Smallware

Prison solitaire rules

Objective

Play all cards into the foundation piles.

Building Direction

Foundations and tableaus are built in opposite directions. The first card played onto either determines the direction for all.

Foundation Piles

  • The 4 foundation piles are built in suit consecutively, with Aces and Kings built on each other.
  • Foundations may be built upward or downward, one direction only, in the opposite direction of tableau building.
  • A pile is complete when it contains 13 cards.

Tableau Columns

  • The 10 tableau columns are built in suit consecutively, with Aces and Kings built on each other.
  • Tableaus may be built upward or downward, one direction only, in the opposite direction of foundation building.
  • Uncovered end cards are available for play.
  • Any card may be played into an empty tableau space.
  • As a shortcut, in-suit card sequences can be moved within the tableau if there are enough empty spaces to hold the cards if they were moved individually. Any one card must have already been played to set the building direction.

Reserve Spaces

The 8 reserve spaces can each hold 1 card. Any card may be played into an empty reserve space.

Scoring

Every card played into the foundations will score.

Similar Games

Prison is one of the fun solitaire games in Solavant solitaire for Mac OS X.