How to Play Above and Below Solitaire

Above and below solitaire is slightly different from game to game. The first card dealt per game determines the starting cards for the foundation piles.

Above and Below Solitaire Rules

| Players: 1 | Type: Solitaire | Supplies: 2 Decks |

Objective

The objective of above and below solitaire is to build half the foundation piles up in suit and the other half down in suit.

Setup

Shuffle the two decks together. Place the entire deck face down to form the stock. Deal out one card face up, known as the "target card." The rest of the deck is dealt during gameplay.

Game Play

There are eight foundation piles. The first card dealt is the “target” card. The target card is dealt in between the eight foundation piles. The four foundation piles to the left of the target card are the “above piles.” The four foundation piles to the right of the target card are the “below piles.”

As the appropriate cards become available, they are used to start each foundation pile. The above foundation piles each start with the card that is one rank higher than the target card, and are built up in sequence, following suit. The below foundation piles each start with the card that is one rank lower than the target card, and are built down in sequence, following suit. Aces may be played on kings and kings may be played on aces to continue the sequence. There may only be one foundation pile of each suit in the above piles, and one foundation pile of each suit in the below piles.

Besides the target card, all cards are dealt one at a time from the stock, to either form, or add to the waste pile. When the seven other cards that match the target card's rank appear, they are placed on top of the target card.

There are four tableau piles. The tableau piles are empty at the start of the game. The stock is dealt one at a time to the waste. The top card of the waste pile is available for play onto a foundation pile, or onto a tableau pile. Cards from the waste can be placed on top of any tableau pile with no restrictions. Cards may not go from tableau pile to tableau pile. Only the top card of each tableau pile is available for play onto a foundation pile.

When the stock is empty, you may pick up all tableau piles and form a new stock one time. If the stock is depleted a second time and there are no more available moves, the game is over.

To Win

To win above and below solitaire, all foundation piles must be built to 12 cards. If the player exhausts the stock twice and runs out of moves before completing all foundation piles, above and below solitaire is lost.