Virginia Reel (solitaire)

Virginia Reel (solitaire)

Virginia Reel is a solitaire card game which uses two decks of 52 playing cards mixed together. The object of the game is to place all the cards in the 24 foundations.

First three cards, a 2, a 3, and a 4, are placed vertically. Then, beside each of the three cards is a row of seven cards. The first card in each row shows that it is the row for all other cards with the same rank. The first row is known as the "2s' row," the second row the "3s' row," and the third row the "4s' row."

A fourth row of eight cards is dealt. This serves as the reserve with each card forming a pile.

The foundations are built up by suit in intervals of three. The table below shows how.

To play, a card can be moved to a foundation or to a rightful row from the other rows or from the reserve. But the player has to bear in mind that when a card is moved from anywhere in the tableau, the gap it leaves behind must be filled with a card appropriate for the row where the gap is located. For instance, when a card has left the 2s' row, the gap it left behind must be filled with a 2, either from the other rows or from the reserve. This is especially true at the beginning of the game, where some cards are on each other's rows like a 4 in the 3s' row and a 3 in the 4s' row. Exchanging cards to their rightful rows in this case is also possible.

While the first card in each row is already a foundation in itself and it can be built on, once a card ends up in its proper row no matter where in the row, it becomes a foundation itself.

The top cards in the reserve are in play and can be placed on the foundations, or be placed on a row (if it is a 2, 3, or 4), but empty piles are not filled until a new batch of eight cards are dealt every time no more moves are possible.

Aces play no part in this game. Any ace that is in the reserve is immediately discarded. But an ace in any of the rows must be replaced by any applicable card for that row. So in order to discard an ace from the 2s' row, for example, a 2 must be available to replace it.

The game is considered won when all the cards are in foundations, with all face cards on top.