Aces Up Solitaire

Aces Up is one of the oldest and simplest solitaire games ever recorded. Mary Whitmore Jones first published its rules in England in 1900 under the blunt name Drivel Patience, admitting the name fit because the game stands in need of neither care nor consideration. By 1940, Wood and Goddard renamed it Firing Squad, and most modern books call it Aces Up, though some still label it Idiot's Delight or Aces High. The goal is brutally narrow: discard every card in the deck except the four aces. You deal four cards, throw out any card that shares a suit with a higher card showing, and repeat. A full game runs two to four minutes. Statistically you win only about one deal in thirty-five, which makes the rare victory genuinely satisfying. Play a round in your browser right now and see if you can beat those odds.

1. Click Deal to lay four cards face up, one in each of the four tableau columns.
2. Look at the four top cards. If two or more share a suit, discard every card of that suit except the highest one. Aces rank high, above Kings.
3. Click any discardable card to remove it. Cards you can legally discard glow green.
4. When a column empties, click a top card in another column to select it, then click the empty column to move that card across.
5. When no more cards can be discarded or moved, click Deal again to place four new cards on top of the columns.
6. Keep discarding until the stock runs out. You win if the only cards left on the table are the four aces.

• One standard 52-card deck is used. Aces rank highest, above Kings; twos rank lowest.
• You may discard a card only if another visible top card shares its suit and outranks it.
• Aces can never be discarded because no card outranks them.
• An empty column can be filled with the top card of any other column. You choose which card to move.
• Dealing always places one card on each of the four columns, including empty ones.
• The game ends when the stock is empty and no legal discards remain. You win only if the four aces are the sole survivors.

• Fill empty columns before you deal. Moving a card into a gap can bury a low card under a high one of the same suit, but it also frees a new top card that may unlock discards.
• Never discard a card you could use to bury a low card later. Sometimes keeping a mid-rank card on top protects a higher card underneath for the next deal.
• Track which suits still hold their ace. If an ace sits buried under several cards, that suit is dangerous because you cannot discard the cards above the ace without a higher card showing.
• Deal only when you are truly stuck. Every deal adds four cards and increases the chance that low cards get trapped under high ones of the same suit.
• Plan your empty-column moves in chains. Moving a card to a gap reveals the card beneath it, which may immediately become discardable.

• Klondike Solitaire: The most famous solitaire variant. You build foundations from Ace to King and sequence the tableau by alternating colors, a far deeper game than Aces Up.
• Aces High: The same game under an alternate name used in several British patience books. The rules are identical; only the title changes.
• Down and Out: A close cousin described by George Hapgood. Some older versions only allow aces to fill empty spaces, which makes winning even rarer.

• A complete game fits into two to four minutes, perfect for a quick break.
• The rules take under a minute to learn. You can teach a friend instantly.
• The roughly one in thirty-five win rate turns each victory into a small triumph.
• Almost no decisions are required, so it works as a light mental palate cleanser between harder tasks.

Play Aces Up directly in your browser. No downloads. No registration. Our version highlights every card you can legally discard, lets you move cards into empty columns with two clicks, and tracks your time and discarded count. It runs smoothly on desktop, tablet, and phone. Deal your first hand and chase the elusive four-ace finish.

Aces Up strips solitaire down to its bare bones. Deal, discard, repeat, and try to leave only the four aces standing. The rules are trivial, the games are fast, and the wins are rare enough to feel earned. Deal a hand now and see if you can beat the three percent odds.

• Aces Up - Wikipedia
• The Penguin Book of Patience - David Parlett (history of Aces Up and related patience games)