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Solitaire Games Glossary

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Glossary of Solitaire Terms

Foundation- piles of cards where the object is to build upon a base card, usually up in a sequence. In most games, the foundations are built up by suit, although this can vary. Also, once cards are moved to foundations, usually they cannot be moved again. Most solitaire games are won when all the cards have been moved to the foundations.

Tableau- piles of cards where building is usually permitted.

Reserves- a group or pile(s) of cards where building is usually not permitted.

Stock- a pile containing the remainder of the cards after all the rest of the piles have been dealt. Cards are usually dealt from the stock in some way, such as to a waste pile or to tableau piles.

Waste- a pile where unplayable cards are stored.

Building- the action of placing one card on top of another in a pile. There are many different ways of building. The most common methods of building are:

by suit- only cards of the same suit (such as hearts) placed on one another.
by color- only cards of the same color (such as red) placed on one another.
by alternate color- a red card only on a black card or a black card only on a red card. (also called by opposite color).
by any suit but the same- only cards of different suit (such as spades on diamonds) placed on one another.
Up in sequence- placing a card on the next lower card in rank, such as a Five on a Four.
Down in sequence- placing a card on the next higher card in rank, such as a Jack on a Queen.

These methods of building, and others, can be combined together, for example, building a pile up in sequence by suit.

Space- an empty pile. Spaces may be filled with cards in various ways according to the rules of the particular game.

Available card- a card that can be moved to another pile. Usually the top card of a pile is available.

Base card- The starting or first card of pile. Foundation piles usually have a specified base card, such as Aces.

Redeal- turning over the waste pile to create a new stock pile from it. Many games do not allow redeals. Some games will allow one redeal, and some will allow an unlimited number.

Rank- The face value of a card. Each suit has 13 ranks.

Sequence- a group of cards grouped by a method of building, such as in sequence up by suit.

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