lately i’ve been enjoying solitaire/patience games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patience_(game)
i’ve found that i vastly prefer patience games where the early game is easy but the endgame is difficult to win. klondike solitaire, i.e. the solitaire we know and love thanks to microsoft, along with canfield-type patience games, i like to describe them as having an easy early game and endgame, but difficult mid game. that is, it’s easy to start, it’s easy to win once the foundations are at the 10s or heads and you’ve arranged your tableau nicely. but the process of arranging the tableau and building up your foundations is a bit difficult. and in this mid game phase, there’s a good chance of getting into an unwinnable state.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_(solitaire)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_(solitaire)
accordion, on the other hand, has very easy mechanics, easy early and mid game, but almost impossible end game. now that’s what i want. i wanna have a good time in 90% of the game, i don’t want to get into any unwinnable states, and i don’t care if it means that it’s almost impossible to win. i prefer the journey over the destination.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accordion_(card_game)
mechanics
the core mechanic of accordion is the following. by the way i just made up these terms, these aren’t official.
- you put cards on a line. the first card is the head. the opposite end of the line is the tail. each card is its own pile. the object of the game is to combine all these piles towards the head.
- if you have this line of piles (5♡ 6♡ 8♠︎ Q♢), you put the pile nearer to the tail on top of the pile nearer to the head (6♡ 8♠︎ Q♢). the second card (5♡) is now under the first card (6♡), comprising the first pile.
- card are matching if they have the same suit (♡♠︎♢♣︎) or rank (A 2-10 J Q K)
- you can only combine piles if their top cards are matching, and they are in one of these positions are: adjacent (5♡ 6♡); or have two cards between them (5♡ 8♠︎ Q♢ 6♡).
version 1
this is the first version of accordion that i learned. here you have a: 52-card deck, face down. deal cards from the deck, dealing a new card next to the tail, so that the cards form a line. this line can snake around however you want. combine piles whenever you want. you don’t have to combine piles before dealing a new card.
this is fine but it’s really really hard to win because you don’t get a lot of information. and it’s also kind of a bummer when the line gets too long and the layout gets too big.
open accordion
lay out all 52 cards into a snaking line. all 52 cards. once you have them all in front of you, combine piles with the objective of ending up with a singular pile.
less overwhelming open accordion
same as version 1, but turn over the deck face up. deal whatever number of cards is comfortable for you to process. you’re free to look at the deck whenever you want to see what cards are coming up next. combine cards when convenient.
12-card accordion
this is the version i play the most. i really like how the cards move and it’s not overwhelming at all. this is also the version i played when i attained my first and only out in accordion!!!!
deal 12 cards in a 4x3 layout, which you should treat as a snaking line, like below:
01 02 03 04
08 07 06 05
09 10 11 12
where 01 is the head, and 12 is the tail.
as you combine piles, deal new cards at the tail. ideally, after combining two piles, you should immediately deal a new card at the tail. but for me, i can get excited and i can forget to deal new cards. that’s not illegal, it’s just not efficient, as obviously you’ll play better if you have more information.
when i get to the endgame, i let myself peek at the deck to see upcoming cards, or just flip over the whole deck in advance.
one-handed accordion
this is inspired by one-handed solitaire. it’s not actually one-handed, it just means you can play it without a surface.
https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Solitaire_card_games/One-Handed
hold the deck in one hand. use your other hand to turn over cards from the bottom of the deck and onto the top of the deck. the stack of face-up cards on top of the deck is your line. the bottom of this face-up stack is your head, and the top is your tail.
in other versions, you combine piles by placing them on top of another. that’s not feasible in one-handed accordion, where you don’t have a table to organize piles. so instead, combine the cards, discard the bottom card, and leave only the top card. you should only be working with these top cards.
how do you discard cards? if you have a lap available, you can put the discarded cards on your lap. if not, you can put them in your pocket or in the card case in your bag. since it’s distracting to put cards in your pocket every time you make a move, i prefer to discard the card, put it in my moving hand, and then every six cards or so, i put all the discarded cards in my pocket/bag.
i’ve found that i can play this standing up or sitting down as long as i’m careful not to drop the cards.
portable open accordion
this is exactly like open accordion, but in the one-handed accordion style.
hold the deck in your two hands, face up. the bottom of the face-up deck is your head, the top is your tail. just look through it and combine + discard whatever matching cards you see.
end
these are my variations of accordion so far. i might update this if i end up having more variations/ways to play, or if i figure out some Theory Of Accordion.