Clock Solitaire Variations and House Rules

Clock Solitaire has been passed down at kitchen tables for generations, so it is no surprise that it goes by several names and is played with a few different twists. This page covers the ones you are most likely to meet, including the second-chance rule you can switch on in our Clock Solitaire game. For the standard game, see the full rules.

Other Names for the Same Game

If a friend describes a game where you deal thirteen piles of four and chase cards from pile to pile, it is this one, whatever they call it. Names you may hear include:

• Clock Patience, the usual name in Britain, where solitaire games are called "patience."
• Travelers, because the cards travel from pile to pile.
• Sundial, for the round layout.
• Four of a Kind or Hidden Cards, after the way a won game ends with four matching cards face up on every pile.

Rows Instead of a Circle

The clock face is charming, but it takes up a lot of table. Some players deal the thirteen piles in rows instead, for example two rows of five and a row of three, and simply count the piles from 1 to 13. The Ace pile is number 1, the Jack is 11, the Queen 12 and the King 13. Play is exactly the same, starting from the King pile. The versions called Travelers and Four of a Kind are often laid out this way.

We use the round layout because the hours make it easy to see where a card goes, and because it looks the way most people remember it.

One Swap for the Fourth King

The strict game is won only about once in thirteen tries, so a second chance for the fourth King is the most popular house rule of all. The details vary from family to family. Here is exactly how it works in our game when you turn on One swap for the fourth King in Settings.

• The rule applies only when the fourth King turns up while other cards are still face down. If the fourth King is the last card, you have simply won.
• You choose any pile around the clock that still has at least one face-down card. Each of these piles shows how many face-down cards it holds.
• The King is tucked face down at the bottom of that pile. It no longer counts as found, so the count drops back to "3 of 4."
• You take the top face-down card of the same pile, turn it up, and carry on as usual.
• You get one swap per game. If the King turns up again before every other card is face up, the game is lost.

Which pile? The one with the most face-down cards. The King then stays buried the longest. Your chance of winning after the swap is the number of face-down cards on the chosen pile out of all the face-down cards on the table. The Hint button works it out for you, and the strategy page explains why.

With this rule and sensible swaps, you can expect to win about 37 games in 100 instead of 8. Our game keeps separate statistics for the strict game and the one-swap game, so the two never get mixed up.

One more detail: Undo will not take back a swap. Once you have seen the card you received for the King, the choice stands. Otherwise you could peek at every pile in turn, and it would no longer be a decision at all.

Other second-chance rules you may meet

• Swap for a chosen face-down card. Some players put the King in the exact place of the card they take, rather than at the bottom of the pile. This makes the King come back sooner, so it is a little harder than our version.
• Swap more than once. A gentle rule for young children: every early King may be swapped. The game is then won far more often, which is perfect for a five-year-old and a bit dull for everyone else.

Playing On After the Fourth King

Another common way to soften the game is to keep going. When the fourth King stops you, turn over the top card of the next pile clockwise that still has a face-down card, and continue from there. You always finish the clock this way, so instead of winning or losing you count your restarts. No restarts is a true win. One or two is a good game.

It is a pleasant way to play with real cards, especially with children who would rather see every card turned. Our game stays with win-or-lose and shows how many cards were left instead, but you can get much the same feeling by watching the "face down" count at the end.

Grandfather's Clock: The Skill Game

Don't confuse Clock Solitaire with Grandfather's Clock. It also uses a clock face, but it is a very different game. Twelve starting cards are set in a circle, and the other forty are dealt face up into eight columns. You build each starting card upward in its own suit until every pile shows the right number for its place on the clock. Because all the cards are visible and you choose every move, it is a game of planning rather than luck, closer in spirit to FreeCell than to Clock Solitaire.

How Our Game Handles the Details

Put Each Card on Its Pile for Me

Normally you tap once to turn a card and once more to put it on its pile. If you would rather tap just once per card, turn on Put each card on its pile for me in Settings. After a short pause, the card you turned moves to its hour by itself. Nothing about the rules changes. It only saves taps, which many players with stiff fingers or a small phone appreciate.

Auto-Play

The Auto-play button plays the deal for you, one card at a time. Choose Calm in Settings for an easy pace of about one card every two seconds, or Quick to see the result sooner. Tap the button again to pause, or tap any pile to take over. If the one-swap rule is on, Auto-play stops and waits for you when the fourth King comes early, because that choice is yours.

Undo and Hint

Undo takes back the last card you turned, as many times as you like, except that it will not go back past a swap. Hint marks the pile where the card in your hand belongs. Since the strict game has no choices, the hint there is simply a reminder of where things go.

Deal Numbers

Every deal has a number from 1 to 999,999, shown in the corner of the table. The same number always gives the same shuffle. Use Replay This Deal to watch a game again, or type a number in Settings to play a particular deal. Because the strict game has no choices, a deal that was lost will be lost again the same way. With the one-swap rule, replaying lets you try a different pile and see what would have happened.

Want a solitaire with more to decide? Classic Klondike and Spider solitaire are both a short step from here.