Rules for Westcliff

Family: Klondike
Categories: Large, Easy to Win
Variants: Easthaven
Also Known As:

Westcliff has been described as a blend of Klondike and Forty Thieves. Wins are frequent unless you are actively trying to lose.

Layout

Shuffle the deck and lay it out in a row of 10 piles of three cards each, two cards face-down and one face-up in each pile. These are the tableaus. Four foundations and a discard pile start the game empty. Keep the remaining cards in the deck.

Play

Full or partial builds in the tableaus are available for play onto other tableaus. Tableaus build down, alternating red and black. Any available card may be played to an empty tableau.

Top cards of tableaus may be played to the foundations. Foundations build up in suit, starting with the Ace.

The top card of the discard is available for play onto the tableaus or foundations.

Dealing

You may deal at any time by taking one card from the hand and turning it face up onto the discard pile. There are no redeals: when the hand is empty, dealing is no longer allowed.

Goal

The goal is to move all the cards onto the foundations.

Tips

Favor play from the discard pile; try to keep it small. The two face-down cards in any tableau pile will be easier to reach than a card buried deeply in the discard pile.

Empty tableau piles are important because you can use them to help empty the discard pile.

Be patient about playing cards to the foundations. If you can get all the tableau cards face-up and the deck and discard pile empty, you have a guaranteed win. It can be better to move a card to another tableau where you can build on it later, instead of immediately moving it to the foundations.