Sultan (solitaire)
Sultan (or Sultan of Turkey) is a solitaire card game, meaning it is played only by one person. However, this game uses two packs of playing cards. Nine cards are laid out like this at the beginning of the game:
| K ♦ | A ♥ | K ♦ |
| K ♠ | K ♥ | K ♠ |
| K ♣ | K ♥ | K ♣ |
These cards make up the foundations and will be built up by suit in order. On the single foundation with an Ace, the A♥ foundation, the next cards will be 2♥, 3♥, and so on. On the seven kings, the order is Ace, 2, 3, etc., of the appropriate suits. Throughout the game, the only card which you cannot place other cards on is the K♥ (the Sultan) in the center location.
Six cards (or eight in some versions) from the deck are placed, face up, around the foundations; these make up the reserve.
The player then makes one of three moves:
- Taking the top card from the face-down deck and placing it in the face-up waste pile.
- Taking the top card from the waste and adding it to one of the eight (outer) foundations.
- Moving a card from the reserve onto one of the eight (outer) foundations, and then replacing it with the next card from the deck.
The goal is to end the game with the Sultan (King of Hearts) surrounded by his "Queens".
When there are no more cards in the face-down deck, the player may re-deal (shuffle the waste and place them face-down, creating a new deck), but may only do this twice per game. After the player has run through the deck three times, or when all the cards are on the foundations, then the game is over.
References
- "The Sultan". The Complete Hoyle's Games. Revised & updated by Lawrence H. Dawson. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions. 1994. p. 259. ISBN 1-85326-316-8.