Westcliff is the name of two closely-related 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 ...
games of the simple packer type, both of which are played using a deck of 52
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.Parlett (1979), pp. 96–97. One version is particularly easy to win, with odds of 9 in 10; the other is harder with odds closer to 1 in 4.Morehead & Mott-Smith (1949), pp. 43–44. The game has a variant, Easthaven.
History and naming
The first known rules for this two-variant family were published under the name Westcliff Patience by
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.Whitmore Jones (1911), pp. 159–161. This original version had 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 21 cards in three overlapping rows. Packed sequences could be moved at will to
spaces Spaces may refer to:
* Google Spaces (app), a cross-platform application for group messaging and sharing
* Windows Live Spaces, the next generation of MSN Spaces
* Spaces (software), a virtual desktop manager implemented in Mac OS X Leopard
* Spac ...
or other
piles
Hemorrhoids (or haemorrhoids), also known as piles, are vascular structures in the anal canal. In their normal state, they are cushions that help with stool control. They become a disease when swollen or inflamed; the unqualified term ''hemo ...
, but no more rows were dealt. Coops (1939) records it possibly for the first time in US also under the name of WestcliffCoops (1939), p. 14. and this is the name Parlett (1979) uses. Parlett also points out, however, the confusion generated by Morehead & Mott-Smith in 1949 when they described two new variants. Westcliff, the version with a 21-card tableau, was renamed Easthaven, and its rules eased to allow further rows of 7 cards to be dealt, but a restriction was placed on the filling of spaces. Meanwhile, the name Westcliff was transferred to a new variant with a 30-card tableau arranged in 10 piles of three cards. Its mechanics were the same as the original Westcliff, but the larger tableau made it easier to win.
Rules
Classic Westcliff
The following rules are based on the original description by Whitmore Jones (1911), supplemented where necessary by Parlett (1979):
One pack is required. Two rows of seven cards are dealt face down, followed by a third row, face up, the rows overlapping. Aces are removed, as they appear, to begin 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 ...
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 ...
to the Kings. Cards are dealt singly from the
talon
Talon or talons may refer to:
Science and technology
* Talon (anatomy), the claw of a bird of prey
* Brodifacoum, a rodenticide, also known as the brand Talon
* TALON (database), a database maintained by the US Air Force
* Talon, an anti-vehicle- ...
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 ...
and alternating colour. As exposed cards are moved, the card beneath is turned up and used if possible.
Any exposed card or packed sequence may be moved either to fill a space or onto a card of the next higher value and different colour. There is no re-deal. The patience is
out
Out may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Films
* ''Out'' (1957 film), a documentary short about the Hungarian Revolution of 1956
* ''Out'' (1982 film), an American film directed by Eli Hollander
* ''Out'' (2002 film), a Japanese film ba ...
when all four foundations are built up in suit to the King.
American Westcliff
The following description of Westcliff reflects Morehead & Mott-Smith (1949) except where noted:
First, ten columns of three cards each are dealt face down, then the
top card
''Top Card'' is a game show that aired on TNN and produced by Reid-Land Productions, replacing TNN's original game show ''Fandango''. The show aired from April 3, 1989 to March 26, 1993 and was based on the card game Blackjack.
Jim Caldwell was ...
of each
column
A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...
is turned face up.
The face-up cards are
available
In reliability engineering, the term availability has the following meanings:
* The degree to which a system, subsystem or equipment is in a specified operable and committable state at the start of a mission, when the mission is called for at ...
for play either on the foundations or on each other on the tableau. The foundations are built up by suit from Ace to King. The tableau cards are built down by alternating colour. A sequence of cards formed can be moved as a unit in part or altogether. Any face-down card once exposed is turned face up and a space that is exposed as a result of emptying a column can be filled with any card or sequence.
When there are no more moves to be made, the
stock
In finance, stock (also capital stock) consists of all the shares by which ownership of a corporation or company is divided.Longman Business English Dictionary: "stock - ''especially AmE'' one of the shares into which ownership of a company ...
is dealt to the waste pile one at a time. Any card that cannot be built yet to the foundations or on the tableau is placed on the waste pile, the top card of which is available for play. The stock can only be dealt once.
The game is won when all cards are built onto the foundations and there is a 9 in 10 chance of winning.
Easthaven
The variant of Easthaven, first recorded by Morehead & Mott-Smith in 1949, differs from the later, American, form of Westcliff in the following points:
* Only seven piles of three cards are dealt; thus the tableau is the same as that of classic Westcliff.
* When no more play is possible, another row of seven cards may be dealt, face up, onto the seven depots of the tableau.
* The last three cards in hand are dealt to the first three depots of the tableau.
* A space may only be filled by a King or a sequence with a King at the base.
* Coops, Helen Leslie (1939). ''100 Games of Solitaire.'' Whitman. 128 pp.
* Morehead, A. H. &
G. Mott-Smith
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 ...