Osmosis

Full rules

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

Overview

Osmosis is a quick patience (a card game for one player, also called solitaire). You try to move all 52 cards onto four rows, one row per suit. The order of the cards inside a row does not matter – but a card may only go into a lower row once a card of the same rank is in the row above. Cards "seep through" from row to row, which is where the name comes from. There is little to decide, so it is mostly luck; about one game in eight comes out.

• Players: 1
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, no jokers.

The parts of the layout

• Reserve: four small piles of four cards in a column on the left. Only the top card of each pile is face up and can be played.
• Foundations: four rows to the right of the reserve, one per suit, where all the cards should end up. The cards of a row are laid overlapping from left to right, so you can see all of them.
• Stock: the face-down pile of the remaining cards.
• Waste: the face-up pile onto which you turn cards from the stock.

Setup

1. Shuffle. Deal four piles of four cards face down, one below the other, and turn each pile's top card face up. This is the reserve.
2. Turn up the 17th card and put it to the right of the top reserve pile. It starts the first foundation. Its rank is the starting rank: the other three foundations must each begin with a card of this rank.
3. The remaining 35 cards are the stock. Keep them face down, with room for the waste next to them.

In this example, the 8♣ starts the first foundation, so the other three rows will begin with the three other 8s. The 8♥ in the reserve can start the second row at once.

Building the foundations

• First row: any card of the same suit as the first card may be added, in any order. With the 8♣ at the start, every club can go there as soon as it is free.
• New rows: when another card of the starting rank becomes free, it starts the next empty row, from top to bottom.
• Lower rows: a card may go on the second, third or fourth row only if it is the right suit and a card of the same rank is already in the row above.

Example: The first row shows 8♣ 4♣ 7♣ K♣, the second row starts with 8♥. Now only the 4♥, 7♥ and K♥ may join the hearts row. The 2♥ has to wait until the 2♣ has joined the clubs row. The third row may only take ranks that are already in the hearts row.

Playing

1. Reserve: the top card of each reserve pile may go onto a foundation. When you move it, turn up the next card of that pile. Cards never move from one reserve pile to another, and an empty reserve pile stays empty.
2. Stock: when you are stuck, count off three cards from the stock (or all that are left, if fewer) and put them face up on the waste, without changing their order. The top card of the waste can be played; if you play it, the card below becomes playable, and so on.
3. Redeal: when the stock is used up, turn the waste over (without shuffling) to make a new stock and keep going. You may redeal as often as you like.

Winning

You win when all 52 cards are on the four foundations. If you go through the whole stock without being able to move a single card, the game is lost.

Tips for beginners

• Getting cards into the first row is always good: every card there opens the way for the same rank below.
• Play reserve cards whenever you can – each one turns up a new card.
• The lower rows always lag behind: the fourth row can only be finished after the three above it. Don't worry if it stays short for a long time.

Variants

• Peek: the reserve cards are all dealt face up and spread so you can see them. You can see hopeless blocks coming, and sometimes it pays to hold a card back instead of playing it at once.