Miss Milligan

Full rules

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

Overview

Miss Milligan is one of the most popular two-deck patiences (card games for one player, also called solitaire). You try to sort all 104 cards onto eight piles, two per suit, each from Ace up to King. The cards come into play eight at a time, one on each column, and when the stock has run out you get a special extra move called weaving. Wins are rare – about one game in twenty – but the game is famous for recovering from positions that look hopeless.

• Players: 1
• You need: two standard 52-card decks without jokers (104 cards), shuffled together, and a large table.
• Time: about 20 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 the black suits.

The parts of the layout

• Tableau: eight columns of face-up cards. In each column the cards overlap downwards so you can see them all. The last card of a column – the one nearest to you, not covered by any other – is free.
• Foundations: eight places above the tableau, empty at the start. Each is started with an Ace and built up in suit: the 2 of the same suit, then the 3 and so on up to the King.
• Stock: the face-down pile of cards not yet dealt.
• Sequence: cards at the end of a column that run down in alternating colours (red on black, black on red), such as 9♠ 8♥ 7♣.

Setup

Shuffle both decks together. Deal eight cards face up in a row – they start the eight columns. Keep the rest face down as the stock, and leave room above the tableau for eight foundations.

After the first deal it looks like this:

Playing

After each deal, make all the moves you want:

1. To a foundation: an Ace that is free goes to an empty foundation. On it goes the next card of the same suit (2♥ on A♥, then 3♥ …).
2. In the tableau: on the last card of a column you may put a card that is one rank lower and of the other colour – a red 9 on a black 10. This is called building down in alternating colours.
3. Moving sequences: a sequence at the end of a column may be moved as a unit, in whole or in part, to another column where it fits.
4. Empty column: only a King – alone or with a sequence below it – may be moved into an empty column. You may also leave it empty.

When you can't or don't want to move any more, deal eight more cards from the stock, one face up on the end of each column, including empty ones. Then play again. Carry on until the stock is used up (thirteen deals in all).

Example: The columns end with 10♣, 9♦, 5♠ and 8♠. Put the 9♦ on the 10♣ and then the 8♠ on the 9♦. Later a J♥ appears – move the whole sequence 10♣ 9♦ 8♠ onto it.

Weaving

Once the stock is empty you may use weaving: pick up one free card or one sequence from the end of a column and set it aside as a reserve. Reserve cards are free and may be played to the foundations or back into the tableau wherever they fit. As soon as the reserve is empty again, you may set aside another card or sequence. There is only ever one card or sequence in the reserve at a time.

Example: A column ends with 5♦ 4♣, and the 3♦ you need is hidden under them. Set 5♦ 4♣ aside, play the 3♦ to the foundation – and then find a place for 5♦ 4♣, for example on a black 6.

Winning

You win when all 104 cards lie on the foundations. If no useful move is left – in particular, if you have set cards aside and can find no place for them – the game is lost.

Tips for beginners

• Don't deal the next row too early: every deal covers the ends of all eight columns.
• An empty column is precious, but only a King can use it. Wait until a King with a useful sequence is free.
• Keep building on the foundations evenly; two piles of the same suit give you two chances for each card.
• Save weaving for when it frees exactly the card you need, and check first that the cards set aside can go somewhere afterwards.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Single-card weaving: in some rule books only a single card, not a sequence, may be set aside.
• Millie: no weaving at all – harder.
• Imperial Guards: any card may go into an empty column – easier.