Rules for Gargantua

Family: Klondike
Categories: Two-Deck
Variants: Klondike Strict, Klondike Familiar, Klondike Easy, Double Klondike,Thumb and Pouch
Also Known As: Double Klondike

This is a close variant of the popular Double Klondike, which is a two-deck variation of the popular and widely-known Klondike. It could be called Double Klondike Strict, as it is more constrained and difficult to win than Double Klondike; but it is easier to win than the one-deck Klondike Strict.

Layout

There are eight foundations, which are initially empty. There are nine tableau piles, fanned down. The first tableau starts with one card, the second with two cards, and so on to the ninth, which starts with nine cards. The top card of each tableau is face up and the rest are face down. The remaining cards are kept face down in the hand.

Play

Tableaus build down, alternating red and black. The top card of the wastepile and full builds from the tableaus may be built onto the tableaus. Only Kings or builds whose bottom card is a King may be played to an empty tableau pile.

Foundations build up in suit. Top cards of tableaus and wastepile are available for building onto the foundations. Only an Ace may be played to an empty foundation.

Dealing

You may deal at any time by taking one card from the hand and turning it face up onto the wastepile. You may redeal once: when the hand is empty, pick up the entire wastepile and turn it face down to form a new hand.

Goal

The goal is to move all the cards onto the foundations. Solitaire Till Dawn uses casino scoring by charging $104 a game, and paying back $5 for every card played to the foundations. (It’s not real money, so don’t worry!)

Tips

Try to build the foundations evenly: don’t play up a black 8 until you’re sure you won’t need to put a red 7 on it to make progress in the tableaus. But you can play more freely than in the one-deck forms of Klondike, and you can play unevenly if you need to in order to expose face-down cards.
Play cards from the hand before playing from the tableau.
Try to place Kings in empty tableau piles; an unplaced King in the discard pile can block everything below it.
Try hard to expose face down cards.