Spanish Patience Solitaire
How to play Spanish Patience
Spanish Patience is a one-deck solitaire game dealt face up into thirteen columns of four with the Kings moved to the bottom, built down regardless of suit, where any card may fill an empty column.
Baker's Dozen where any card can fill an empty column.
The goal of Spanish Patience
Move every card onto the four foundations, building each one up by suit from Ace to King.
How to set up Spanish Patience
The whole deck is dealt face up into thirteen columns of four. Any King dealt higher up a column is moved to the bottom of it, and a column with two Kings keeps them in the order they were dealt. The four foundations start empty, and there are no free cells and no stock.
Spanish Patience rules
Columns build down one rank at a time regardless of suit. The top card of a column can move onto its foundation, onto a column where it builds or into an empty column, and any card can fill an empty column.
A run already built in order moves as one move if it is no longer than one card doubled for each empty column. When it moves into an empty column, that column does not count. A card on a foundation never comes back into play.
Click a card to play it: to its foundation if it fits, otherwise onto a column, and only then into an empty column. Drag a card or a run to choose where it goes yourself. With Autoplay off in Settings, only a drag moves a card.
How to win at Spanish Patience
You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations. Once every column is in descending order, Auto complete, on by default in Settings, moves the remaining cards up for you. The game is stuck when no card has a legal move left.
Spanish Patience strategy tips
A column cleared down to the King at its bottom is a base for a long run: any Queen can go on it, then any Jack, and since suits do not matter, such a run grows quickly and can move in one go once enough columns are empty.
An empty column takes any card, so clearing one is worth far more here than in Baker's Dozen. Use it to hold the card covering one you need.
Each empty column doubles the run you can move in one go, so keeping two empty lets you shift four cards at once.
Three empty columns let a run of eight move onto another column; moving it into an empty column, the limit halves to four.
Thirteen columns put thirteen cards in play from the first move, and an Ace among them can go straight home.
A King lying under the rest of its column can leave only for its foundation or for another empty column, so the columns with a King under them are the hardest to clear. Look for space among the others.
Every column starts with four cards, so no card lies under more than three others.
Since every deal the solver was tested on could be won, a stuck board here most likely comes from an earlier choice. Undo back to the last time you filled an empty column and try a different card there.
Spanish Patience questions and answers
How do you play Spanish Patience solitaire?
Deal the deck into thirteen columns of four, with every King moved to the bottom of its column. Move the top card of a column onto the next higher card of any suit, up to its foundation, or into an empty column. The foundations build up by suit from Ace to King, and any card can fill an empty column.
What is the difference between Spanish Patience and Baker's Dozen?
The deal and the building are the same, but in Spanish Patience any card can fill an empty column, where in Baker's Dozen an empty column stays empty. With that spare room, runs can also move in one go.
Can every Spanish Patience deal be won?
Every one tried so far. The solver proved all 100 shuffled Spanish Patience deals in a test winnable, each within the quick search it runs while dealing and in under ten milliseconds. Baker's Dozen, dealt the same way but with no way to fill an empty column, came out at 50. A test is not a proof for every shuffle, so the Winnable switch in the menu beside New deal still checks each board before you get it, needing two shuffles at most for any board tested, and the Hint button asks the solver for a winning line before it suggests a move.
Is there a daily Spanish Patience game?
Yes. Spanish Patience 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.