House in the Woods

Card game

House in the Woods
A Patience game
Named variants	House on the Hill
Family	Fan
Deck	Double 52-card
See also Glossary of solitaire

House in the Woods (also known as House in the Wood^[1]) is a patience game which uses two decks of 52 playing cards. The game is basically a two-deck version of La Belle Lucie, but it borrows two things from its cousin Shamrocks, namely the building of cards up or down and the fact that there are no redeals.

Rules

The cards are dealt in sets of three, resulting in 34 piles, with two cards left over as a thirty-fifth. The top card of each pile is available for play.

The cards on the tableau are built either up or down by suit; the player can have the cards go both directions at the same pile. However, an ace cannot be placed on a king and vice versa; an ace should be transferred to the foundations. Furthermore, when a pile becomes empty, it cannot be filled. All eight foundations are built up in suit starting from aces.

The object of the game is to place all 104 cards on the eight foundations.

House in the Woods can be won nine times out of ten, provided that the player plays optimally and without mistakes.^[1]

Variants

House on the Hill is closely related patience game that also uses two decks. It is played with the same rules as those of House in the Woods except that while the four aces must occupy four of the eight foundations, the four kings must occupy the other four. The aces are built up by suit up to kings, the kings are built down by suit to aces.

References

^ ^a ^b Moyse Jr., Alphonse (1950). 150 Ways to Play Solitaire. Whitman Publishing Company. pp. 122–123.

Simple builders	Amazons Auld Lang Syne Birthday The Clock Clock Cotillion (Contradance) Leoni's Own Musical (Betsy Ross, Fairest, Four Kings, Plus Belle, Quadruple Alliance) Precedence Quadrille (La Française; Captive Queens)
Reserved builders	Carpet Eagle Wing Golf Duchess of Luynes (Grand Duchess) Queen's/King's Audience Matrimony Monte Carlo Moojub Odd and Even Patriarchs Pyramid Royal Cotillion Royal Rendezvous Sultan (Emperor of Germany) Tri Peaks Windmill
Simple packers	Batsford Big Ben British Constitution British Square Congress Corona Deauville Deuces Diplomat Emperor Following Fortune's Favor Four Seasons Gargantua Herring-Bone Klondike Napoleon at St Helena (Forty Thieves) Napoleon's Square Red and Black Westcliff
Reserved packers	Acme Alhambra American Toad Backbone Canfield Casket Crazy Quilt Duchess Gate The Plot Queen of Italy (Terrace) Seven Devils
Closed non-builders	Accordion Aces Up Baroness (Five Piles, Thirteens) Decade Eight Cards Elevens Frustration Good Thirteen Herz zu Herz Hit or Miss Hope Deferred Nidgi Novgorod Perpetual Motion (Narcotic) Royal Flush Royal Marriage Travellers (Four of a Kind, Hidden Cards, Hide & Seek, Spoilt, Wandering Card)

Half-open games

Builders	Interregnum Royal Parade Tournament Virginia Reel
Blockades	Babette British Blockade Labyrinth
Planners	Calculation Colorado Colours Cribbage Squares Frog Imaginary Thirteen Jubilee Poker Squares Puss in the Corner Rosamund's Bower Sir Tommy
Packers	Agnes Algerian Blockade Box Kite Bristol Four Corners Heads and Tails Intelligence Martha Miss Milligan Mount Olympus Pyramide Russian Solitaire St. Helena Stonewall Yukon Zodiac
Spiders	German Patience Rouge et Noir Scorpion Simple Simon Spider

Open games

Open builders	Archway Black Hole Crescent Intrigue Salic Law Stalactites
Open packers	Baker's Dozen Baker's Game Beleaguered Castle Bisley Capricieuse Eight Off Flower Garden (Bouquet) Fortress FreeCell Grandfather's Clock House in the Woods King Albert La Belle Lucie Mrs. Mop Päckchen Penguin Persian Russian Patience Seahaven Towers Shamrocks
Open non-builders	Fourteen Out Gaps (Montana) Gay Gordons (Exit) Maze Nestor