Solitaire Glossary

build

An ordered sequence of cards in a pile.

building

Adding a card to a pile. Building up means playing the cards in ascending order, building down means playing the cards in descending order. Building can follow suit, color or alternate colors, but there are games that build up and down regardless of suit or color.

column

A vertical pile of cards which overlap each other

deck (pack in USA)

The complete set of playing cards used in game. Usually it has 52 cards.

fan

A pile that has been spread out, so that all of its cards are visible.

foundation

A type of pile. This is the ultimate destination for cards in many games. Usually the foundations are empty at the start of a game, but in some games they may begin with a starter card.

pile

A pile of cards. Piles may be squared, so that only the topmost card can be seen, or they may be spread out. Pile is empty, if there are no cards in it.

rank

The numerical order of the cards is generally A-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K. The ace ranked lowest, The king ranked highest.

redeal

Turning the waste pile upside down to create a new stock pile from it. Many games do not allow redeals. Some games will allow one redeal. Some games allow an unlimited number of redeals.

reserve

Some games include a reserve, which is generally pre-filled with cards from the stock during the initial deal. Building is usually not permitted on reserve pile.

stock

A kind of pile. Where the cards are dealt from. In general, cards are removed from the stock and played to the foundation, tableau, or waste, until the stock is empty.

suit

The suits are Hearts , Spades , Diamonds , and Clubs . Hearts and Diamonds are colored red, and Spades and Clubs are colored black.

supermove

A move shortcut that allows to move long sequence of cards using empty columns as well as freecells in freecell-like games.

tableau

A type of pile. Tableau piles are used to move cards back and forth while looking for opportunities to transfer cards to the foundations.

waste

A type of pile. Often the cards from the stock are dealt face-up onto a waste. The top card of the waste can then be moved onto other piles according to the rules of that particular game.