Rules for Deuces

Family: Deuces
Categories: Simple, Two-Deck, Large, Easy to Win
Variants:
Also Known As:

Deuces is a double-deck game with an interesting layout. Wins are frequent, and the strategy isn’t deep. Aces are ranked high (above Kings) which is unusual because in most solitaire games Aces rank low, below the deuces (twos).

Layout

Remove all eight 2’s (the deuces) from a double deck of cards, and place them in two rows of four. These are the foundations. Shuffle the remaining cards and deal four face-up in a row above the deuces, then six more, three to either side. These ten piles are the tableaus. (Traditionally the ten tableau piles are placed to “wrap around” the block of deuces, but leave some room for the tableaus to fan down.) Keep the rest of the cards in the deck. A discard pile starts the game empty.

Play

The foundations build up, following suit. Aces are high, and are the last card to be placed on any tableau. (If you win, all the tableaus will show Aces on top.)

Tableaus build down, also following suit, also with Aces high (so that you may play a King on top of an Ace).

The top card of each tableau and the discard pile is available for play onto tableaus or foundations. In addition, entire tableau piles may be picked up and moved onto another tableau pile.

An empty tableau must be filled immediately with the top card from the discard pile or (if the discard pile is empty) from the deck. Solitaire Till Dawn X will do this for you automatically.

Dealing

Whenever you wish, deal one card face up from the deck onto the discard pile. There are no redeals; when the deck is empty, you cannot deal again.

Goal

The goal is to move all the cards onto the foundations. Remember, if you win all the foundations will show Aces on top!

Tips

Deuces is a straightforward game with little strategy. Mostly you should just pay attention and try not to miss any possible moves. But we can offer the following bit of helpful advice.

In any game like Deuces, where disordered cards pile up in a discard pile, it’s crucial to keep that pile as small as possible. You do this by finding other places — almost any other place — to put those cards. In Deuces, the only “other places” are the foundation and tableau piles. It’s therefore important to empty out tableau piles as often as possible, because an empty tableau is immediately filled from the discard pile. In practice, this means that if you can move cards from the tableaus to the foundations, and you have any choice about which ones to move, you should always move the ones that will empty out the most tableau piles.