Eight Off is a
patience
(or forbearance) is the ability to endure difficult circumstances. Patience may involve perseverance in the face of delay; tolerance of provocation without responding in disrespect/anger; or forbearance when under strain, especially when faced ...
or
solitaire
Solitaire is any tabletop game which one can play by oneself, usually with cards, but also with dominoes. The term "solitaire" is also used for single-player games of concentration and skill using a set layout tiles, pegs or stones. These game ...
card game
A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific.
Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ...
, named after its employment of eight
cells
Cell most often refers to:
* Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life
Cell may also refer to:
Locations
* Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...
, played with one deck of playing cards. The object of the game is to move all the cards into the
foundations
Foundation may refer to:
* Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization
** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S.
** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...
. It served as a partial inspiration for and is very similar to the popular solitaire game
FreeCell.
["Eight Off" (p.201) in ''Hoyle's Rules of Games'' (3rd edition) by Philip D. Morehead (ed.), 2001. ]
Rules
The cards are dealt, face up, into eight columns (or piles) of six cards each. (These eight columns make up the
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 ...
.) The remaining four cards go into the first four
cell
Cell most often refers to:
* Cell (biology), the functional basic unit of life
Cell may also refer to:
Locations
* Monastic cell, a small room, hut, or cave in which a religious recluse lives, alternatively the small precursor of a monastery w ...
s. When dealt, the table should bear some resemblance to the picture on the right, although a layout with the cells on the left and the foundations at the top is another option.
The eight slots along the top of the picture represent the cells. These cells can be used to temporarily store any
available card from the table. Four of the cells are filled at the beginning of the game.
The four slots along the left of the picture represent the four foundations. These, as in
Klondike, are meant to be
built up in suit from Ace to King. That is, each foundation begins with the Ace of one suit and is followed by the 2 of the same suit, which is followed by the 3 of the same suit, and so forth, until all the cards through the King have been placed on the foundation.
The tableau piles which fill the majority of the figure are where most of the game play occurs. The cards are, again, all face up, and are
built down
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 ...
, traditionally by suit. (Players can modify the difficulty of the game, if they like, by building down in a different manner. For example, one could play by
alternating colours, the way Klondike is played).
Technically, one may only move the cards between columns one at a time; however, the presence of a free cell essentially increases the number of cards that can be moved. (e.g., if there are three open cells, four cards can be moved at onceāone for each cell, and the one that can always be moved.)
If a column is emptied, most rules allow for one to only place Kings in the empty space, regardless of suit (as long as it follows the other restrictions on moving cards). Players, however, may prefer to simplify this rule to any card (as it is in
FreeCell).
Descendants
Eight Off is similar to
Baker's Game
Baker's Game is a patience or solitaire card game similar to FreeCell. It predates FreeCell, and differs from it only in the fact that sequences are built by suit, instead of by alternate color. This makes the game more difficult to complete su ...
, which was named after the
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
C.L. Baker. Both games were precursors to the more popular
FreeCell. While not as popular as FreeCell, they are included in some collections of computer solitaire games.
References
See also
*
Baker's Game
Baker's Game is a patience or solitaire card game similar to FreeCell. It predates FreeCell, and differs from it only in the fact that sequences are built by suit, instead of by alternate color. This makes the game more difficult to complete su ...
*
FreeCell
*
List of solitaires
This is a list of patiences, which are card games that are also referred to as solitaires or as card solitaire.
This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but only includes games that have met the usual Wikipedia requirements (e.g. notability). ...
*
Glossary of solitaire
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 ...
{{Solitaire
American card games
Open packers
Patience video games
Single-deck patience card games
Year of introduction missing