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Watch Solitaire Rules

The complete rules for the card game Watch Solitaire

By Erik Arneson, About.com

This solitaire card game, which is almost entirely driven by luck, is closely related to the game Clock.

Here are the complete rules for Watch Solitaire.

Players

1 player.

Deck

A standard 52-card deck.

Goal

Complete all other four-of-a-kind sets before the fourth K is revealed twice.

Setup

Shuffle the deck. Deal the cards, face down, into 13 piles of four cards each.

The piles should be arranged to mimic the numbers on a clock, with the extra pile in the middle of the circle. The "numbers" of the piles (1 through 12 on the clock; the middle pile is 13) are important.

Gameplay

Turn the top card on the 13 pile face up (that's the pile in the middle of the circle). Place it, still face up, under the pile of that card's number. For example, a 4 would go under the 4 pile. An A would go under the 1 pile. Face cards are placed as follows: J under 11, Q under 12, K under 13.

Then turn the top card on that pile face up and place it, still face up, under the appropriate pile. Continue in this manner until the game ends (see "Winning" below).

If the final face-down card in a pile belongs to that same pile, continue the game by turning the next (moving clockwise) face-down card face up.

Getting Stuck

When you reveal the fourth K and move it to pile 13, you'll be stuck. The first time this happens, take the K and exchange it with any face-down card still remaining. Continue by turning the face-down card face up and placing it under the appropriate pile.

Winning

You win if all 13 piles become face-up piles of four-of-a-kind. However, you lose if the fourth K is turned face up a second time before all the other sets are completed. This game is won about 5 percent of the time.

Erik Arneson
Guide since 1999

Erik Arneson
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