Pileon

Written by Nick Lamb

3.59.1. Setup

Type of Deck Standard Deck
Tableau Fifteen piles, arranged in rows of four. Deal cards four at a time, face up onto the first thirteen piles. Leave the last two spaces empty. A pile can hold as many as four cards, and as few as none.

3.59.2. Goal

Rearrange the cards so that each pile contains all four cards from a single value. This should leave two piles empty, but it doesn't matter whether they are the same piles which were empty at the start.

3.59.3. Rules

Cards can be moved on top of any other card or cards of the same value so long as no pile grows to have more than four cards. Groups of cards can be moved if they are of the same value, but it doesn't gain you anything. An empty slot can be filled with any card or group of cards with the same value.

Once a pile contains all four cards of the same value it is frozen, and the top card is flipped to indicate that you need do nothing further to those cards. They are no longer in play, but it would be useless to move them anyway.

3.59.4. Scoring

When a pile of four cards is frozen you score 4 points, one for each card. There is no other way to score points.

Maximum possible score: 52

3.59.5. Strategy

Keep one of the piles clear as much as possible. Don't allow a pile of three cards to build up on top of a single card, especially if the final card from the set is not a bottom card in another pile.