Dogmelon Solitaire

Penguin Solitaire

Penguin Solitaire is a fun variation of Freecell Solitaire. Although based on Freecell, there are quite a few differences, such as the fact that there are 7 Freecells.

Aim:

To build 4 same suit rows, going up in rank from a base card.

How to Play:

When the game starts, 3 cards are dealt straight away to the foundations (on the left side of the screen). The remaining base card will always be at the top of the first stack.

Cards are played to the foundation, wrapping through the King.

So for example, if the base is a 9, then the cards will be played to the foundation in this order:

9, 10, J, Q, K, A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8

At the top of the screen there are 7 freecells. Any card can be moved to an empty freecell at any time.

Cards in the tableau are built in decending rank, with the same suit. Multiple cards in sequence can be moved in one go.

An empty column can only be filled with the card 1 less than the base rank. So if the base rank is a 9, only an 8 can be placed into an empty column. If the base rank is Ace, only a King can be used.

Strategy:

Although Penguin uses a lot of empty freecells, be careful not to fill them, as they all may be needed to finish the game in the later stages. Also bear in mind, that just because you can make a move, doesn't mean that it will necessary help- sometimes you are better off not making a move, because it will mean less cards to move to the freecells later.

Example:

Suppose that the initial deal looks like this:

The base rank is a Jack, which means cards will be moved to the foundation in this order:

J, Q, K, A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Any empty columns will have to be filled with a 10.

Also note the top card in the first column is the last base card (the Jack of Spades). Penguin is always dealt with the last base card in this position.

You might start by moving the 9 of clubs onto the 10 of clubs, and the 8 of clubs onto the 9...

You now could move the 7 of diamonds onto the 8 of diamonds...

There are no more immediate moves available, so we might move the first column to the freecells, to get access to the Jack of spades...

Unlike Freecell, only specific cards can be moved into an empty column. The top card must be 1 less than the base card. In this deal the base rank is Jack, so only a 10 can be moved into an empty column. Lets move the 10 of clubs...

Play then might proceed, until here...

At this point, you can see how the cards wrap, as we move the King of Spades onto the Ace of Spades...

From here completing this deal should be easy.