Vegas Solitaire

Vegas solitaire is a twist on perhaps the most well-known version of solitaire, Klondike. Las Vegas solitaire makes the game harder and, you might say, in some ways more interesting by putting a unique variation on the original game. 

It’s a simple game to pick up but it can be difficult to master, so today we’re going to look at everything you need to know to get started playing solitaire Vegas. Let’s dive into it. 

About Vegas Solitaire

Vegas or Las Vegas solitaire is a version of the patience card game that has lots in common with Klondike (or classic) solitaire in terms of the rules, but which is made much different and indeed harder by a single change to the rules. In solitaire Vegas style, you can only deal through the stock pile once. 

Vegas style solitaire, then, demands much more careful strategizing and making sure you’ve made every possible move you can at every stage of the game. Vegas solitaire also tends to keep a score in a way that ordinary solitaire usually doesn’t. 

As you know all the basics, now it’s time to learn to play Vegas solitaire. 

How to Play Vegas Solitaire

In terms of where and how you can play Vegas solitaire online, it’s really easy to play free Vegas solitaire. There are many options for playing it online—you just need to type the name of the game into a search engine and you can play Vegas solitaire free in your browser easily!

In terms of the method of actually playing, then it’s simple. If you know how to play classic solitaire, then you know more or less everything you need to know to play Vegas solitaire. You will have seven tableaus with an ascending number of cards in each, four foundations, a stock, and a waste pile. You win the game by getting all cards into the foundations starting at ace and building by suit. 

Let’s look at the rules, then, see how Vegas style solitaire differs. 

Rules of Vegas Solitaire

The rules of solitaire Las Vegas are simple: 

  1. Only the face up card in a tableau is available for play. Cards underneath may be face up, but they are not available for play until any cards are moved off the top of them. 
  2. Sequences in tableaus must be built in descending value and in alternating color. For instance, a nine of hearts could go on a ten of clubs or spades. 
  3. Sequences in the foundations start with ace and ascend by suit. The game is won when all cards are placed into the foundations by suit, starting with an ace and ending with a king. 
  4. Solitaire Vegas differs from Klondike in one key way: the stock pile. You can only cycle through the stock pile once. After that you are stuck with whatever is in the tableaus. 
  5. Generally, Las Vegas style solitaire features a scoring system in which you are awarded points for each card you put into a foundation, starting at a score of negative 52. 

With the basic rules covered, let’s look at how you can win the Vegas solitaire game. 

How to Win in Vegas Solitaire

There are a few key strategies of succeeding in Vegas solitaire: 

  1. Play strategically. The odds of winning Klondike are already stacked against you, so this is made even worse by the fact you can only cycle through the stock pile once. You need to think very carefully about each and every move to give yourself the best chance of winning. 
  2. Build your foundations evenly. A key part of winning at free Vegas solitaire games is going to be making the face down cards in the tableaus available for play. If you build up one foundation while ignoring the rest, you increase the chances that cards are going to get stuck. 
  3. Keep the score in mind. Though your odds of fully clearing the tableaus into the foundation are low, you can always challenge yourself to do better through the solitaire Vegas scoring. The more cards in the tableau, the higher your score. 

FAQs

Is every game of Vegas solitaire winnable? 

Every Las Vegas solitaire game is not winnable. Your odds of winning a given random deal of Klondike are around 1 in 30 if you were playing perfectly—naturally, the way that Vegas solitaire works reduces this even further. 

Can you win several games in a row? 

It’s of course not impossible to win several Vegas solitaire games in a row, but it is extremely unlikely. Even a perfect player stands a small chance of being able to do so. 

What are the odds of winning Vegas solitaire? 

The odds of winning free Vegas solitaire games are quite low. One study has shown that, out of 1250 games played, only 56 were “complete wins”—this can be simplified to 28/625 odds of winning. 

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