Wave Solitaire: a guide to playing

Do you like golf solitaire or crown solitaire?

If so, you might like to try wave solitaire, which combines elements from both games …
The objective of wave solitaire is to build 4 sequences of clubs ascending to the base stacks.

The game begins with 10 maneuver piles, 4 foundation piles, a claw, and a discard pile.

The cards in the maneuver zone are dealt in a wave pattern, with 2 cards in the first pile, 5 in the next, then 2 again, etc. So the stacks are organized like this …

2 5 2 5 2

5 2 5 2 5

Cards are moved to the maneuvering zone as long as they are of the same suit and one less in rank (for example, a 9 of diamonds can go to a 10 of diamonds). This is similar to the rule used in the crown solitaire.
A card can be moved from the claw to the discard pile at any time. All cards in the discard pile are visible, but only the top card can be played.

Cards can be moved to the discard pile regardless of suit, as long as they are 1 less or 1 more than the current card. This is similar to the rule used in golf solitaire.
When a maneuver column is empty, a card must be automatically moved from the discard pile. If the discard pile is empty, then a card is moved directly from the stock to fill the empty column.

The most important thing when it comes to winning a wave of solitaire, is to look for any investment. For example, suppose that when the game is initially dealt, one of the stacks looks like this:

  • 5 of diamonds.
  • 6 of diamonds.

This is an investment. The 5 is needed to eliminate the 6, but the 5 cannot be reached because the 6 is in the way. The game cannot be finished without moving the 6 first. To do this, the 6 must move to the discard pile sometime when a 5 or 7 is on top.
If you figure out all the inversions like this at the beginning of the game, and then work on them as you play, then you shouldn’t have a problem winning wave solitaire.

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