XXI

USK PATIENCE (WITH ONE WHIST PACK)

DEAL the cards, face upwards, from left to right, in eight rows, the top row consisting of ten cards; the second row beginning immediately under the first card of the top row, but consisting of only nine cards; the third row beginning similarly, but consisting of only eight cards; and so on, each row diminishing by one card, so that the eighth and last row will consist of three cards.

The lowest card of each of the ten columns is "exposed," and any exposed card on the board can be packed on any other exposed card that is of contrary colour and one higher in denomination. Under the same conditions, the lowest card of any column can be packed on the card immediately above (in the same column), and the two again packed on the card next above, and so on. Thus, if the three lowest cards of a column are knave of hearts, 10 of clubs, 9 of diamonds, the 9 is packed on the 10, and both these cards are then packed on the knave. Sequences can be moved bodily from one column to another, as they happen to fit; and the upper card or cards of a sequence may similarly be moved, if that appear more advantageous than moving the whole of the sequence.

Whenever an ace is exposed, it is put out above the board, to be built upon upward, according to suit. If a vacancy be made in any column by having put out or packed all its component cards, only an exposed king, or a complete sequence based upon a king, can be moved into the space.

When no more packing or building can be done, the cards are to be taken up strictly in the following order. The tenth (last) column is taken up first, face upwards; on this place the top card of the ninth column, face upwards, then the second card from the top, and so on; next place on these the cards of the eighth column, in similar order; and so on up to the first column. The whole pack is then turned over, face downwards, and dealt out again from the top in rows, by the same rules as governed the first deal, save only that you will not have so many cards, and must perforce stop as soon as they are all dealt. Packing and building are then resumed. If the four ace-packets cannot all be now built up to their respective kings, the game has failed.

Should no aces be exposed in the first deal, it will be scarcely worth while to proceed. Shuffle the cards, and deal afresh from the beginning. It is good play, in the first-deal building, to bring high cards as far as possible to the right-hand columns, as these will fall to the top rows when the pack is re-dealt.

The second lay-out will need very careful play, and it will often be found impossible to bring the game to its conclusion. No card, once put out, may be brought back to the board, so the object should be to pack as much as possible downward from the kings on the board, rather than to build upward too hastily on the foundation packets. Even in the first lay-out it is not advisable to build up too far from a single ace: it is much better that two foundation packets of contrary colour should progress simultaneously.

Below is given a played-out example of a game which came out in the two deals. It may very rarely happen that success is achieved in one deal.

USK PATIENCE.
(The original lay-out)


THE PLAY.

Put out the ace of hearts for a foundation. Pack 3 of clubs on 4 of diamonds, and put out the ace of clubs for another foundation. Pack the 7 of hearts on the 8 of clubs; move king of clubs into the space, and pack on him the queen of diamonds. Pack the 7, 8, 9 sequence from column 4 on to the 10 of clubs; pack knave of clubs on queen of diamonds; pack the 8 and 9 from column 7 on to the 10 of hearts; build the 2 of clubs on the ace.

Pack queen of spades on king of diamonds; 10 of diamonds on knave of clubs; 6 of clubs on 7 of hearts; 5 of spades on 6 of diamonds. Move the king, queen from column 4 into the space, and put out the ace of diamonds for a third foundation. Pack the 5, 6, 7 sequence from column 3 on to the 8 of hearts; 4 of clubs on to 5 of diamonds; move king of spades into the space. Put out the 3 and 4 of clubs. Pack 5 of diamonds on 6 of clubs, and put out the 2 of hearts. Pack 4 of diamonds on 5 of spades.

No more moves being practicable, we have to gather up and re-deal the cards, carefully following the method that has been detailed above. If these instructions are accurately carried out, it will be found that the board will present the appearance shown below.

Build the 2 of diamonds on the ace. Pack the 7 of spades on the 8 of hearts, and move the king of hearts into the space. Put out the 3 of hearts. Pack the 8 of diamonds on the 9 of clubs, and put out the 4 of hearts. Pack the 4 of spades on the 5 of hearts; 7 of clubs on the 8 of diamonds. Put out the 5 of clubs.

Pack the 8 of spades on the 9 of diamonds.

Transfer the 5 of hearts and 4 of spades from the 6 of clubs to the 6 of spades, so as to put out the 6 of clubs on to the club foundation packet. Pack the knave of diamonds on the queen of spades; the knave of hearts on the queen of clubs; and the knave of spades on the queen of hearts.

Put the knave of diamonds and queen of spades on the king of hearts; put the knave of spades and queen of hearts on the king of spades. Transfer the 4 of spades from the 5 of hearts to the 5 of diamonds; put out the 5 of hearts.

Move the 4 of spades and 5 of diamonds on to the 6 of spades, releasing the ace of spades and the 3 of diamonds, which are put out, as well as the 2, 3, 4 of spades.

Pack the 10 of clubs on the knave of hearts; the 5 of diamonds and 6 of spades on the 7 of diamonds; the 9 of hearts and 10 of spades on the knave of diamonds; and the 7 of hearts on the 8 of spades. We thus release the king of diamonds, which we move into the space, and upon which we pack the three-card queen-of-clubs sequence.

The three-card 9-of-clubs sequence will go on to the 10 of hearts; the sequence from 7 of hearts to 9 of diamonds is placed on the to of clubs; and the sequence from 5 of diamonds to 8 of clubs is placed on the 9 of hearts. The 4 of diamonds is now free to go out on to its packet.

There are no more blocking cards, and all the ace-packets can be easily built up to their respective kings.