Golf (patience)

Patience card game

GolfA Patience game

Initial layout

Family| Adding and pairing
Deck| Single 52-card
See also Glossary of solitaire

Golf, also known as One Foundation,[1] is a patience or solitaire card game where players try to earn the lowest number of points (as in golf, the sport) over the course of nine deals (or "holes", also borrowing from golf terminology).[2] It has a tableau of 35 face-up cards and a higher ratio of skill to luck than most other solitaire card games.[3] Its easy game-play also makes it within easy reach of first-timers, while still offering scope for strategic play.[4]

## Rules

[edit]

### Setup

[edit]

From a standard 52-card deck, 7 columns of 5 cards each are dealt, all face up and with indices visible.[5] This is the tableau. One additional card is dealt as the base of the foundation. The remaining 16 cards are turned face down to form the stock.

### Play

[edit]

Rules are as follows:

* Only the topmost card in each column (closest to the player) may be removed from the tableau. When it is removed, the card beneath becomes available for play.
* Cards may be moved from the tableau to the foundation if they are either one rank higher or one rank lower than the top card of the foundation, regardless of suit, but nothing may be played on top of a King.
* Cards rank A 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 J Q K. There is no "wrapping" (Ace on a King, or King on an Ace) in the strict form of Golf.
* Whenever there are no possible plays, turn cards up one at a time from the stock to the foundation and resume playing cards from the tableau when possible.
* There is no redeal. The game is over when the stock is exhausted and no more moves are available.

### Scoring

[edit]

Player scores one point for each card remaining in the tableau after the stock has run out. If the tableau is cleared, player scores a negative point for every card left in the stock. Game is nine "holes" (deals) and a score of 45 or lower is considered par, with a score of zero or lower being perfect.

### Impossible tableaus

[edit]

If a tableau is dealt that would make it impossible for the player to clear all of the cards (e.g. if all queens are covered by kings), then the cards may be reshuffled and redealt.

## Variations

[edit]

To make the game easier, common variations on these rules include:

* Queens may be played on top of Kings.
* Turning the corner is permitted so that a King can be played on top of an Ace, and vice versa. This variation is commonly called Putt Putt.
* One or both of the Jokers may be added to the deck and used as wild cards that represent any value.
* The foundation pile can start off empty, so players can choose one of the exposed cards to move them to the foundation for a "head-start".

Many variants exist which utilize the same style of game-play as Golf, but adjust the starting layout. The most well-known ones including Tri Peaks, Black Hole, and Pyramid Golf (also called Escalator). Multiple decks may also be used to create larger tableaus.

## Multiplayer Golf

[edit]

Golf Patience can also be played as a competitive game for two or more players, either by playing a hole simultaneously and calculating their total score for 18 holes, or using match-play scoring which keeps track of how many holes you are ahead or behind your opponent (e.g. "two up" or "three down").[6]

Spit is a real-time game for two players which employs a similar concept of game-play as Golf.

## See also

[edit]

* Tri Peaks
* Black Hole
* List of solitaires
* Glossary of solitaire

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Parlett, David (1994). Card Games for One. NTC. ISBN 978-0-8442-3686-5.
2. ^ "Golf" (p.14) in Card & Dice Games by N.A.C. Bathe, Robert Frederick Ltd, 2004.ISBN 1-889752-06-1
3. ^ "Golf" (p.202) in Hoyle's Rules of Games (3rd edition) by Philip D. Morehead (ed.), 2001. ISBN 0-451-20484-0
4. ^ "Golf" (p.38) in The Little Book of Solitaire, Running Press, 2002. ISBN 0-7624-1381-6
5. ^ "Golf" (p.14) in Card Games by John Cornelius, Parragon, 1998. ISBN 1-86309-571-3
6. ^ "Golf" (p.229-230) in The Complete Book of Card Games by Peter Arnold, Hamlyn Publishing, 2010. ISBN 978-0-600-62191-1

* v
* t
* e

Patience or Solitaire by type - (list, glossary)

Closed games|

| Simple builders|

* Amazons
* Auld Lang Syne
* Birthday
* The Clock
* Clock
* Cotillion (Contradance)
* Leoni's Own
* Musical (Betsy Ross, Fairest, Four Kings, Plus Belle, Quadruple Alliance)
* Precedence
* Quadrille (La Française; Captive Queens)

|

Reserved builders|

* Carpet
* Eagle Wing
* Golf
* Duchess of Luynes (Grand Duchess)
* Queen's/King's Audience
* Matrimony
* Monte Carlo
* Moojub
* Odd and Even
* Patriarchs
* Pyramid
* Royal Cotillion
* Royal Rendezvous
* Sultan (Emperor of Germany)
* Tri Peaks
* Windmill

Simple packers|

* Batsford
* Big Ben
* British Constitution
* British Square
* Congress
* Corona
* Deauville
* Deuces
* Diplomat
* Emperor
* Following
* Fortune's Favor
* Four Seasons
* Gargantua
* Herring-Bone
* Klondike
* Napoleon at St Helena (Forty Thieves)
* Napoleon's Square
* Red and Black
* Westcliff

Reserved packers|

* Acme
* Alhambra
* American Toad
* Backbone
* Canfield
* Casket
* Crazy Quilt
* Duchess
* Gate
* The Plot
* Queen of Italy (Terrace)
* Seven Devils

Closed non-builders|

* Accordion
* Aces Up
* Baroness (Five Piles, Thirteens)
* Decade
* Eight Cards
* Elevens
* Frustration
* Good Thirteen
* Herz zu Herz
* Hit or Miss
* Hope Deferred
* Nidgi Novgorod
* Perpetual Motion (Narcotic)
* Royal Flush
* Royal Marriage
* Travellers (Four of a Kind, Hidden Cards, Hide & Seek, Spoilt, Wandering Card)

Half-open games|

| Builders|

* Interregnum
* Royal Parade
* Tournament
* Virginia Reel

|

Blockades|

* Babette
* British Blockade
* Labyrinth

Planners|

* Calculation
* Colorado
* Colours
* Cribbage Squares
* Frog
* Imaginary Thirteen
* Jubilee
* Poker Squares
* Puss in the Corner
* Rosamund's Bower
* Sir Tommy

Packers|

* Agnes
* Algerian
* Blockade
* Box Kite
* Bristol
* Four Corners
* Heads and Tails
* Intelligence
* Martha
* Miss Milligan
* Mount Olympus
* Pyramide
* Russian Solitaire
* St. Helena
* Stonewall
* Yukon
* Zodiac

Spiders|

* German Patience
* Rouge et Noir
* Scorpion
* Simple Simon
* Spider

Open games|

| Open builders|

* Archway
* Black Hole
* Crescent
* Intrigue
* Salic Law
* Stalactites

|

Open packers|

* Baker's Dozen
* Baker's Game
* Beleaguered Castle
* Bisley
* Capricieuse
* Eight Off
* Flower Garden (Bouquet)
* Fortress
* FreeCell
* Grandfather's Clock
* House in the Woods
* King Albert
* La Belle Lucie
* Mrs. Mop
* Päckchen
* Penguin
* Persian
* Russian Patience
* Seahaven Towers
* Shamrocks

Open non-builders|

* Fourteen Out
* Gaps (Montana)
* Gay Gordons (Exit)
* Maze
* Nestor

Competitive games|

* Australian Patience
* Double Klondike (Double Solitaire)
* Kings in the Corner
* Nerts (Pounce, Racing Demon)
* Russian Bank (Crapette)
* Speed
* Spite and Malice
* Spit

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template