How to Play Wish Solitaire

Objective

Clear the table by removing cards in pairs of the same rank. There are four of each rank from seven to ace, so every card has three possible partners. If you remove all 16 pairs, you win, and the old custom says the wish you made before dealing will come true.

It is a gentle game, good for a few quiet minutes and easy enough for children to play on their own.

Setup

Take all the twos, threes, fours, fives and sixes out of the deck and put them aside. You are left with 32 cards: seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king and ace in each suit.

Shuffle and make your wish. Deal the cards face down into eight piles of four, in a row from left to right. Then turn the top card of each pile face up.

How to play

Look across the eight face-up cards. Whenever two of them are the same rank, such as two queens or two sevens, remove both. Suits do not matter.

Each time you remove a card, turn up the next card in that pile so it is ready to be matched. When a pile is used up, its place stays empty.

Keep pairing as long as you can. If you clear the table, you have won. If no two face-up cards match and cards are still left, the game is over.

1. 1Turn up the top card of each of the eight piles
2. 2Remove any two face-up cards of the same rank
3. 3Turn up the next card in each pile you took from
4. 4Keep pairing until the table is clear or you are stuck

Winning

There are no points. Clear all 32 cards and you win. If you get stuck with cards left on the table, the game is lost: shuffle and wish again.

Since the game takes only a few minutes, many players keep a tally of wins and losses over an evening.

Variations

Open deal: dealing every card face up turns the game into a puzzle you can plan from start to finish. It is a good way to teach children the idea before playing the real thing.

Monte Carlo is a full-deck relative. Twenty-five cards are dealt in a five-by-five grid, and you remove pairs of the same rank that sit next to each other, including diagonally, before closing up the gaps.

Fourteen Out is another pairing solitaire played with the full deck, where you remove two cards whose values add up to fourteen instead of pairs of the same rank.

Tips from the table

When you have a choice of pairs, take cards from the taller piles. They hide more cards, and freeing them gives you more chances to match.

If three of a rank are showing, the one you leave behind will sit there until the fourth turns up, blocking everything beneath it. Leave it on the shortest pile, where it hides the fewest cards.

Do not worry if you lose often. Much of the result is settled by the shuffle, which is part of the charm.

Frequently asked