Zodiac (solitaire)
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Zodiac is a
solitaire Solitaire may refer to: Film and television *'' Le Solitaire'', a 1987 French film * ''Solitaire'' (1991 film), a Canadian drama film * ''Solitaire'' (2008 film), a drama film *''Solitaire'', 2016 Lebanese comedy film with Bassam Kousa *"Solit ...
card game A card game is any game that uses playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, whether the cards are of a traditional design or specifically created for the game (proprietary). Countless card games exist, including famil ...
which is played with two decks 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 shuffled together. An old game, it first appeared in Lady Adelaide Cadogan's book ''Illustrated Games of Patience''. It is so-named probably because of its "
globe A globe is a spherical Earth, spherical Model#Physical model, model of Earth, of some other astronomical object, celestial body, or of the celestial sphere. Globes serve purposes similar to maps, but, unlike maps, they do not distort the surface ...
"-shaped layout. It had many variations until its rules were standardized in 1914.


Rules

First, eight cards are dealt in a row. They form the cells which make up the reserve, or the "
Equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...
". Each reserve cell can only hold one card. Then twenty four cards are dealt in a circle surrounding the Equator to form the tableau, or the "
Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south celestial latitude of the ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Within this zodiac ...
." The game is divided into two phases: the first phases consists of playing the rest of the cards into the Zodiac and the Equator; the second phase is the building of the cards into the foundations. In the first phase of the game, the cards in the Zodiac are built up or down by suit; the build can change direction in the same pile. However, the cards in Zodiac cannot be touched until the second phase. This means that until the second phase starts, the cards in the Zodiac cannot be used to build on each other. Also, any card build on a pile in the Zodiac stays there until the start of the second phase. The cards on the Equator are used to build on the cards on the Zodiac. The space in the Equator can be filled with an available card from the stock or the top card of the wastepile. However, filling a space is not compulsory, i.e. a player can leave a space open for as long as the player finds it advantageous. Meanwhile, the stock is dealt one card at a time, and unplayable cards are placed on a wastepile, the top card of which is available to be built on a pile in the Zodiac or to fill a space on the Equator. Once the stock runs out, the player can just pick up the remaining cards in the wastepile and turn it face down to make it the new stock. The player can do this as many times as he wants as long as there still more cards neither in the Zodiac nor in the Equator. Only when all cards are both in the Zodiac and in the Equator, the second phase begins. The cards in the Zodiac and Equator are built straight to the foundations. The foundations are built up by suit from Aces to Kings. The game is won when all the cards are built on the foundations. At any point in the game, when it becomes stuck, i.e. the cards in the stock/wastepile cannot be built without blocking other cards during the first phase, or encountering a block during the second phase, the game is lost.


Strategy

The player must have great care and consideration in building the cards in the Zodiac in order for the game to be won. Also, the layout of the game is large when played with standard-sized playing cards. So, as a suggestion, the player can just deal eight cards for the Equator and twenty-four cards for the Zodiac to save space.


References

* George A. Bonaventure, ''Two-Pack Games of Solitaire'' * Adelaide Cadogan, ''Lady Cadogan's Illustrated Games of Solitaire or Patience'' * Helen L. Coops, ''100 Games of Solitaire'' * William Brisbane Dick, ''Dick's Games of Patience'' * David Parlett, ''The Penguin Book of Patience'' * D.B. Pritchard, ''Patience Games''


See also

* List of solitaire games *
Glossary of solitaire terms Games of patience, or (card) solitaires as they are usually called in North America, have their own 'language' of specialised terms such as "building down", "packing", "foundations", "talon" and "tableau". Once learnt they are helpful in de ...
{{Patience Card games introduced in 1914 Double-deck patience card games Half-open packers