Queen of Italy (also known as Terrace) is a

patience or card solitaire Patience (Europe), card solitaire, or solitaire (US/Canada), is a genre of card games whose common feature is that the aim is to arrange the cards in some systematic order or, in a few cases, to pair them off in order to discard them. Most are in ...

game played with two packs 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. It is a very strategic game that rewards careful planning, since the cards that potentially

block Block or blocked may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Block programming, the result of a programming strategy in broadcasting * W242BX, a radio station licensed to Greenville, South Carolina, United States known as ''96.3 ...

the game are presented at the start, and with care it can be completed about half the number of attempts."Terrace" (p.247) in ''The Complete Book of Card Games'' by Peter Arnold, Hamlyn Publishing, 2010.

Rules

First, the player deals eleven overlapping cards in a row. These cards form the reserve or ''terrace''. After leaving a space below the terrace for the

foundations Foundation(s) or The Foundation(s) may refer to: Common uses * Foundation (cosmetics), a skin-coloured makeup cream applied to the face * Foundation (engineering), the element of a structure which connects it to the ground, and transfers loads f ...

, the player lays four cards in a row. The player then chooses which of these four cards starts the first foundation. The player places the chosen card on the foundation row, immediately fills the gap it left with a new card from the

stock Stocks (also capital stock, or sometimes interchangeably, shares) consist of all the Share (finance), shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided. A single share of the stock means fractional ownership of the corporatio ...

. The player adds five new cards beside these four to form 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 ...

. The player builds the foundations in alternating colours,

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from King to Ace if necessary. The cards on the tableau are available to build either on the foundations, or on other cards in the tableau. Cards on the tableau are built down on each other, also in alternating colours, and the player immediately fills any gap with a card from the

. The player moves one card at a time, and when building cards form a

column A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

, only the top card is available for

play Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * P ...

. The top card (the exposed card) of the terrace is the only card available for play and the player can only use it to build on the foundations. When there are no more possible moves on the tableau, the stock is dealt one card at a time and placed on the wastepile, the top card of which is available to be built on the foundations or the tableau. The top card of the wastepile is also used to fill a gap on the tableau whenever it occurs. However, when the stock runs out, there is no redeal; the game ends soon after. The player wins the game when all cards end up in the foundations—and loses when blocked after dealing the entire stock.

Variations

Since this is an old and classic game, several common variations exist, including Blondes and Brunettes, Redheads, and Falling Star, and General's Patience. In some cases the initial foundation card is decided by the deal rather than the player. In other cases empty spaces are filled automatically from the stock or by the waste pile, or can be filled by using cards from the tableau. Sometimes a single re-deal is allowed. General's Patience requires the foundations to be built up by suit rather than alternate colours.

References

{{Patience Double-deck patience card games Reserved packers

Rules

Variations

See also

References