General rules

There are a few general rules and offences for laying patiences. Some of these rules can sometimes be overridden by certain patiences. However, this is then explicitly mentioned. Beginners should follow these rules from the outset. Otherwise it will be all the more difficult to get rid of these rule violations later on. Of course, everyone must decide for themselves whether they want to abide by these rules. After all, most patiences are intended for one person and normally nobody is watching. But as soon as two people play a patience, the other player will certainly not approve of a rule violation.

• Additional spaces or rows that are not part of the card layout may not be used. For example, it is not permitted to fill 9 rows with cards if only 8 rows are available.
• A popular rule violation among beginners is the removal of cards that are not yet authorised to be played. These are, for example, half-covered cards.
• Removing cards from the talon or pile is also a popular rule violation that should be avoided.
• You are not allowed to look under face-down cards. The point of face-down cards is that you don’t know which card is hidden behind them.
• Cards that have already been turned up should not be put back into the card face. Once they have been put up, they must stay up. However, there are patiences that override this rule.
• The talon may also be played several times if the patience allows this. It is only a minor breach of the rules if you play the talon once more than permitted. Some patiences simply won’t work even the third time. In that case, you just turn a blind eye and try again.
• If the patience seems to be failing, you shouldn’t immediately push the cards together and start all over again or even stop. Sometimes you discover something that you didn’t see before, and with a bit of skill or maybe even luck, you can still manage the patience.