Osmosis

Written by Rosanna Yuen

3.57.1. Setup

Type of Deck Standard Deck
Reserves Four spread piles on left. Deal three cards face down and one card face up in each Reserve pile. No building allowed.
Foundation Four piles on right. Deal one card on to first Foundation.
Stock Place all remaining cards here. Cards are turned over one at a time to Waste. Two redeals.
Waste To be taken from Stock. Top card available for play.

3.57.2. Goal

Move all cards to the Foundation piles.

3.57.3. Rules

Any card of the suit in the first Foundation can be played on to this Foundation pile at any time. Each ensuing Foundation can only be started with a card of the same rank as this first card. Once started, these latter foundations can be built on in suit as long as a card of the same rank already exists in the Foundation directly above it. Play cards from Reserves whenever possible following these rules.

Cards are flipped from the Stock to the Waste individually. Top card in Waste is in play. When Stock is empty, move all cards in Waste back to the Stock, maintaining order. You can go through the deck three times.

3.57.4. Options

Three card deals: Deal three cards at a time from Stock to Waste and enable unlimited redeals.

3.57.5. Scoring

One point for every card placed on Foundation.

Maximum possible score: 52

3.57.6. Strategy

It's no coincidence that solitaire games are also known as "patience games". Do not automatically put first available card on the second (and third) foundation piles. Sometimes it is worth using a different suit so as to free up more cards in the Reserves.