next card of that suit: the 2♥ goes on the A♥, then the 3♥, and so on.
• To another pile if it is one rank lower and the same suit as that pile's top card: the 5♣ may go on the 6♣, but not on the 6♠ or the 6♥.

You can never move several cards together. When a pile has been cleared completely, the gap stays empty – no card may go there.

Example: The top cards include 3♦, 8♠, 9♠ and 2♦. The foundations show A♦ and A♠. Play the 2♦ and then the 3♦ onto the A♦. Put the 8♠ on the 9♠: the card that lay under the 8♠ is now free.

Redealing

Whenever you like – usually when you are stuck – you may redeal:

1. Pick up the last pile (pile 12) and lay it, still face up and in order, on top of pile 11. Pick up those two together and lay them on pile 10, and so on, until all the tableau cards form one packet in the place of pile 1.
2. Turn the packet face down and deal it out again from left to right, four cards per pile, without shuffling. The last pile may have fewer than four cards.

The cards stay in exactly the same order – only the borders between the piles move. Every pile that had lost cards now gets cards from the piles after it.

Example: Before the redeal, pile 1 holds (bottom to top) 5♣ 9♥, pile 2 holds K♦ 3♠ 8♣ and pile 3 holds J♥ 4♦ 6♠ 2♣. After the redeal, pile 1 holds 5♣ 9♥ K♦ 3♠, pile 2 holds 8♣ J♥ 4♦ 6♠, and pile 3 starts with 2♣.

There is no limit to the number of redeals.

Winning

You win when all 52 cards lie on the foundations, each topped by its King. If you redeal without having moved a single card since the last redeal, you get the same layout again – when that happens and no move is possible, the game is lost.

Tips for beginners

• Before each redeal, count ahead: which cards will land on top of the new piles? Sometimes it is better to leave a card where it is so that the redeal gives you a useful top card.
• Pile 1 always starts with the same card. If it ever holds a King above a lower card of the same suit, that card is stuck for good and the game can't be won – avoid building a pile 1 like that.
• Playing a card to a foundation is usually good, but building down in suit on the tableau can also be useful: short same-suit runs go to the foundations in one go later.
• Don't redeal too early. Make every move that helps first, then plan the redeal.

Variants

All of these are optional – choose one before you start.

• Redeal only when stuck: you may redeal only when no card can be moved. A little harder.
• Perseverance: the older game Cruel is based on. You may also move a run of cards in the same suit and descending order as a unit, but only two redeals are allowed.