Grounds for a Divorce Solitaire
How to play Grounds for a Divorce
Grounds for a Divorce is a two-deck Spider solitaire in which 50 cards are dealt face up into ten piles and a stock of 54 deals only onto piles that have cards.
Spider with 50 cards dealt face up and a stock that deals even with piles empty.
The goal of Grounds for a Divorce
Build eight runs of thirteen cards, each from King down to Ace in one suit. A finished run leaves the table at once, and the game is won when all eight are gone.
How to set up Grounds for a Divorce
Grounds for a Divorce is played with 104 cards, two packs' worth, shuffled together. 50 of them are dealt face up into ten piles of five, with no face-down cards, and the other 54 are the stock.
Grounds for a Divorce rules
A card can be laid on any card one rank higher, whatever its suit, so the Seven of hearts may go on the Eight of clubs. A King is never laid on an Ace.
A pile's top card can always move. A face-up card lower down moves together with the cards above it only when they run down from it in one suit, each one rank below the card under it. An empty pile takes any card or any run that may move.
Press the stock to deal one card face up onto every pile that has cards, left to right, and the last deal goes onto the first four. The stock deals even while piles are empty and passes them by; when every pile is empty, it deals one card onto the first pile.
When thirteen cards of one suit run from King down to Ace on top of a pile, they leave the table at once for a foundation, whether a move or a deal completed them.
Click a face-up card to move it with the run above it onto a pile whose top card is one rank higher, of its own suit first, else into the first empty pile. Drag a card to choose its place yourself.
How to win at Grounds for a Divorce
You win when all eight runs are off the table. There is no redeal and no auto complete, since finished runs already leave on their own.
Grounds for a Divorce strategy tips
An empty pile stays empty through a deal, since the stock passes it by, so you can keep it for sorting mixed cards back into suits.
More than half the cards, 54 of 104, start in the stock. Each press deals only onto piles that have cards, so the more piles you keep empty, the fewer of your runs a press covers and the more presses the stock lasts.
You never have to fill a gap before you deal, so there is no hurry to press the stock. Play out every useful move on the table first, then deal when nothing is left to sort.
Every card dealt starts face up, so from the first move you can see where each card can go.
Grounds for a Divorce questions and answers
How do you play Grounds for a Divorce solitaire?
Deal 50 of 104 cards face up into ten piles of five and keep the other 54 as the stock. Lay a card on any card one rank higher, move runs of one suit together, and press the stock to deal a card onto every pile that has cards. You win when eight runs of thirteen, each from King down to Ace in one suit, have left the table.
What is the difference between Grounds for a Divorce and Spider?
Grounds for a Divorce deals 50 cards face up, five to each pile, with none face down, and keeps 54 in the stock. The stock deals only onto piles that have cards and never waits for an empty pile to be filled. Building, moving and the runs that leave the table are the same as in Spider.
Can you deal from the stock with an empty pile in Grounds for a Divorce?
Yes. Unlike Spider, the stock deals while piles are empty and passes them by, and when every pile is empty it deals one card onto the first pile.
Can every Grounds for a Divorce deal be won?
Not necessarily, and fewer of its deals were proved than in any other two-deck Spider game here. Of 1,291 shuffled Grounds for a Divorce deals the game's solver searched, at up to a million positions each, it proved 39% can be won. A deal it could not settle may still be winnable, so treat 39% as a lower bound. With Winnable on, in the menu beside New deal, every new board is a deal the solver has proved can be won. Hint asks the same solver for a winning line before it suggests a move.
Is there a daily Grounds for a Divorce game?
Yes. Grounds for a Divorce has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. You need to be logged in to play it.