Easthaven

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Card order and colours
3. The parts of the layout
4. Setup
5. Playing
6. Dealing a new row
7. Winning
8. Tips for beginners
9. Variants

Overview

Easthaven is a quick patience (a card game for one player, also called solitaire) that plays much like Klondike. You sort the deck onto four piles, one per suit, from Ace up to King, and on the way you build columns down in alternating colours. The difference: there is no waste pile. When you are stuck, you deal a whole new row of cards onto the columns.

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

Card order and colours

The Ace is low. From lowest to highest:

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

♥ hearts and ♦ diamonds are the red suits, ♠ spades and ♣ clubs are the black suits.

The parts of the layout

• Tableau: seven columns in front of you. The cards in a column are spread downwards so you can see every face-up card. The top card of a column is the one at the bottom of the spread, not covered by any other card.
• Foundations: four spaces above the tableau, one per suit, where you collect the cards in order from Ace to King. They are empty at the start.
• Stock: the face-down rest of the deck, from which you deal new rows.

Setup

Shuffle and deal three rows of seven cards, overlapping: the first two rows face down, the third row face up. That makes seven columns of three cards, 21 in all. (The face-up cards below are an example.)

The other 31 cards are the stock.

Playing

• Foundations: move each Ace to the foundations as soon as it is free. Build each Ace up in suit: 2♦ on A♦, then 3♦, and so on up to the King.
• Tableau: a card may go on the top card of another column if it is one rank lower and the other colour – a red 8 on a black 9, a black 3 on a red 4.
• Moving runs: instead of the top card alone, you may move all the face-up cards of a column together, if they form a correct run (descending, alternating colours) and the highest card of the run fits where it goes.
• Face-down cards: when a face-down card becomes the top card of its column, turn it face up.
• Empty column: only a King, or a run headed by a King, may fill it.
• The top card of a column may always go to a foundation.

Example: Put the A♦ on the foundations and turn up the card below it. Move the 8♥ onto the 9♠ and turn up the card below the 8♥. If it is the 7♣, it can follow onto the 8♥. The run 9♠ 8♥ 7♣ can later move as a unit onto a red 10, such as the 10♦.

Dealing a new row

When you are stuck (or don't want to move any more), first fill every empty column with a King or King-headed run if you can. Then deal one card face up onto each of the seven columns, from left to right. A column that is still empty receives a card too. The new cards cover whatever lay there – even a nicely built run.

After four such rows, three cards remain: deal them onto the first three columns.

There is no redeal.

Winning

You win when all 52 cards lie on the foundations. If the stock is used up and no move is possible, the game is lost. Morehead and Mott-Smith put the chance of winning at about 1 in 4.

Tips for beginners

• Before dealing a new row, try to turn up face-down cards – once covered again, they are much harder to reach.
• An empty column is valuable, but only a King can use it. If no King is free, it may be better to keep a card in that column for now.
• The new rows bury the top cards. Play everything useful to the foundations before you deal.

Variants

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

• Any card in a space: an empty column may be filled with any card or run, not just a King. Some computer versions play this way; it makes the game easier.
• Partial runs: you may also move just part of a run, counted from the last card. Many computer versions play it so; Morehead and Mott-Smith, whose book introduced Easthaven, allow only the top card or all face-up cards.
• Westcliff: deal ten columns of three instead of seven. There are no new rows: turn the stock one card at a time onto a single waste pile whose top card is available, with no redeal. Any card or run may fill a space. Much easier – about 9 in 10.