Tap a card one rank above or below
Tap a card one rank above or below
Thirty-five cards in seven columns, and a single pile to build on. Tap any card at the foot of a column that sits one rank above or below the pile, and it comes off. Clear a deal and the next one is already waiting — you have three minutes to strip away as many cards as you can.
Only the bottom card of each column can be played, and it moves to the pile if its rank is one above or one below the pile's top card. Suits do not matter, and the sequence wraps, so an Ace goes on a King and a King goes on an Ace.
When nothing plays, tap the stock to turn over a fresh card. The stock holds seventeen cards and never reshuffles, so every flip is one you cannot take back.
A deal ends when the tableau is empty or the stock runs out with no move left, and the next deal starts immediately. Your score is the total number of cards you removed before the three minutes are up.
Length beats convenience. When two columns offer a playable card, take the one from the taller column. Cards buried under four others are the ones that strand you later, and a column you never open is thirty per cent of the board you never touch.
Look one card ahead before every flip. The stock never comes back, so the question is not whether a card plays now but whether flipping past it costs you a chain. If the pile shows a 7 and you can see both a 6 and an 8 on the board, you are standing on a fork — take the side that opens a longer run before you burn a stock card on it.
The wrap around Ace and King is the escape hatch people forget. A King sitting at the foot of a column looks dead when the pile shows an Ace, but it plays, and so does the Queen underneath it. Scan for those pairings whenever a deal looks stuck.
In a three-minute rush a hopeless deal is worth less than a fresh one. If the stock is nearly gone and the board still has twenty cards, stop hunting for a miracle chain and spend your remaining flips fast — the sooner that deal ends, the sooner a full seven columns are in front of you again.