Four Seasons is a patience or

card solitaire Patience (Europe), card solitaire or solitaire (US/Canada), is a genre of card games whose common feature is that the aim is to arrange the cards in some systematic order or, in a few cases, to pair them off in order to discard them. Most are inte ...

which is played with a single deck of playing cards. It is also known as Corner Card and Vanishing Cross, due to the arrangement of the foundations and the tableau respectively. Another alternate name is Cross Currents.

Albert Morehead Albert Hodges Morehead, Jr. (August 7, 1909 – October 5, 1966) was a writer for ''The New York Times'', a bridge player, a lexicographer, and an author and editor of reference works. Early years Morehead was born in Flintstone, Taylor County, ...

and Geoffrey Mott-Smith rate the odds of successfully completing Four Seasons as 1 in 10.Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith. ''The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience''. Foulsham, Slough, (2001). It should not be confused with another simple packer,

Fortune's Favor Fortune's Favor or Fortune's Favour is a patience or card solitaire which is played with a deck of 52 playing cards."Fortune's Favor" (p.34) in ''The Little Book of Solitaire'', Running Press, 2002. It is so-called probably because the chances ...

, which was originally also called The Four Seasons.

History

The rules were first published in 1883 by Dick under the name The Four Seasons which used a 3 x 3 card layout, the foundations being the four corners.Dick (1883), pp. 14–16. In 1898,

Mary Whitmore Jones Mary Elizabeth Whitmore Jones ( 1823 – 1915) was an English author and the first female heir of Chastleton House. She was unmarried and did not have any children.David Parlett commends the name Vanishing Cross as the best title, alluding to what happens to the tableau cross if the player is successful.Parlett (1979), pp. 86–87.

Rules

Four Seasons (original rules)

The following rules are based on Dick (1883): The layout comprises three rows of three depots, within which there is a

tableau Tableau (French for 'little table' literally, also used to mean 'picture'; tableaux or, rarely, tableaus) may refer to: Arts * ''Tableau'', a series of four paintings by Piet Mondrian titled ''Tableau I'' through to ''Tableau IV'' * ''Tableau viv ...

of five cards in a cruciform and a foundation at each corner. The aim is to

build Build may refer to: * Engineering something * Construction * Physical body stature, especially muscle size; usually of the human body * Build (game engine), a 1995 first-person shooter engine * "Build" (song), a 1987 song by The Housemartins * ...

the foundations up in ascending

suit sequence A run, straight or sequence is a combination of playing cards where cards have consecutive rank values.Parlett, David. ''The Penguin Book of Card Games''. London: Penguin (2008) p. 645. . They need not normally be of the same suit. However, if the ...

, using the tableau by packing cards in

descending sequence 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 ...

in any suit. Cards are dealt singly from the pack. The first goes to the upper left corner as the

base card 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 des ...

of the first foundation; the other three cards of the same denomination are placed on the other corners as they appear. Any suitable cards are built on the foundations; otherwise cards are dealt to the cross until its five depots are filled. The tableau is then examined and any marriages made by moving a card onto another one that is one higher in rank. Once all possible moves have been made, another card is dealt and so on. Cards that cannot be used on the foundations or to form marriages are discarded to a wastepile. Vacancies in the tableau are filled immediately, either by the

uppermost card 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 des ...

from another pile or by a card from the wastepile. Only if the wastepile is exhausted may a space be filled by the next card from the pack. Sequences in the tableau may be moved from one pile to another "at pleasure". There is no re-deal.

Four Seasons (later rules)

First, five cards are dealt in form of a cross: three cards are placed in a row, then two cards are each placed above and below the middle of the three cards. A sixth card is dealt in the upper left corner of the cross. This card will be the base for the first of four foundations. During the game the three other cards of this rank will eventually be placed in the other three corners of the cross as foundations. The foundations are built up according to suit, and building is round-the-corner, i.e. aces are placed above kings, except when aces ''are'' the foundation bases. Cards in the cross are built down regardless of suit and any space in the cross is filled with any available card, whether it is the top card of a pile within the cross, the top card of the wastepile, or a card from the stock. Like the foundations, building in the cross is round-the-corner, i.e. kings are placed over aces, unless aces ''are'' the foundations. Only one card can be moved at a time. Whenever the game goes on a standstill, the stock is dealt one card at a time into the wastepile, the top card of which is available for play on the cross or on the foundations. There is no redeal. The game ends if a standstill occurs after the stock has run out. The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations.

Variations

Variations of Four Seasons include: *In Czarina, any space in the cross is immediately filled only from the stock. *In Corners, the cross is a reserve instead of a tableau, with each space being a cell that can hold at most one card. Empty cells in this game are filled immediately from the stock. *In Simplicity, instead of a cross the tableau contains twelve cards dealt into two rows of six. The thirteenth card dealt becomes the base of the first foundation. Also, building in the tableau is down by alternating colors. Other related games include Florentine Patience and Little Windmill.

Footnotes

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Four Seasons (Solitaire) Single-deck patience card games Reserved builders