Rules for Baker's Dozen

Family: Bisley
Categories: Popular, Large
Variants: Good Measure,Hamlet
Also Known As:

A popular game, apparently, since so many of our customers requested that we add it to Solitaire Till Dawn! This is a game for planners and thinkers, because all cards are revealed in the initial layout. A special rule about laying out the Kings helps reduce the number of unwinnable games.

Layout

Lay out the entire deck in 13 tableaus of four cards each, face-up and fanned down. When Kings appear, slip them under their tableaus instead of placing them on top, so that no lower-ranked cards start out under the Kings. Four foundations start the game empty.

Play

Top cards of tableaus are available for building on each other, and on the foundations. Tableaus build down regardless of suit or color; empty tableaus are never filled. The foundations begin with Aces and build up in suit to Kings.

Goal

The goal is to move all cards to the foundations.

Tips

Build the foundations evenly; don’t play up a five until all other foundations are built at least to the three. (You’ll break this rule sometimes at need, but only when it’s the only available move.)

Never empty a pile unless its last card can go to a foundation. Empty piles are useless in Baker’s Dozen.

It’s always safe to play onto a pile that has only one card in it, or any pile that contains only a single continuous build.