How to Play Clock Solitaire
Description
No decisions, no strategy — just the cards doing what they do. Thirteen piles in a clock pattern, each card revealing the next, until everything lands or the Kings arrive too soon.
Also known as: Clock Patience; Clock
Objective
Complete all thirteen piles into sets of four matching cards, with the Kings finishing last — a game of pure luck, no decisions involved.
Setup
Deal the whole deck face down into thirteen piles of four: twelve arranged in a circle like the hours of a clock, with the thirteenth pile placed in the center for Kings.
Rules
Turn over the top card of the center (King) pile and slide it face up under whichever pile matches its number — Ace under 1 o'clock, Jack under 11, Queen under 12, and so on.
Then turn over the top card of the pile you just added to, and repeat: slide it under its matching pile, turn over the next card there, and continue.
There are no choices to make — each card dictates exactly where it goes next.
Winning
You win if all twelve number piles are completed before the fourth King turns up.
If the fourth King appears while other piles are still incomplete, the game is lost.
Pure chance — the odds are exactly 1 in 13, regardless of anything you do.