Accordion Solitaire
A compact compression patience: deal cards one at a time into a horizontal row of piles, then merge piles leftward when tops match in rank or suit until only one stack remains.
Players
1 player (solo).
Deck
One standard 52-card French-suited deck (Ace through King in four suits).
Objective
Compress all 52 cards into a single pile. If the deck is empty, more than one pile remains, and no legal merge exists, the deal is lost.
Setup
2.
The play area starts empty — there is no tableau deal, foundation, or waste.
3.
All 52 cards begin face down in the deck.
Turn Structure
There is no opponent. Play alternates freely between:
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Dealing the next card from the deck, and
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Merging any number of legal piles
You may merge as often as you like between deals. After the deck is empty, only merges remain until you win, lose, or start a new deal.
Valid Moves
Deal
Turn the top deck card face up and place it as a new pile at the right end of the row. Each dealt card begins as its own one-card pile.
Merge left (distance 1)
If pile B sits immediately to the right of pile A, and the top cards of A and B share the same rank or the same suit, move the entire pile B onto pile A. Pile B leaves the row; piles to its right shift left to close the gap.
Merge left (distance 3)
If pile D is three positions to the right of pile C (exactly two piles between them), and the top cards of C and D share rank or suit, move the entire pile D onto pile C. Gaps close the same way.
Only the top card of each pile is used for matching. Merging always moves the whole right-hand pile onto the left-hand target.
Distance 2 (and any distance other than 1 or 3) is never legal.
Scoring
No point score. The result is binary: one pile of 52 (win) or stuck with multiple piles after the last card (loss).
Special Rules
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Matching is rank OR suit — either match is enough.
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When several merges are available, you choose the order; strategy matters.
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After a merge, new opportunities may appear among piles that just became adjacent.
Win / Lose
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Win: Exactly one pile remains and it contains all 52 cards (deck empty).
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Lose: The deck is exhausted, more than one pile remains, and no legal merge exists.
Tips
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Prefer merges that set up long chains of suit matches along the row.
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Saving a distance-3 merge can unlock a better distance-1 later — or the reverse.
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Dealing every card without merging early usually strands too many piles.