Rules for Brisbane

Family: Yukon
Categories: Easy to Win
Variants: Yukon, Scorpion, Double Scorpion, Russian Solitaire, Grandma Sawyer's Game
Also Known As:

Brisbane is a variant of Yukon, much easier to win because the rules for movement in the tableaus are looser. We are not certain of its history, but we believe it may be named in memory of William Brisbane Dick, author of “Dick’s Games of Patience: Or, Solitaire With Cards”, published in 1883 and containing rules for 64 solitaire games.

Layout

There are four foundations, which are initially empty. There are seven tableau piles, fanned down. The first tableau starts with no cards face-down. The remaining tableaus each have one more card face-down (so that the 7th tableau has 6 face-down). All remaining cards are laid out face-up, five on each of the first three tableaus and four each on the remaining tableaus.

Play

Top cards of tableaus are available for building onto the foundations, which build up following suit. Only an Ace may be played to an empty foundation.

All face-up cards in the tableaus are available for moving among the tableaus, which build down without regard to suit. Building is circular, so you may play an Ace onto a King. The moved card and the rest of its fan all move together, even if they are not all in sequence. Only Kings or fans whose bottom card is a King may be played to an empty tableau pile.

Goal

The goal is to move all the cards onto the foundations.

Tips

Build the foundations evenly, and look for ways to reveal the face-down cards. Make long builds in sequence to reduce the chaos. When all cards are face-up and all tableaus are in descending-rank order (whether or not they’re all full sequences) your win is guaranteed.