Lady of the Manor

Full rules

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

Overview

Lady of the Manor – in French La Châtelaine – is an old patience (a card game for one player, also called solitaire) for two decks. The eight Aces are laid out first; your goal is to build each of them up to a King. The cards come from four packets in the middle, of which you only ever see the top card, and from an arch of twelve packets sorted by rank. Suits don't matter at all – any 2 goes on any Ace. The layout makes a pretty picture, and the game is quick and relaxing.

• Players: 1
• You need: two standard 52-card decks without jokers (104 cards) and a large table.
• Time: about 10 minutes per game.

The parts of the layout

• Foundations: the eight Aces in a row at the bottom. Each is built up regardless of suit: any 2 on an Ace, any 3 on a 2, and so on up to a King.
• Packets: four piles of 12 cards in the middle, squared up so that only the top card of each can be seen and played.
• Arch: twelve packets in a semicircle above the others, one for each rank from 2 to King: the 2s at the left foot, the Kings at the right foot. Every card in the arch is available.

Setup

1. Take the eight Aces out of the two decks and put them in a row: the foundations.
2. Shuffle the other 96 cards. Deal four packets of 12 cards each in a row above the Aces. Deal them face down and turn the top card of each packet face up – the cards below stay unknown until they come to the top.
3. Deal the remaining 48 cards one by one and sort them by rank into the arch: every 2 goes on the packet at the far left, every 3 on the next one, and so on up to the Kings at the far right. Spread each arch packet a little, so you can see it. The arch packets have different sizes, and a rank may be missing altogether if all eight of its cards landed in the four packets.

Playing

There are no turns – you make one move after another, in any order.

• Available cards: the top card of each of the four packets and any card in the arch.
• Building: put an available card on a foundation if it is exactly one rank higher than the foundation's top card. The suit doesn't matter: a 2♣ may go on the A♥, a 3♦ on that 2♣.
• Packets: when you play the top card of a packet, turn up the card below it. An empty packet stays empty.
• Cards never move between packets, nor into the arch – every move goes to a foundation.
• There is no redeal.

Example: With the layout above, the 3♣ in the third packet needs a 2 first. Play the 2♠ from the first packet on an Ace and the 3♣ on the 2♠. Both packets turn up a new top card; if the one under the 3♣ is a 4, it follows at once. The J♥ has to wait – it needs a 10 on a foundation.

Winning

You win when all eight foundations have been built up to a King. If no available card fits on any foundation, the game is lost. According to a French book of card games (Poli and others, 1984), about one game in four or five comes out.

Tips for beginners

• Take cards from the four packets whenever you can, and use the arch only when a packet card can't help. The packets are what beat you; the arch is a reserve that is always there.
• If two packets offer a card of the same rank, play the one from the taller packet – it has more cards to dig out.
• Keep your foundations at different heights where you can – then more ranks fit somewhere.
• A rank missing from the arch is a warning: all eight of its cards are buried in the packets.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Strict (Dick, 1883): you may take a card from the arch only if no top card of the four packets fits on any foundation.
• Open packets (Durheim, 1857): don't take the Aces out first. Deal the four packets face up, spread so you can see every card, but only the uncovered card of each packet may be played. An Ace on top of a packet, or one that turns up while you deal the arch, goes straight to the foundations.
• Archway: David Parlett's modern version with Ace and King foundations built in suit – see Archway.