Amazons is an old

patience or forbearance, is the ability to endure difficult or undesired long-term circumstances. Patience involves perseverance or tolerance in the face of delay, provocation, or stress without responding negatively, such as reacting with disrespect ...

or card solitaire game which is played with a single deck of

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a f ...

s. The game is played with a Piquet pack minus the kings or a standard 52-card pack that has its twos, threes, fours, fives, sixes, and kings removed. This game is named after the female-led tribe, the Amazons, because the queen is the highest card, and all queens are displayed if the game is won.Liflander (2002), p.14.

Background

Amazons is an old game, recorded as early as 1898 in the 2nd series of ''Dick's Games of Patience'', where it is described as being played with a Piquet pack.Dick (1898), pp. 107–108. Parlett points out that, like Puzzler, it is the short pack equivalent of the compulsive but frustrating game of

Auld Lang Syne "Auld Lang Syne" () is a Scottish song. In the English-speaking world, it is traditionally sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on Hogmanay/New Year's Eve. It is also often heard at funerals, graduations, and as a far ...

.Parlett (1979), p. 37. As a 32-card patience, it is not commonly included in English games compendia.

Rules

First, four cards are dealt in a row as the

tableau Tableau (French for 'little table' literally, also used to mean 'picture'; : tableaux or, rarely, tableaus) may refer to: Arts * ''Tableau'', a series of four paintings by Piet Mondrian titled '' Tableau I'' through to ''Tableau IV'' * '' Tableau ...

, called the auxiliary row by Dick and the reserve row by Morehead & Mott-Smith. Above this is another row of initially four spaces for the foundations. Once an ace is available, it is placed on the foundations from left to right in the order in which they become available. If an available card in the auxiliary row is immediately below the foundation of the same suit and is the next card in sequence, it is played onto that foundation pile. The order of placing is in ascending sequence: A-7-8-9-10-J-Q. When no more cards can be played, four more cards are then dealt, face up, one to each depot, covering any cards already there. The player pauses again to see if any of the cards dealt can be placed on the foundations. Spaces are not filled until the next deal. This process is repeated until the talon runs out. When it does, a new one is formed by picking up each pile in turn, turning them face down and dealing again; this should be done without reshuffling. The process of dealing the cards, building to the foundations, and redealing, is repeated without limit until the game is won or blocked i.e. lost. The game is won when all cards are built onto the foundations, with the Queens at the top.

Strategy

Given the unlimited redeals, one of the best strategies for winning Amazons in as many as half the games played is to only play one Ace at a time rather than all of them initially, working on a single foundation at a time, and only playing another Ace when stuck despite redealing.

Footnotes

References

Literature

* Dick, Harris B. (1898). ''Dick's Games of Patience.'' Second series. 70 games. NY: Dick & Fitzgerald. * Liflander, Pamela (2002). ''The Little Book of Solitaire''. Philadelphia, PA: Running Press. * Morehead, Albert and

Geoffrey Mott-Smith The Mott-Smith Trophy, named for writer and cryptographer Geoffrey Mott-Smith, is awarded to the player with the best overall individual performance in the Spring Nationals, the spring event of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North Ame ...

(2001). ''The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience.'' Slough: Foulsham. *

Parlett, David David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association. Life David Sidney Parlett was bo ...