How to Play Knaves' Dial

Knaves' Dial Rules

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

Objective

The objective of Knaves' Dial is to stack all eight cards of the same rank on their designated foundation pile after the starting card of each pile has been played.

Setup

Leave room for 12 tableau piles and eight reserve piles. Place the entire deck face down to form the stock.

Game Play

There will be twelve foundation piles; one for every rank of card except for the jacks. The first pile on the left is designated for the aces, the second pile to its right is for the 2s, and so on until the last pile on the right is for the kings. The eight reserve piles are for the eight jacks as they become available. Each foundation pile may only hold eight cards, and they must be of the same rank.

Draw the top card of the stock and place it in its designated foundation pile; this is the starting card. For example, if you draw a 3 of hearts, place it in the third space to form the 3 foundation pile. The suit of this starting card determines the starting suit for all other foundation piles. For any foundation pile to be started, the correct rank that corresponds to that pile must also be in the same suit as the starting suit. Following the previous example, to start the other 11 foundation piles, they each must be started with the appropriate rank of the hearts suit.

Each foundation pile must alternate colors as they are built up. Following the previous examples, since the hearts are the starting suit, the next card that can be played on a heart is either a club or spade, then either a diamond or a heart, and so on, repeating this pattern.

Flip the top card of the stock over to form the waste pile. The top card of the waste pile is available for play onto a foundation pile. If the top card of the waste pile cannot be played, or if the waste pile is empty, flip the next card of the stock over to add to the waste pile. When a jack is available for play, move it onto a jack reserve pile. When the stock is depleted, you may redeal by flipping the waste pile over to reform the stock. You may only redeal once. When the stock is depleted a second time, and there are no more available moves, the game is over.

To Win

Knaves' Dial is won if all cards are dealt onto the foundation piles. If there are no more moves after the stock is depleted a second time, and there are still cards in the waste pile, the game is lost.