Montana

We’ve added this game because of an unprecedented number of customer requests. It is very popular! We also like it because it is a bit different from most solitaires. You may know it by the name of “Gaps.”

Layout Size: This game has thirteen columns across, and four rows down plus an extra row’s worth for the hand. We recommend a medium or large monitor.

Difficulty: One authority suggests you can win about one game in twenty. We aren’t very good at this game yet ourselves, so we’ll go with the experts!

Rules: Shuffle one deck, and lay out the entire deck face-up in a rectangle, in four rows and thirteen columns, with one card in each spot. When all cards have been laid out, remove the four Aces and discard them, leaving four empty spaces in their places.

To play, move single cards to the empty spaces. Each time you move a card, you leave a new empty space behind so that there are always four spaces left empty. A move is legal if the moved card is the same suit as the card to the left of the destination empty space, and one higher in rank than that card. That is, you are arranging the cards from left to right in each row, in suit and building up.

Nothing may be played to an empty space that has a King to its immediate left. Likewise nothing may be played to an empty space that has another empty space to its immediate left. Only 2's may be played to empty spaces in the first (leftmost) row.

(See picture: Montana. The initial layout is shown, with the righthand half of the layout omitted for lack of room. A good line of play would be to move the 4 of Diamonds next to the 3 of Diamonds, then the 2 of Diamonds to the empty space at the left of the second row. The 3 of Diamonds could then be moved to the empty space next to the 2, leaving both the 2 and 3 of Diamonds in place and in order. You could also move the 9 of Hearts down next to the 8 of Hearts; but note that this will leave an unfillable empty space next to the King of Clubs. If the King of Clubs can later be moved to the Queen of Clubs, then the 9 of Spades will have two spaces next to it which might be filled by the 10 and Jack of Diamonds.)

When all empty spaces are next to Kings or other empty spaces, you have no more legal moves left. When this happens, you may deal by picking up all cards except those that are already in goal position (that is, in suit and sequence starting from a 2 in the leftmost column), shuffling them, and laying them down again, leaving an empty space in each row just to the right of the in-suit-and-sequence cards that you didn’t pick up. You may deal twice.

Goal: Arrange the cards so that the four deuces are in the leftmost column, and each row builds up in suit to the right. For example, if the top-left card is the 2 of Hearts, then the card to its right must be the 3 of Hearts, followed by the 4, 5, and so on to the King, with the final (thirteenth) column left empty; and the same for the other suits in the other three rows.

On the screen: Solitaire Till Dawn will lay out the cards and remove the Aces for you. When you deal, it will automatically scoop up the correct cards, shuffle them, and lay them out again correctly. The number displayed on the hand is the number of deals remaining.