If you want to test your thinking cap, Gaps Solitaire might be the game that you need. This game is a patience game from the Montana group, which includes other games like Clown Solitaire, Paganini, Red Moon, etc. Like all other games in this family, players in Gaps Solitaire aim at arranging cards from deuce to King. Learn from this guide how to play Gaps Solitaire and some tips for improving your gameplay.
Set-Up
Gaps solitaire uses one standard deck of 52 cards. Your role is to line up the cards by suit from 2 to King. Here you deal cards in four rows, which are all face up. The deuces are always on the screen’s left, and one can’t move them. Plus, they are grayed out to indicate that you can’t play with them.
The deck, however, does not include Aces, which creates the four gaps. Players should place cards into these gaps. The four rows should have 13 cards each.
Gaps Solitaire Rules
Any space can be filled with a card of one higher rank to the left card on the space. For instance, if there’s a space to a 7’s right, take an 8 from where it’s at and fill this space. Doing that creates a new space where the eight was.
Deuces can be used to fill any space on the row’s left end.
Players can’t fill spaces behind a King. But if you can move it behind a Queen of the same suit, you open the space again.
Once all gaps are behind the King, you can no longer move cards.
How to Play
Players can only move a card into one that is of a similar suit and one higher rank than the card on the left gap. You also can move a card that is of a similar suit to the card on the right. Cards are grayed out once you arrange them sequentially from the left. If there are no more useful moves to make, one can redeal cards that haven’t been grayed out. You can shuffle, at most, twice during your game. Therefore, be wise before redealing.
Tips to Winning Gaps Solitaire
Once the Aces are removed when the game is starting, players get three or four plays. However, some plays only lead to a useless space behind the King. Following each play line can be difficult at first, but you’ll improve after a few games. We recommend identifying a card that you want to move, then work back to know the cards that you should move before moving that card.
You win your game if you arrange cards by suit from 2 to King, left to right. However, your winning chances depend on which rules you follow. For instance, in games that allow shuffling after every three rounds, a skilled player may win one game out of twenty. But in games that don’t allow shuffling but they still limit players to three rounds, one may win 1 out of 7 games. Winning, however, is easy in unlimited rounds where you can shuffle cards anytime.
Variants
Gaps solitaire has two variants;
Addiction Solitaire- features similar gameplay to that of Gaps Solitaire only that instead of two reshuffles, this game features three. Also, players can use Aces in their shuffles and create gaps through redealing.
Double Montana- also called Paganini or Big Paganini. Players here use two decks dealing cards in eight rows. Some sub-variants of this game do not allow redeals, but others allow players to redeal two times.
