Golf Solitaire
A fast, one-pile patience: clear an open tableau onto a single waste pile by playing cards one rank higher or lower than the waste top. Score is golf-style — the fewer cards left in the tableau, the better.
Players
1 player (solo).
Deck
One standard 52-card French-suited deck (Ace low through King high).
Objective
Clear all 35 tableau cards onto the waste. Your score is the number of cards still in the tableau when the round ends — lower is better. A cleared tableau (score 0) is the best result.
Setup
2.
Deal 35 cards face up into 7 columns of 5, fanned so every card is visible. The top card of each column (the bottom of the fan) is the exposed, playable card.
3.
The remaining 17 cards form a face-down stock.
4.
Flip the top stock card face up to start the waste pile.
Turn Structure
There is no opponent and no turn limit. On each move you either:
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Play an exposed tableau card onto the waste, or
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Flip the next stock card onto the waste
Play continues until the tableau is empty or the stock is exhausted with no legal tableau play.
Valid Moves
Play to waste
Any exposed tableau card may move onto the waste when its rank is exactly one higher or one lower than the current waste top. Direction is free — you may go up and down as you like (for example 7 → 8 → 7 → 6). Suit does not matter.
Playing a card exposes the next card in that column (if any). Empty columns stay empty; Golf never refills them.
No wrap (base rule)
Ranks do not wrap around Ace and King:
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On a King, only a Queen is legal (nothing is one higher than King).
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On an Ace, only a 2 is legal (nothing is one lower than Ace).
Ace–King wrap (optional)
Before your first move you may enable Ace–King wrap. When on, a King may be followed by an Ace and an Ace by a King, removing those dead ends. Wrap is off by default.
Flip the stock
Flip the top stock card face up onto the waste whenever you choose (typically when no tableau play is available). The new waste top becomes the target for the next play. Cards never return from the waste to the stock or tableau.
Scoring
Golf-style, lower is better:
Round ends with cards remaining
Number of cards left in tableau
There is no draw — every deal produces a golf score.
End of Round
•
Win / best result: All 35 tableau cards are cleared to the waste.
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Partial / loss: The stock is empty and no exposed tableau card is legally playable. The round ends; your score is the number of tableau cards remaining.
If the last stock card still allows tableau plays, keep playing until no legal move remains.
Tips
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Prefer plays that open useful ranks under Kings and Aces when wrap is off.
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Sometimes flipping the stock early is better than chasing a short sequence that strands you.
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Replay for a lower score — many no-wrap deals cannot be fully cleared.