Had anyone tried a solitaire-layout?

Has anyone tried a solitaire-layout?

I just got this idea that I could use the minors from a deck to do a solitaire-spread.

Thinking about the issue while laying out the solitaire and simply reading the cards that are at the top when I can't go any further with it, and if it all gets cleared it'll be interpreted as everything going well.

The Mantegna Tarot actually comes with such a layout so why not move that over to any other deck..
Though using just the minors might be the better way to go since the number of cards match up and would fit the bill for most common solitaires that are laid out with regular playing cards.


And then I wondered if people here have already tried this out and how it went.. I figure I can't be the only one with an idea like that after all.

I've never tried it, but it sounds like a good idea.
At least *certain* other forms of divination-by-gaming-instrument involve actually *playing* the relevant game, and seeing the patterns emerge within that context. I've always thought it would be appropriate to read tarot in the context of the Game of Tarot. - The only major problem is that the cards would all come in pairs (triplets? Quadruplets?) of *usually* the same suit, and all the trumps would *tend* to show up at the end. Otherwise, you could do EDs against the winning card, and read the tricks in order...

Give it a try and tell us how it works!

I really like this idea, Eco! It's nearly 4am though, and I'm not sure if i understand you quite right. Using a rider-waite style deck, wouldn't you have to take out either the pages or knights to have a standard 52 card deck? How would you decide which suits were 'red' and which were 'black'?

Even aside from reading the game, it would be a great way to handle and break in a new deck, get it shuffled really well, get to know the minors..

Have yet to try it..
Might give it a go tonight if I find the focus.


Since I have a few marseilles-style decks it would be fairly easy to lay out the solitaire, though yes, there is the red vs black too.
How about solid and non-solid instead? Elemental division so Air and Fire form one and Water and Earth the other. Or Swords and Wands on one end and Cups and Coins on the other, for easy telling apart by shape.

I probably wouldn't take out the pages though, but would leave the majors out of it, or the solitaire would have to be re-planned to suit the larger amount of cards involved. Four more probably don't make that much of a difference but could be seen as jokers I guess for the solitaires that involve counting and pairing cards up by value.

Can you explain this a little more?

Do you build them into packs of the suits, or do you just lay them out and read them in rows?

echos tarotbear...

huh?

You mean like playing the game solitare?
That sort of lay out?
And there's different types of solitaire lay outs, which do you mean?

Yes, playing the game of solitaire.

Most varieties can be adapted I guess, but again, I must confess I have yet to try it since I've been reeled into a sideproject or two involving needles and am finding it very amusing to keep my fingers busy.
Plus, I really don't have anything to ask about..

What I remember about the Mangegna solitaire, it is set in five rows by five and the piles are added to in increasing or decreasing numbers.
In the end, each row (which has a certain set meaning) is read using the cards (if any) that are facing up in the row.


I do have a certain solitaire in mind that might work, where the cards are placed in a 3x3-pattern, the center counts from 6 to 1 and the corners from 7 and up. The positions between are "restingspots" and then there's a pile on the side where the cards that don't fit into the pattern are placed and can be retrieved only from the top down once placed there.

I suppose it would also help to have some set meanings for the positions before going ahead with it. Like doing a layout and shuffling the cards after they're being laid out on the table rather than before.

Now I'm more confused than ever! LOL!!!!

Standard Solitaire layout for me:

--1--2--3--4--5--6--7
--8--9-10-11-12-13
-14-15-16-17-18
-19-20-21-22
-23-24-25
-26-27
-28

tarotbear said:

Now I'm more confused than ever! LOL!!!!

Standard Solitaire layout for me:

--1--2--3--4--5--6--7
--8--9-10-11-12-13
-14-15-16-17-18
-19-20-21-22
-23-24-25
-26-27
-28

Click to expand...

Wow!
Yours is reversed to the way I was taught with that layout.

LOL!

Oh, but there are sooooo many different solitaires out there.

Tarotbear, I believe the one you've drawn up is called "the harp".
There's also "the pyramid" with one card at the top and then rows each adding one more card, partially covering the above cards to make a bottom row of seven, and to remove the cards they need to be paired up to summarise in 13, kings are wild and go on sight.
And then there's "the idiot" where four piles are formed and by each time four cards have been placed, the lower cards of any suite are taken away til there is but one card per suite seen.

I don't quite recall the name of the one I had in mind, but imagine a five of hearts from a regular deck of playingcards. That's what it's meant to look like when it's been cleared, though the spaces above, below, left and right of the center are filled with the "temps" during play and sometimes the temps remain til the end.. Blank temp-spaces being filled up using cards from the discard-pile on the side from the top, if there are any.
Each corner starts with 7 and then go upwards, mixed suits for an easier solitaire and strict for a more difficult. The center starts with 6 and goes down to the ace, then starts a new round from 6 etc. til all the lower cards are placed in it.

And then ofcourse there are ever so many more variations..

One very simple where one takes first one, than two and then three cards from the deck and if the entire deck can be gone through in that fashion without any aces showing up (i.e. hiding in the piles of two and three cards being picked up) it's been beat.
A simpler variation always has one taking three cards at a time from the deck. Somewhat less of a challenge, but still a challenge.


I could go on, but I won't...

Can't help but wonder if it's a good thing or a bad thing to find that noone else has been at this train of thought before.. Well, noone who's read the thread sofar at any rate..