Wish Solitaire
A compact 32-card patience: eight piles in a circle plus one wish card. Remove any two exposed pile tops of matching rank — wherever they sit — or pair the wish with any matching top. Clear the table to win.
Players
1 player (solo).
Deck
A standard French-suited pack with 2s through 6s removed, leaving 32 cards (7 through Ace in each suit).
Objective
Remove all 32 cards — the eight circle piles and the wish — by legal pair removals. There is no score; a cleared table is a win.
Setup
1.
Shuffle the 32-card pack.
2.
Turn one card face up and set it aside as the wish.
3.
Deal the remaining 31 cards face up into eight piles arranged in a circle:
•
Seats 1–7: four cards each
•
Seat 8: three cards (the short pile)
The circle is just a layout — it has no bearing on which cards may pair.
Turn Structure
Single player. Each move removes exactly one pair (two cards). Play continues until every card is gone or no legal pair remains.
Valid Moves
Table pair
Remove the top cards of any two piles when those tops share the same rank (suits ignored). The piles do not need to be neighbors — position in the circle never matters.
Wish pair
While the wish remains, remove it together with the top card of any pile when those two cards share the same rank.
After a removal
Expose the next card in each affected pile (if any). Empty seats remain in the circle purely for layout.
Special Rules
•
Only the top card of each pile may be paired.
•
Rank match only; suits do not matter.
•
Any two exposed tops may pair — adjacency is never required.
•
Once the wish is paired away, only table pairs remain.
Win / Lose
All cards, including the wish, have been removed
Cards remain and no table or wish pair is available
Example
Wish shows a Queen. An exposed Queen anywhere in the circle may pair with the wish. Separately, two pile tops that are both 10s may be removed even if they sit on opposite sides of the circle, and even while the wish is still in play.