Odd and Even is a

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 ...

which is played with two decks of

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...

s. It is so called because the building is done in twos, resulting in odd and even numbers.

Rules

First, nine cards are dealt in three rows of three cards each, all laid out, to form the reserve. As they become available, one Ace and one Deuce (or Two) of each suit are placed in the foundations, each to be built up by suit in twos. Therefore, the order of building should be as follows: On the Aces: 3-5-7-9-J-K-2-4-6-8-10-Q
On the Deuces: 4-6-8-10-Q-A-3-5-7-9-J-K The nine cards in the reserve are all available for play, to be built on the foundations (no building on the reserve). Gaps in the reserve are immediately filled with cards from the wastepile, or if there is no wastepile yet, the stock. When play goes to a stand still, the stock is dealt one a time. A card from the stock that cannot be built on the foundations is placed on the wastepile, the top card of which is available for play. One redeal is allowed. To do this, the player can pick up the wastepile and turn it over to be used as the new stock. The game ends soon after the entire stock is redealt. The game is won when all cards end up in the foundations.

Variations

Patriarchs The highest-ranking bishops in Eastern Orthodoxy, Oriental Orthodoxy, the Catholic Church (above major archbishop and primate), the Hussite Church, Church of the East, and some Independent Catholic Churches are termed patriarchs (and in certa ...

doesn't involve building by 2s, but is in essence the same game as Odd and Even. Odd and Even is also closely related to

Royal Cotillion Royal Cotillion is a solitaire card game which uses two decks of 52 playing cards each. The name probably derives from the fact that since the two kings and two queens of the same suit, the king and queen of each suit dance the cotillion. It has b ...

, which has very similar game-play but has a reserve of sixteen cards. This in turn is closely related to

Contradance Contra dance (also contradance, contra-dance and other variant spellings) is a form of folk dancing made up of long lines of couples. It has mixed origins from English country dance, Scottish country dance, and French dance styles in the 17th ...

(Cotillion) and the single-deck game Captured Queens (Quadrille), both of which have no reserve and are entirely luck-based.

References

* Bonaventure, George A. ''Two-Pack Games of Solitaire'' *

Dick, William Brisbane Dick & Fitzgerald was a 19th-century United States publisher, founded by William Brisbane Dick (1827–1901) and Lawrence R. Fitzgerald (1826-1881), based in New York City. Their address at one time was 18 Ann Street. Dick and Fitzgerald was a pu ...

. ''Dick's Games of Patience'' *

Morehead, Albert H. 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, ...

Mott-Smith, Geoffrey The Mott-Smith Trophy, named for writer and cryptographer Geoffrey Mott-Smith, is awarded to the player with the best overall individual performance in the Spring Nationals, the spring event of the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North Amer ...

. ''The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience Games'' *

Parlett, David David Parlett (born 18 May 1939 in London) is a games scholar, historian, and translator from South London, who has studied both card games and board games. He is the president of the British Skat Association. His published works include many pop ...

. ''The Penguin Book of Patience''

Rules

Variations

References

See also