How to play Golf Solitaire

Golf is a quick, open solitaire. Thirty-five cards are dealt face up in seven columns of five, and one card lies face up on the waste. You clear the columns by playing their bottom cards onto the waste, each one rank higher or lower than the card before it - a 7 after a 6 or an 8, then a 9 or a 7 after that. When nothing fits, you turn the next card from the stock.

Everything on the table is visible from the start, so Golf is a game of foresight rather than luck: the art is in choosing which of several playable cards to take, so that your runs stay long and the stock lasts until the table is clear.

How to play on skill.games

When you open the game, the settings popup appears. Choose a level - Easy, Normal or Hard (classic) - check your record at that level and press PLAY. The cards fly out of the stock into the seven columns and the game begins.

• The columns fill the top of the screen. Only the bottom card of each column - the one nothing overlaps - can be played.
• Playing a card: tap a bottom card that is one rank higher or lower than the waste's top card. It flies onto the waste. A card that doesn't fit shakes.
• The stock: tap the face-down stock below the columns to turn its top card onto the waste. The badge on the stock shows how many cards are left.
• Undo: the round arrow button beside the waste takes back your last move. You can undo as many times as you like, all the way back to the deal.
• The top line shows your score, the time and your moves. On your first two deals a help line under it reminds you of the rule.

When the last card leaves the columns, the cards cascade off the table and the results screen shows your score, time, moves and the cards left in the stock, with your statistics for that level: wins, losses, win rate and streaks. If the stock is empty and nothing fits, a status line says so: undo and try another order, or start a new game.

The menu button in the top-left corner pauses the game, starts a new deal or turns the sound off. The "?" button opens this guide. The deal is saved after every move, so you can close the page and press CONTINUE next time - even your undo history comes back. A deal you abandon by starting a new one counts as a loss at its level.

Rules

The layout. Seven columns of five cards are dealt face up, each card overlapping the one above it so all of them can be read. One card is turned face up to start the waste, and the remaining 16 cards form the stock.

Playing to the waste. The bottom card of any column can be moved onto the waste if it is exactly one rank higher or one rank lower than the waste's top card. Suits and colours don't matter. Each card played uncovers the card above it in its column.

Kings and Aces. In the strict game used on Hard, Aces are low and Kings are high: there is no wrapping between them, and nothing at all can be played on a King - once a King reaches the waste, only the stock can go on. On Normal a Queen may be played on a King. On Easy the ranks wrap round: a King and an Ace count as neighbours, so an Ace or a Queen can follow a King and a King or a Two can follow an Ace (this version is sometimes called Putt Putt).

The stock. When you want to, tap the stock to turn its top card onto the waste; it becomes the new card to play on. The stock is dealt once only - there is no redeal.

Scoring. Each card you play from the columns scores 10 points; turning a stock card scores nothing. Every 30 seconds of play costs 30 points, although your score never drops below zero. When you win, a time bonus of 600,000 divided by the seconds you took is added. Undoing a move takes its points back, and an undo counts as a move. The results also show how many stock cards you had left: in traditional Golf scoring, each one is a stroke under par.

Winning. You win when all seven columns are cleared.

Strategy tips

• Look at the whole table. Every card is face up, so before you play, trace the runs you can make: 6, 7, 8, 7, 6... The longest run is good, but a run that uncovers useful cards is better.
• Count what is left. If three of the four 9s are gone, an 8 on the waste is close to a dead end. Prefer plays that leave you a way on.
• Mind the Kings on Hard. A King on the waste stops everything until you turn the stock. Play a King last in a run, when you have nothing else to play anyway.
• Clear the deep columns. A column whose top cards are hard to play is the one most likely to beat you. Work on it while you still have stock cards to help.
• Save the stock. Each stock card is a fresh start. Don't turn one while a column card still fits.

Difficulty levels

• Easy: the wrap-around rules - Kings and Aces count as neighbours - and every deal is one our solver has proved can be cleared. If you get stuck, the way out is there: undo and look for it.
• Normal: a random deal with no wrap-around, but a Queen may be played on a King. Many deals can be cleared, but not every one.
• Hard (classic): the strict traditional game on a random deal: no wrap-around and nothing on a King. Fewer than half the deals can be cleared at all, so every win is earned.