Eight Off

Written by Rosanna Yuen

3.24.1. Setup

Type of Deck Standard Deck
Foundation Four piles on the left. Built from Ace to King in suit.
Reserves Eight piles at top. Each reserve can only hold one card. The first four Reserve piles are each dealt one card at the beginning of the game.
Tableau Eight piles underneath the Reserves. The cards are dealt face up on to the Tableau, with six cards in each of the slots.

3.24.2. Goal

Move all cards to the Foundation piles.

3.24.3. Rules

The Tableau is built down by suit. Only the top card or build of cards can be moved. A build of cards can only be moved if the number of cards in the build is equal or less than one more than the number of Reserve slots free. Empty spaces in the Tableau can only be filled with a King or a build starting with a King.

Foundations are built up by suit from Ace to King. Although cards in the Foundations are technically still in play, there really is no need as playing these cards are not in any way helpful.

Any top card in the Tableau can be placed in an empty Reserve slot. These cards are available for play back into the Tableau or on to a Foundation pile.

3.24.4. Scoring

Each card placed on to the Foundation piles scores one point.

Maximum possible score: 52

3.24.5. Strategy

Move any card you can on to the Foundations as soon as possible. Leaving them around can only hinder your movement.