Solitaire games
Introduction
This article will focus on two solitaire trick-taking games that I particularly enjoy. My compilation of solo trick-taking games on BoardGameGeek has 26 games on it so far, as other people add to it, so there are many more.
Trick-taking card games usually have the following properties. Each player is dealt a hand of cards. One player “leads” a card by placing it face up on the table. The other players in turn also place a card face up. They are generally required to play a card of the same suit as the card that was led if possible (this is called “following suit”). If it is not possible to follow suit, the player may play any card. In most games one suit is called the “trumps.” The name comes from the word “triumph.”
The collection of face-up cards is called the “trick,” and the person who played the winning card “takes the trick” and keeps it in a scoring pile. If no cards are trump cards, the highest card of the suit that was led takes the trick. If there are one or more trump cards, the highest trump card takes the trick. The highest card is determined by some numerical order. Most commonly it is this, from 2 (low) to Ace (high), but a lot of older games have other orders.
The process is repeated until all the cards are played, which completes a “hand.” The trump suit can change after each hand.
I never really played trick-taking games much with other people, but I have a vivid childhood memory of playing a game with my siblings and parents that included trick-taking, following suit, and trump cards. It had no bidding or partnerships. I have tried in vain to find a game that matches the simple game we played, and have come to the conclusion that it was something my parents made up to teach us the mechanics of trick-taking. They played more advanced games like Bridge and Pinochle, but didn’t teach them to me. I do remember playing Hearts a few times with my siblings. And I had well-meaning friends try to teach me Skat and Sheepshead as the games were in progress, which left me utterly confused.
Since I play almost exclusively solo now, I became interested in solo trick-taking games mostly as an exercise in nostalgia. In this article I will focus on two of my favourites, and then make brief mention of a third.
This article will focus on two solitaire trick-taking games that I particularly enjoy. My compilation of solo trick-taking games on BoardGameGeek has 26 games on it so far, as other people add to it, so there are many more.
Trick-taking card games usually have the following properties. Each player is dealt a hand of cards. One player “leads” a card by placing it face up on the table. The other players in turn also place a card face up. They are generally required to play a card of the same suit as the card that was led if possible (this is called “following suit”). If it is not possible to follow suit, the player may play any card. In most games one suit is called the “trumps.” The name comes from the word “triumph.”
The collection of face-up cards is called the “trick,” and the person who played the winning card “takes the trick” and keeps it in a scoring pile. If no cards are trump cards, the highest card of the suit that was led takes the trick. If there are one or more trump cards, the highest trump card takes the trick. The highest card is determined by some numerical order. Most commonly it is this, from 2 (low) to Ace (high), but a lot of older games have other orders.
The process is repeated until all the cards are played, which completes a “hand.” The trump suit can change after each hand.
I never really played trick-taking games much with other people, but I have a vivid childhood memory of playing a game with my siblings and parents that included trick-taking, following suit, and trump cards. It had no bidding or partnerships. I have tried in vain to find a game that matches the simple game we played, and have come to the conclusion that it was something my parents made up to teach us the mechanics of trick-taking. They played more advanced games like Bridge and Pinochle, but didn’t teach them to me. I do remember playing Hearts a few times with my siblings. And I had well-meaning friends try to teach me Skat and Sheepshead as the games were in progress, which left me utterly confused.
Since I play almost exclusively solo now, I became interested in solo trick-taking games mostly as an exercise in nostalgia. In this article I will focus on two of my favourites, and then make brief mention of a third.
Gongor Whist
Gongor Whist was the first solo trick-taking game I encountered, and I fell in love it with it immediately. The Decktet, is not a game but a game system, a deck of cards by P. D. Magnus. You can buy it, but it’s also available as a free print-and-play game. This game uses the basic Decktet, without Pawns, Courts, and Excuse.
The Decktet was developed as part of a private role-playing game, when a character in the game needed a deck of cards to tell a fortune. After designing the cards, Magnus designed several games that could be played with them, and invited other people to add their own games to a wiki.
The Decktet has six suits, and while some of the cards have only one suit, many of them have two or even three suits per card. This makes trick-taking a pretty wild-and-woolly prospect. There are several trick-taking games designed for the Decktet, but as far as I know, Gongor Whist is the only one of them that is a solo game. Magnus has said that he based it on a game by Richard Hutnik called Oneonta Whist, which is played with ordinary playing cards.
A big part of the charm of Gongor Whist comes from its description in The Decktet Book, where he makes the reader feel like it’s a real folk game that has been played for generations in the wacky Decktet universe: “The northern duchy of Gongor is distinguished mostly by its isolation, so much so that 'going to Gongor' is an idiom for going off to be alone. So the court in Gongor has just one barrister to alternately prosecute and defend, and it is typically impossible to get a quartet together for an evening of Nonesuch.” As is usual in solo trick-taking games, the player plays against a “dummy hand."
Rules
Begin by separating out the six Aces, which have only one suit each, and place them in a face-down pile, then turn the top one over. This determines the initial trump suit. Throughout the game, you can turn over the next card to change the trump suit, after playing your card. When you do this, you are said to “twiddle trump” (another delightful bit of colour that makes it feel like a real folk game). Once all the Aces are turned over, you can’t twiddle trump for the rest of the game.
Deal out seven cards to the dummy, and seven to yourself. This is called the “fore hand”. The dummy hand remains a face-down pile, but you can look at your hand. The dummy always leads, and you must follow at least one suit if you can.
Once that hand is played and scored, repeat the process with the second half of the deck (there will be two cards left over). This is called the “back hand,” or in an earlier version, the “aft hand,” which I think is more folk-like. You will be going through the deck four times, for a total of eight hands per game.
The fact that there are multiple suits per card leads to some interesting situations. Suppose the dummy leads with a 9 of Wyrms and Leaves, you follow with a 4 of Leaves and Moons, and suppose that Moons are trump. You followed suit (the Leaves) with a lower number. But because Moons are trump and the dummy’s card has no Moon suit, you win the trick.
Before you begin, write out the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. At the beginning of a hand, bid one of those numbers, and cross it off the list. You must win exactly that number of tricks in that hand. If you ever win a different number of tricks from what you have bid, you lose the game. Magnus calls this “Shut-the-Box scoring,” after the dice game of that name.
Alternative scoring systems
In the first edition, Magnus offered a different scoring system, in which you could bid any number of tricks on any hand. He described the scoring this way: “If you win exactly as many tricks as you bid, then add your bid to your score. If you win more or fewer, subtract the number of tricks you did win from your score; subtract two more for missing a back hand. As a goal, I suggested seeing how quickly you could get to 50 points.” He decided that the Shut-the-Box scoring made a better game, with a definite win-loss condition.
The Shut-the-Box scoring is very difficult to win. Making a bid of 3 or 4 or 5 isn’t too hard, but 0 and 7 are very difficult to achieve. There are other proposed scoring systems listed here.
Here is another scoring system, devised by me, which also has a definite win-loss condition. The fact that the dummy gets its own score adds to the illusion that you’re playing against an opponent.
This scoring is similar to the scoring used in Oneonta Whist, but uses two columns, one for you and one for the dummy, which avoids negative numbers and feels more natural.
As in the official rules for Gongor Whist, write the numbers 0-7 and on each turn bid one of the numbers. You will play 8 hands all together (four fore-hands and four aft-hands.)
If you make your bid exactly, you get the number of the bid and the dummy gets 0.
If you take more tricks than you bid, you get your bid and the dummy gets the difference (the overtricks).
If you take fewer tricks than you bid, you get 0 and the dummy gets the number of the bid.
For the 0 bid, if you take any tricks, you get 0 and the dummy gets the number of tricks you took. If you take no tricks, you get 7 and the opponent gets 0.
At the end you just add up the two scores and see which one wins, you or the dummy.
Gongor Whist was the first solo trick-taking game I encountered, and I fell in love it with it immediately. The Decktet, is not a game but a game system, a deck of cards by P. D. Magnus. You can buy it, but it’s also available as a free print-and-play game. This game uses the basic Decktet, without Pawns, Courts, and Excuse.
The Decktet was developed as part of a private role-playing game, when a character in the game needed a deck of cards to tell a fortune. After designing the cards, Magnus designed several games that could be played with them, and invited other people to add their own games to a wiki.
The Decktet has six suits, and while some of the cards have only one suit, many of them have two or even three suits per card. This makes trick-taking a pretty wild-and-woolly prospect. There are several trick-taking games designed for the Decktet, but as far as I know, Gongor Whist is the only one of them that is a solo game. Magnus has said that he based it on a game by Richard Hutnik called Oneonta Whist, which is played with ordinary playing cards.
A big part of the charm of Gongor Whist comes from its description in The Decktet Book, where he makes the reader feel like it’s a real folk game that has been played for generations in the wacky Decktet universe: “The northern duchy of Gongor is distinguished mostly by its isolation, so much so that 'going to Gongor' is an idiom for going off to be alone. So the court in Gongor has just one barrister to alternately prosecute and defend, and it is typically impossible to get a quartet together for an evening of Nonesuch.” As is usual in solo trick-taking games, the player plays against a “dummy hand."
Rules
Begin by separating out the six Aces, which have only one suit each, and place them in a face-down pile, then turn the top one over. This determines the initial trump suit. Throughout the game, you can turn over the next card to change the trump suit, after playing your card. When you do this, you are said to “twiddle trump” (another delightful bit of colour that makes it feel like a real folk game). Once all the Aces are turned over, you can’t twiddle trump for the rest of the game.
Deal out seven cards to the dummy, and seven to yourself. This is called the “fore hand”. The dummy hand remains a face-down pile, but you can look at your hand. The dummy always leads, and you must follow at least one suit if you can.
Once that hand is played and scored, repeat the process with the second half of the deck (there will be two cards left over). This is called the “back hand,” or in an earlier version, the “aft hand,” which I think is more folk-like. You will be going through the deck four times, for a total of eight hands per game.
The fact that there are multiple suits per card leads to some interesting situations. Suppose the dummy leads with a 9 of Wyrms and Leaves, you follow with a 4 of Leaves and Moons, and suppose that Moons are trump. You followed suit (the Leaves) with a lower number. But because Moons are trump and the dummy’s card has no Moon suit, you win the trick.
Before you begin, write out the numbers 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. At the beginning of a hand, bid one of those numbers, and cross it off the list. You must win exactly that number of tricks in that hand. If you ever win a different number of tricks from what you have bid, you lose the game. Magnus calls this “Shut-the-Box scoring,” after the dice game of that name.
Alternative scoring systems
In the first edition, Magnus offered a different scoring system, in which you could bid any number of tricks on any hand. He described the scoring this way: “If you win exactly as many tricks as you bid, then add your bid to your score. If you win more or fewer, subtract the number of tricks you did win from your score; subtract two more for missing a back hand. As a goal, I suggested seeing how quickly you could get to 50 points.” He decided that the Shut-the-Box scoring made a better game, with a definite win-loss condition.
The Shut-the-Box scoring is very difficult to win. Making a bid of 3 or 4 or 5 isn’t too hard, but 0 and 7 are very difficult to achieve. There are other proposed scoring systems listed here.
Here is another scoring system, devised by me, which also has a definite win-loss condition. The fact that the dummy gets its own score adds to the illusion that you’re playing against an opponent.
This scoring is similar to the scoring used in Oneonta Whist, but uses two columns, one for you and one for the dummy, which avoids negative numbers and feels more natural.
As in the official rules for Gongor Whist, write the numbers 0-7 and on each turn bid one of the numbers. You will play 8 hands all together (four fore-hands and four aft-hands.)
If you make your bid exactly, you get the number of the bid and the dummy gets 0.
If you take more tricks than you bid, you get your bid and the dummy gets the difference (the overtricks).
If you take fewer tricks than you bid, you get 0 and the dummy gets the number of the bid.
For the 0 bid, if you take any tricks, you get 0 and the dummy gets the number of tricks you took. If you take no tricks, you get 7 and the opponent gets 0.
At the end you just add up the two scores and see which one wins, you or the dummy.
Eck
This game was designed by John Burton for Boardgamegeek’s 2020 solitaire game design contest. It also uses a special deck of cards which is available for purchase from Game Crafter or as a free print-and-play.
The cards consist of six kinds of polygons in six colours. The colours are equivalent to suits, and the shapes of the polygons are equivalent to numbers. The name ECK comes from the German word for “corner,” as the number of corners on the polygon it displays determines the value of the card. For example, a triangle has a value of 3, and an octagon has a value of 8. There are also three white circles and three black circles. These are trump-like cards that act in a kind of rock-paper-scissors way, which will be explained later.
Rules
The dummy player is called Eck. Deal 13 cards for yourself. Eck's cards will be played from the top of the face-down deck.
Eck leads to the first trick by playing the top card of the deck. Thereafter, the winner of the previous trick leads to the next trick.
If Eck leads, you must follow colour (suit) if possible. Otherwise, you may play any card in your hand.
If you lead, Eck must play a card of the same colour, the same shape, or a circle card. Keep turning over cards from the deck until one of those is found. Since this is a less-stringent condition, it should not take long to meet it. Place the cards that Eck could not play face-up at the bottom of the deck. If you come to the face-up cards before your hand is gone, reshuffle the Eck deck and turn it face down and continue playing.
If two cards of the same shape are played, that trick is "tied." Set it aside and play another trick using the above rules. (Whichever side led before leads again.) Whichever side wins the second trick also wins the tied trick. If the second trick is also tied, play a third trick, and so on. It is possible to win or lose several tricks at once this way.
Winning a trick, and how the circle trump cards work
If both cards are polygons of the same colour, the one with the higher number of corners wins the trick.
If the cards are polygons of different colours, the card led wins the trick.
If one of the cards is a circle, a black circle wins over a coloured polygon, but a coloured polygon wins over a white circle.
However, if both cards are circles, a white circle wins over a black circle. Thus, my previous reference to Rock-Paper-Scissors: there is no one kind of card that is the most powerful.
If both circles are the same colour, the trick is tied and you must set it aside and play another trick, as described above.
The “Trick Cards”
There are two more kinds of cards used in the game Eck. One set is called the “Trick Cards.” These are like the Shut-the-Box numbers in Gongor Whist, except that they have the following numbers on them: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 13/0. These cards are two-sided, with a coloured side and a grayscale side.
Unlike in Gongor Whist, you do not have to bid ahead of time. If at the end of the hand you have collected a number of tricks matching one of the Trick Cards, you collect that card. Once you have collected that card, you must score a different number of tricks to collect another card.
If you take an odd number of tricks, it means that Eck has taken an even number of tricks and has a chance of winning the card, if you haven’t collected it yet. Turn the unclaimed card over to the gray side to show that Eck has taken that many tricks once. If Eck does so a second time, Eck wins automatically. (You can still collect a card that has the gray side up, as long as Eck doesn't win that card a second time!)
The “Counter Card”
The Counter Card is double-sided, and has the numbers 0 and 1 printed on opposite ends of one side, and the number 2 and the letter X printed on opposite ends of the other side.
Each time you fail to collect one of the numbered Trick Cards, you turn the counter, from 0 to 1, then to 2, and finally to X. This keeps track of the number of consecutive failures. If you are successful at collecting a Trick Card, reset the counter back to 0.
Winning and losing
The goal of the game is to collect four of the Trick Cards before the X shows up on the Counter Card. If the X shows up, it means that you have lost the game and it is “ECK’s game.” As mentioned above, Eck also wins by collecting a gray card, a number of tricks that Eck has won before.
Conclusion
Each of these games brings something unusual to trick-taking games in general and solo trick-taking games in particular.
Gongor Whist has the fact that some of the cards have more than one suit. The Shut-the-Box scoring is very difficult, but this is partly balanced by the multiple suits and the ability to “twiddle trump” up to six times over the course of eight hands. Twiddling trump is a gamble, though, because after you’ve played the card to the trick, and decide to twiddle trump, you don’t know what the trump will be. You can only hope it will be one of the suits on your card.
I found that I didn’t like the sudden-death aspect of losing abruptly, sometimes when the game was barely started. It certainly adds to the urgency, but I like something more laid-back, which is why I proposed an alternate scoring system, where you can play all the hands and then see whether you have managed to salvage a win.
Eck has the Rock-Paper-Scissors effect of having the black circle card more powerful than all the polygons and the white circle less powerful than all the polygons—but the white circle is more powerful than the black circle.
The “tied trick” is a mechanic I haven’t seen before. By giving the dummy and the player two different rules for following a lead, the game allows for the side that won the previous trick to lead to the next trick, instead of the dummy having always to lead.
Another unique mechanic is the Trick Cards, which are used instead of bidding. This is easier than trying to bid ahead of time, but because they go up by two, it leads to situations where you might be aiming for 4 tricks and then accidentally take 5, but the 6 Trick Card is already taken, so now you have to try to get 8. It’s definitely a push-your-luck mechanic.
This difficulty is balanced by the fact that you get more than one chance to try to get a card. And, unlike Gongor Whist, instead of having to win all the “bids,” you only have to win four out of seven Trick Cards. This game also has a sudden-death mechanic, except that it is not quite as sudden, as you get extra chances with the gray sides to the Trick Cards, and three tries with the Counter Card.
One more game...
These two games are excellent, but are only two of the 26 games we managed to find for the “geeklist.” If you find the subject interesting, I suggest you take a look at the entire list.
I couldn’t stop without a brief mention of one more game, one I found in a thrift store and have really enjoyed: “Bridge for One.” It’s not nearly as excellent as the other two games, but I love it as a meditative experience. I wrote up the rules here.
Bridge for One uses a deck that on one side is an ordinary deck of playing cards, but has the suits of the cards printed on the back. It is long out of print, but if you want to try it, it is easy to recreate by buying four decks of cards with different backs and using one suit from each deck.
As in regular Contract Bridge, it has a face-up dummy hand, but it also has two face-down hands with the suits showing, and strict rules for which cards to play from those hands. Such rules are often called an “automaton” or an “AI [artificial intelligence]” by solo board-gamers.
I have never come close to playing actual Contract Bridge, except on an app against a not-very-good computer. But when I sit down with this game, I feel like I’m sitting around the table with my three imaginary friends, having a lovely game of cards. And that’s what I really want from any solo trick-taking game. ◾️
Acknowledgements
The header image shows a portion of the cover of the 1914 edition of Lady Cardogan's Illustrated Games of Solitaire or Patience, published by David McKay Company.
This game was designed by John Burton for Boardgamegeek’s 2020 solitaire game design contest. It also uses a special deck of cards which is available for purchase from Game Crafter or as a free print-and-play.
The cards consist of six kinds of polygons in six colours. The colours are equivalent to suits, and the shapes of the polygons are equivalent to numbers. The name ECK comes from the German word for “corner,” as the number of corners on the polygon it displays determines the value of the card. For example, a triangle has a value of 3, and an octagon has a value of 8. There are also three white circles and three black circles. These are trump-like cards that act in a kind of rock-paper-scissors way, which will be explained later.
Rules
The dummy player is called Eck. Deal 13 cards for yourself. Eck's cards will be played from the top of the face-down deck.
Eck leads to the first trick by playing the top card of the deck. Thereafter, the winner of the previous trick leads to the next trick.
If Eck leads, you must follow colour (suit) if possible. Otherwise, you may play any card in your hand.
If you lead, Eck must play a card of the same colour, the same shape, or a circle card. Keep turning over cards from the deck until one of those is found. Since this is a less-stringent condition, it should not take long to meet it. Place the cards that Eck could not play face-up at the bottom of the deck. If you come to the face-up cards before your hand is gone, reshuffle the Eck deck and turn it face down and continue playing.
If two cards of the same shape are played, that trick is "tied." Set it aside and play another trick using the above rules. (Whichever side led before leads again.) Whichever side wins the second trick also wins the tied trick. If the second trick is also tied, play a third trick, and so on. It is possible to win or lose several tricks at once this way.
Winning a trick, and how the circle trump cards work
If both cards are polygons of the same colour, the one with the higher number of corners wins the trick.
If the cards are polygons of different colours, the card led wins the trick.
If one of the cards is a circle, a black circle wins over a coloured polygon, but a coloured polygon wins over a white circle.
However, if both cards are circles, a white circle wins over a black circle. Thus, my previous reference to Rock-Paper-Scissors: there is no one kind of card that is the most powerful.
If both circles are the same colour, the trick is tied and you must set it aside and play another trick, as described above.
The “Trick Cards”
There are two more kinds of cards used in the game Eck. One set is called the “Trick Cards.” These are like the Shut-the-Box numbers in Gongor Whist, except that they have the following numbers on them: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, and 13/0. These cards are two-sided, with a coloured side and a grayscale side.
Unlike in Gongor Whist, you do not have to bid ahead of time. If at the end of the hand you have collected a number of tricks matching one of the Trick Cards, you collect that card. Once you have collected that card, you must score a different number of tricks to collect another card.
If you take an odd number of tricks, it means that Eck has taken an even number of tricks and has a chance of winning the card, if you haven’t collected it yet. Turn the unclaimed card over to the gray side to show that Eck has taken that many tricks once. If Eck does so a second time, Eck wins automatically. (You can still collect a card that has the gray side up, as long as Eck doesn't win that card a second time!)
The “Counter Card”
The Counter Card is double-sided, and has the numbers 0 and 1 printed on opposite ends of one side, and the number 2 and the letter X printed on opposite ends of the other side.
Each time you fail to collect one of the numbered Trick Cards, you turn the counter, from 0 to 1, then to 2, and finally to X. This keeps track of the number of consecutive failures. If you are successful at collecting a Trick Card, reset the counter back to 0.
Winning and losing
The goal of the game is to collect four of the Trick Cards before the X shows up on the Counter Card. If the X shows up, it means that you have lost the game and it is “ECK’s game.” As mentioned above, Eck also wins by collecting a gray card, a number of tricks that Eck has won before.
Conclusion
Each of these games brings something unusual to trick-taking games in general and solo trick-taking games in particular.
Gongor Whist has the fact that some of the cards have more than one suit. The Shut-the-Box scoring is very difficult, but this is partly balanced by the multiple suits and the ability to “twiddle trump” up to six times over the course of eight hands. Twiddling trump is a gamble, though, because after you’ve played the card to the trick, and decide to twiddle trump, you don’t know what the trump will be. You can only hope it will be one of the suits on your card.
I found that I didn’t like the sudden-death aspect of losing abruptly, sometimes when the game was barely started. It certainly adds to the urgency, but I like something more laid-back, which is why I proposed an alternate scoring system, where you can play all the hands and then see whether you have managed to salvage a win.
Eck has the Rock-Paper-Scissors effect of having the black circle card more powerful than all the polygons and the white circle less powerful than all the polygons—but the white circle is more powerful than the black circle.
The “tied trick” is a mechanic I haven’t seen before. By giving the dummy and the player two different rules for following a lead, the game allows for the side that won the previous trick to lead to the next trick, instead of the dummy having always to lead.
Another unique mechanic is the Trick Cards, which are used instead of bidding. This is easier than trying to bid ahead of time, but because they go up by two, it leads to situations where you might be aiming for 4 tricks and then accidentally take 5, but the 6 Trick Card is already taken, so now you have to try to get 8. It’s definitely a push-your-luck mechanic.
This difficulty is balanced by the fact that you get more than one chance to try to get a card. And, unlike Gongor Whist, instead of having to win all the “bids,” you only have to win four out of seven Trick Cards. This game also has a sudden-death mechanic, except that it is not quite as sudden, as you get extra chances with the gray sides to the Trick Cards, and three tries with the Counter Card.
One more game...
These two games are excellent, but are only two of the 26 games we managed to find for the “geeklist.” If you find the subject interesting, I suggest you take a look at the entire list.
I couldn’t stop without a brief mention of one more game, one I found in a thrift store and have really enjoyed: “Bridge for One.” It’s not nearly as excellent as the other two games, but I love it as a meditative experience. I wrote up the rules here.
Bridge for One uses a deck that on one side is an ordinary deck of playing cards, but has the suits of the cards printed on the back. It is long out of print, but if you want to try it, it is easy to recreate by buying four decks of cards with different backs and using one suit from each deck.
As in regular Contract Bridge, it has a face-up dummy hand, but it also has two face-down hands with the suits showing, and strict rules for which cards to play from those hands. Such rules are often called an “automaton” or an “AI [artificial intelligence]” by solo board-gamers.
I have never come close to playing actual Contract Bridge, except on an app against a not-very-good computer. But when I sit down with this game, I feel like I’m sitting around the table with my three imaginary friends, having a lovely game of cards. And that’s what I really want from any solo trick-taking game. ◾️
Acknowledgements
The header image shows a portion of the cover of the 1914 edition of Lady Cardogan's Illustrated Games of Solitaire or Patience, published by David McKay Company.