| Cruel Solitaire is an unusual solitaire game, that | | | | powerful strategies that will vastly increase your |
| many people think has a low success rate. Careful | | | | chances ofwinning. |
| planning will allow the advanced solitaire player to | | | | DON'T ALWAYS MOVE CARDS TO THE |
| win more than 50% of the games they play | | | | FOUNDATION... |
| though. | | | | Because of the above pattern, it does not always |
| The trick to winning cruel solitaire is to know | | | | make sense to move a card to thetalon at the |
| when to deal from the talon. When youfirst start | | | | first opportunity. Instead, you can keep the card, |
| playing cruel solitaire, it seems like dealing from | | | | and just make surethat you don't put any extra |
| the talon randomlyshuffles the cards, but this is | | | | cards in the stacks to the left of it. |
| not the case. A deal from the talon just redeals | | | | This way, you can keep redealing, to expose new |
| thecards in the same order they currently appear. | | | | cards, and you will KNOW that thecard will always |
| This allows an advanced player to have some | | | | remain in play. Only when you can't make any |
| knowledge of what will happen whenthe talon deal | | | | more moves shouldyou then move the card to |
| is done... which vastly improves the chances of | | | | the foundation. |
| winning every game ofcruel solitaire that you play. | | | | This gives you the most opportunity to keep |
| There are certain easy-to-learn patterns that help | | | | playing, without blocking play. And itleads to a |
| with this. | | | | general procedure, that you can follow to win a |
| If all the stacks to the left of a stack have 4 | | | | lot more games of cruelsolitaire... |
| cards in them before the redeal, thenafter the | | | | A GENERAL PROCEDURE TO WIN CRUEL |
| redeal, the card that is on top will stay on top. | | | | SOLITAIRE... |
| For example, suppose the first 3 stacks appear | | | | Here is a procedure that will help you to win cruel |
| like this: | | | | solitaire. It isn't perfect, and you'llprobably make |
| Stack-A: 4 Cards | | | | your own alterations to it as you get better at |
| Stack-B: 4 Cards | | | | the game, but it showshow to carefully play cruel |
| Stack-C: 5 Cards with a 5 of Diamonds on top. | | | | solitaire to avoid blockages. |
| All the stacks before Stack-C have 4 cards in | | | | A - Find the rightmost card that can go onto the |
| them, so after a redeal, the 5 of | | | | talon. |
| Diamonds will still be at the top of Stack-C. | | | | B - Do all the moves to the right of that card |
| This is the same no matter how many cards are | | | | that you can, starting with highest rankones |
| in Stack-C. So if the stacks are likethis: | | | | C - Redeal |
| Stack-A: 4 Cards | | | | D - Go back to A |
| Stack-B: 4 Cards | | | | Once there are no more moves that can be |
| Stack-C: 2 Cards with a 5 of Diamonds on top. | | | | made to the right of the card, then movethe |
| Then the 5 of Diamonds will still be on top of | | | | card in the stack to the foundation, and then |
| Stack-C after a talon redeal. | | | | redeal, and go back to A. |
| But if an earlier stack does not have 4 cards in it, | | | | If no cards can play, then order all the cards you |
| then the card will NOT stay on topafter a redeal. | | | | can, starting with the highest rankones, and then |
| So if the stacks are like this: | | | | redeal. |
| Stack-A: 5 Cards | | | | That's it! |
| Stack-B: 4 Cards | | | | You can definitely tweak this procedure to make |
| Stack-C: 2 Cards with a 5 of Diamonds on top. | | | | it better, but I've tried to keep itsimple here, and |
| Then the 5 of Diamonds will NOT be on top of | | | | it should allow you to play cruel solitaire a lot |
| Stack-C after a redeal. | | | | better than before. |
| Knowing this pattern will give you much greater | | | | Have fun! |
| control over cruel solitaire, andallows for some | | | | |