Kings in the Corners is a one deck patience game whose aim is move all face cards to its respective slots in a grid like tableau while removing other cards from the tableau.
The game starts with a 4x4 empty grid. All cards are placed in a stock pile whose top card is turned face-up. This card can be moved to the grid as per following rules
- Each cell in the grid can only hold one card at a time.
- Kings can only be moved to 4 corner cells, Queens to 4 top and bottom non-corner cells, Jacks to 4 right and left non-corner cells. Other cards can be moved to any cell including ones reserved for the face cards.
Once the grid is filled, cards are removed in pairs if their total is 10 (9 and Ace, 8 and 2, 7 and 3, 6 and 4, 5 and 5). A Ten can be removed alone. Once all possible pairs are removed, it can again be filled from the stock.
This process is repeated. You win if all face cards are placed in their reserved slots. You lose the game if
- When moving cards from the stock to the grid, a face card can not be placed in its reserved slot.
- All slots in the grid are filled and there are no pairs to remove.