How to play Eight Off Solitaire(Eight Off Solitaire Rules)
Images
Layout
4 Foundation piles empty at the beginning.
8 Cells or reserves. The first 4 cells containing one card each.
8 Tableau piles with 6 cards each.
Rules
OBJECTIVE
To move all the cards to the foundations.
FOUNDATIONS
Build up in suit, from Ace to King. Cards are moved individually.
CELLS
Cells are storage locations. Cells can only store one card at a time. Cards in these cells can be moved to the foundations and to the tableau piles.
TABLEAU PILES
Build down in suit. Cards are moved individually but groups of cards can be moved if they are in sequence down in suit and if there are enough free cells so that the cards could be moved individually. The top card of each pile is available to play on another tableau pile, the foundations or the free cells. If a tableau pile becomes empty during play, any exposed card from the cells or another tableau pile may be moved into the empty stack.
Tips and Tricks
Examine the tableau piles carefully. It is important to plan series of several movements. The obvious movements are not always the best. A good strategy will allow you to solve most of the Eight Off games.
Try to free Aces and Deuces first, especially if they have many cards on top.
Move cards to foundations if it is possible. Those cards are no longer useful on the tableau piles.
Try to keep the cells free whenever possible. Once you fill all the cells, you are almost without options of maneuver. The free cells give you options of maneuver and the possibility of winning. Try to move cards to the cells only if you have thought how to leave them free again.
Try to empty the tableau piles as soon as you can. Empty tableau piles are more important than free cells because they can be used to store complete sequences of cards instead of individual cards. Also, it doubles the length of the sequences of cards that can be moved from one tableau pile to another.
If it is possible, fill the empty tableau piles with long card sequences headed by a King.
