How to Play Clock Solitaire

Clock Solitaire (also going by the additional names "The Clock", "Hidden Cards", "Four of a Kind", "Hunt", "Sundial" and "Clock Patience") is an easy to play solitaire card game. Whether the player wins the game is completely reliant on how the cards are dealt. The odds of winning at Clock Solitaire are slightly under 8% in any specific deal.

As a form of solitaire, the game is designed for play by one participant and uses one standard 52 card deck. Before beginning the game, this deck should be thoroughly shuffled by the player with an optional cut. After the cut, the player then deals a peculiar tableau layout.

This layout consists of 13 piles of four face-down cards each. Twelve of the piles are dealt in a circular layout to resemble an analog clock, with one pile representing each of the numbers which would thus appear on such a clock face. The last pile is set in the center of the clock face layout. The dealer usually deals these cards out in a clockwise manner (of course), one card at a time to each pile, starting with the card in the 12:00 position and continuing in a clockwise direction around the table until reaching the 11:00 position, then dealing one card to the center. He then repeats this procedure until all the cards have been dealt and each pile has exactly four, face-down cards.

Each of the piles in the layout represents a specific card denomination, as follows: Ace is represented in the 1:00 position, 2 to 10 represent the corresponding hour markers on a clock, the Jack is represented by the 11:00 position, Queen the 12:00 position, and King is represented in the Center pile.

Once the layout has been fully dealt, gameplay can begin. The game begins with the player exposing the top card from the center pile. The denomination of this card represents where this card should be placed, as per the representative cards in the layout. This exposed card should thus be placed, face-up, under it's representative card pile in the layout (for example the 8 would be placed under the 8:00 card pile position on the clock face. The top card of this representative pile is then exposed, and that newly exposed card is then moved under it's representative position in the layout, exposing the card from that pile. The game continues this manner, exposing and moving the cards within the layout. If the card exposed is of the same denomination as it's position in the clock face, the player would simply expose the next card from that same pile, after placing the previous card under the pile. If the last card exposed in a pile is of that same denomination, the player would instead take the top exposed card off the next pile in a counterclockwise direction in the tableau that still has cards remaining. However, if the fourth and final King is exposed before the player has managed to move all other cards to their respective, representative pile, the game ends and the player did not win that game. However, if the player manages to uncover every card in the layout (with the last card exposed being a King), the player is said to have won the game. This game can be played very quickly, with each game usually lasting less than 5 minutes.

Watch: Watch (named after the portable arm wielded timepiece), or "The Watch" is another variant of Clock Solitaire which, although played very similarly to Clock Solitaire, is somewhat easier to win. In fact, the game is played identically to Clock Patience, with only one difference. The first time a player exposes the fourth King, he may replace this King with any still remaining face down card in the layout. However, if that fourth King is exposed a second time before the player manages to expose every card, the game ends with the player considered not to have won the game.

Travellers: Travellers is essentially the same game as Clock Solitaire, with the different being in the shape of the layout. In the travellers, twelve piles consisting of four-face down cards are laid in one long row of such piles. Each pile in this row, from left to right corresponds to the following denomination of card; Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, and Queen. The last remaining four cards, called the talon, is set in a pile below the row of piles. This talon pile is to represent the rank of King.

The game starts with the player exposing the top card of the talon, and placing the card face-up under the corresponding pile representing that denomination, and then the player exposing the top face-down card of that pile. The game continues until either the player manages, through this play, to get all cards so exposed, with each pile consisting of the four cards of the represented denomination (indicating a win), or the exposure of the fourth card in the denomination of King before all the remaining piles have been fully exposed, in which the game immediately ends with the player not having thus won.

Hide-and-Seek: Hid-and-Seek (also called Versteckenspiel) is another variant of solitaire that is based on the same game mechanics as in Clock Solitaire. This German variant is played identically to Travellers, with the only differences being in the format of the layout. In this version of the game, the piles are laid out in two rows, a top row consisting of seven piles (representing the card denominations Ace to 7) and a second lower row of piles (representing the card denominations 8 to King). To start play, the top card of the Ace pile is exposed, and continues as in the other versions. The game is won if the player manages to expose all other cards before exposing the fourth and last Ace, but if the fourth Ace makes an appearance before all other cards have been so exposed and placed in the correct position, the player is said not to have won that particular game.

Grandfather's Clock: Grandfather's Clock is another solitaire game which features a layout similar to Clock Solitaire. However, in Grandfather's Clock, there is more opportunities for player strategic decision making during play. Grandfather's Clock solitaire uses one standard 52 card deck. The odds of winning, if skillfully played, can be approximately 75%.

Before the game begins the following cards should be removed from the deck, and placed in the indicated position in the clocklike tableau which is used for playing this game, to form the twelve foundation cards used in the layout:

Specific Card	Position in the Layout
9 of clubs	12:00 Position
10 of hearts	1:00 Position
Jack of spades	2:00 Position
Queen of diamonds	3:00 Position
King of clubs	4:00 Position
2 of hearts	5:00 Position
3 of spades	6:00 Position
4 of diamonds	7:00 Position
5 of clubs	8:00 Position
6 of hearts	9:00 Position
7 of spades	10:00 Position
8 of diamonds	11:00 Position

Example initial setup for Grandfather's Clock

After these foundation cards then dealt, the player then deals the remaining 40 cards in the deck into a tableau of eight columns consisting of exactly five cards in each column. These columnar piles should be dealt in such a manner that each card in the pile is partially covering the cards below it, while also allowing each card in the column to be visible by the player during gameplay.

The object of the game is for the player to add cards onto the foundations in order to get the top card in each foundation pile, to show the representative number for that position on the clock. Thus, Ace should show in the 1:00 position, 2 to 10 should each show in the representative numerical position in the foundation, 11:00 should be topped by a Jack, and 12:00 having a Queen at the top of the pile.

The legal moves allowed by a player are the following:

The top available card from a tableau pile may be played onto a foundation pile, providing that card is of the same suit as the current top card of that pile and the next highest in number. If a King is currently on top of the foundation pile, the next card would be an Ace. Once a foundation card reaches the correct representative number, no additional cards may (or should) be built onto that foundation pile.
The top available card from one tableau pile may be built onto the top pile of another tableau pile, if the card played is exactly one rank lower (but can be of any suit). After an Ace, the next card in this descending sequence would be King, to allow continued play on these piles, as necessary. If by play of these cards, any of the eight piles is depleted, creating an empty column (or vacancy), another card from the top of another tableau pile can be played on this spot to form the column.

The game continues in this manner until one of two events occurs. If the player manages to form the foundations such that the top card of each pile has the representative card in it's place in that clock face layout, the player is said to have won the game. However, if the player has no more available and legal moves, the game ends and the player is said not to have won.

Big Ben: Big Ben is a solitaire game which is played very similarly to Grandfather's Clock. One major difference being that, in Big Ben, a double deck is used, which is formed from two standard 52 card decks thoroughly shuffled together.

The second major difference in Big Ben vice Grandfather's Clock is the format of the layout, which after the deal forms a sort of double clock layout. Before play begins, one card of each of the following denomination should be removed from the deck and formed into the foundations, which are placed in the form of a clock face with each card in the position of a corresponding position on that clock face:

Specific Card	Position in the Layout
5 of diamonds	12:00 Position
6 of clubs	1:00 Position
7 of hearts	2:00 Position
8 of spades	3:00 Position
9 of diamonds	4:00 Position
10 of clubs	5:00 Position
Jack of hearts	6:00 Position
Queen of spades	7:00 Position
King of diamonds	8:00 Position
2 of clubs	9:00 Position
3 of hearts	10:00 Position
4 of spades	11:00 Position

Example initial setup for Big Ben solitaire

This foundation layout is known as the "Clock" or inner circle. After this, a second circle is dealt around this Clock or inner circle consisting of twelve piles of three cards, creating the tableau. Each pile consists of three face-up cards, overlapping, with only the top card of each pile available for play. The remainder of the deck is set in a face-down pile, as the stock which will be used during gameplay to replenish the outer circle piles as needed. As with many other solitaire games which feature a fancy layout, if played in an electronic or online version, the layout of the tableau will be simplified by using a standard grid or row layout, which will not affect the actual gameplay but will not make quite as pleasing a layout design.

Once the layout has been fully dealt, gameplay begins. The following are the legal moves available to a player during a game:

A player may play the top card from any of the tableau piles (outer circle layout cards) to the foundation piles, providing that the foundation card it is played on is of the same suit and exactly one rank lower (i.e. an eight of clubs can be played on a nine of clubs) than the card to be played (building in descending sequence). If the top card of a foundation pile is a King, an Ace of that same suit could thus be played on it's top. Once any of these piles reaches the appropriate number associated with it's position on the clock face (Ace representing 1:00, ranks 2 to 10 representing the appropriate hour position on the clock face, Jack representing 11:00 and King representing noon), no more cards should or can be played on that foundation pile.
A card from one tableau pile can be played on the top of any other tableau pile, providing the card is played on a card exactly one rank lower, and of the exact same suit (descending sequence). If the top card of one of these piles is any Ace, a King of the same suit as that Ace can thus be played on this pile. Additionally, if any of these foundation piles contains less than three total cards in that pile, no cards may be played to that pile until that pile is refilled (see below). The missing cards are said to be "gaps" in that pile.
A player may opt, if he prefers, to fill these gaps. Filling the gaps is a move in which the player deals out additional cards from the stock to each of the tableau piles that has fewer than three cards. If the player opts to do this, however, he must replenish every pile in the tableau that contains fewer than three cards. He does this by dealing cards from the stock onto the top of tableau pile, until that pile has three cards. He ignores any pile that has three or more cards in that pile already. He begins this dealing with the 12:00 position and continues in a clockwise direction around the table with each of the tableau piles. If there are not enough cards remaining in the stock to fill each pile, the player stops the deal as soon as the stock has become exhausted.
If the player has no more available moves, each of the tableau piles has at least three cards, and there are cards remaining in the stock, the player may also elect to deal a card to a waste pile. The player thus deals the top card of the face-down stock to a face-up waste pile. If the card cannot (or the player chooses not) to play this card to a foundation pile or a tableau pile, he may deal another such card from the stock, dealing it to the top of the waste pile. The top card of the waste pile may also be played if there any legal moves to which this card can be played.

The game is won if the player manages to arrange the foundations such that each card in that foundation is topped by a card of the correct numerical position as for a clock face. However, if the player continues and reaches the situation in which there are no more legal moves, he was unable to win that particular game.

German Clock: German Clock, also called "The Clock" is a German variant of Clock Solitaire which is played quite similarly to that game. The original German name for this game is "Die Uhr" and was first publicly detailed in print in the German solitaire card game book Die schönsten Patiencen published by Rudolph Heinrich in 2011. In this variant of solitaire, if every available move is found by the player and properly executed, the win percentage can be 100%. As in the original, this variant uses one standard 52 card deck. As in most other forms of Clock Solitaire, the object is for the player to fill each space in the clock foundation with the corresponding number as from a clock face (Ace represents the 1:00 position, cards ranked from 2 to 10 are represented by the corresponding hour marker on an analog clock face, Jack represents the 11:00 position, Queen represents the 12:00 position, and the Kings are placed in a pile in the center). The game begins with no layout and instead the player simply holds the shuffled deck face-down in one hand.

To begin the game, the player thus deals the top card from the stock pile into a waste pile. If the player can (and wants) to play this card as a foundation he may, playing the card to it's appropriate location in the new layout. However, the suit of this card played indicates the suit of the first foundation which must be played in the first position for each of the foundation piles. The game continues in this manner, with the player dealing another card from the stock pile to the waste pile. The player may play this card, if able and willing to the foundation if playing it would be a legal play. He may also play the top, exposed card of the waste pile if it makes a legal play on the layout. There are a few stipulations on the play of cards to the foundation:

Each foundation pile must be played in the same suit ordering. In other words, if the first card played to the foundation is the eight of spades, every foundation pile must start with the appropriate ranked card for that position, also in the suit of spades.
The second, and subsequent cards to the foundation must alternate in suit color. Thus, if an eight of spades (black suited card) were played to the 8:00 position on the clock face foundation pile, the next card played must be in the suit of hearts or diamonds (cards of a red suit). This same requirement also applies to each of the other foundation piles as well, such that each foundation pile is built up, of cards in the same rank, with the same sequence of suits. Similarly for the third card, which must again be opposite in color to the second card played to that foundation pile.

The first time a player exhausts the stock pile (and has not yet played every card to the foundation piles), he is entitled to turn over the waste pile as a new foundation pile. However the player is only entitled to attempt to reuse this pile two times.

The endgame which results in a win, is to thus arrange every card in the deck on the foundation, each in it's proper position around the clock face. In addition, each of these four piles must have the same suit progression (which must also alternate amongst black and red, or red and black), and all contain cards of that same rank according to that same position. If the player thus manages to form this final arrangement, he is said to have won the game. However, if the player reaches the end of the stock pile a third time, and the waste pile contains one or more cards, and there are no more legal moves, the player was said to not have won that game.

How to play Clock Solitaire