# Golf solitaire: why a King on the waste ends your run Why does a run in Golf stop dead the moment a King reaches the waste, and how should you plan around the Kings sitting in your columns? Golf looks like a simpler cousin of TriPeaks, but two small rules change the way you read the table. ## The rules that matter In Card Lounge [Golf](../play/golf.html), 35 cards lie face up in seven columns of five. One card starts the waste and the other 16 form the stock. You may move the top card of any column to the waste if it is exactly one rank higher or lower than the top waste card, whatever its suit. Draw turns the next stock card onto the waste, and the stock is never recycled. Two rules set Golf apart: - **No wrap-around.** A King and an Ace are not neighbours. An Ace connects only to a 2, and a King only to a Queen. - **Nothing may be played on a King.** Once a King is on the waste, no column card can follow it. Your score is the number of cards left in the columns, so lower is better and a cleared table scores 0. The round is won when all 35 column cards are gone and lost when the stock is empty and no column card can be played. ## Why Kings end runs Put those two rules together and every King becomes a full stop: - A King in a column can leave only by being played onto a Queen. The moment it lands, the run is over and your next action must be a draw. - A King drawn from the stock is just as bad: nothing can go on it, so you have to draw again straight away. That matters because draws are scarce. The starting waste card plus 16 draws gives you at most 17 runs, and 35 cards shared between 17 runs is 35 ÷ 17 ≈ 2.06 cards per run on average. You cannot afford many runs that stop after one card, and a King always stops one. ## Read every column first Unlike TriPeaks, nothing in the columns is hidden. You can see all 35 column cards; only the order of the stock is unknown. So before each play, read down the columns as well as across the top: a card that is not playable now may become playable in two moves, once the cards above it have gone. ## Worked example The waste shows 6♦. Here are the upper cards of three columns, top card first (the cards further down play no part): - Column A: 7♠, 6♣, 5♥, 8♣ - Column B: 5♣, 4♥, K♦, 9♠ - Column C: Q♠, J♣, 3♣ The other four columns show A♠, 2♦, 2♥ and 9♣ on top, and none of them fits anything in this example. The quick grab is 5♣ then 4♥ from column B. The waste shows 4♥, nothing is a 3 or a 5, and the run ends at two cards. Taking column A straight down, 7♠, 6♣, 5♥, gives three cards. The waste then shows 5♥, and the 5♣ on column B is an equal rank, not a neighbour, so the run ends. Reading both columns finds five: 7♠ (one above 6), 6♣ (one below 7), then 5♣ and 4♥ from column B, then back to column A for 5♥ (one above 4). The waste shows 5♥, the tops are now 8♣, K♦, Q♠, A♠, 2♦, 2♥ and 9♣, and nothing is a 4 or a 6. Every card you could reach has been used. Now the King. You draw, and the stock gives you J♥. The Q♠ on column C fits (one above J), so play it. Column C now shows J♣, and with Q♠ on the waste you have two options: - Play K♦ from column B. The run ends, because nothing may go on a King. The J♣ stays behind, waiting for a 10 or a Queen. - Play J♣ from column C. The waste shows J♣, nothing on the table is a 10 or a Queen, and the run ends anyway. The K♦ stays behind, waiting for a Queen. Both choices clear one card, so look at what you leave. With Q♠ gone, only three Queens remain that could ever free the K♦. The J♣ could follow any of the four 10s or those same three Queens. Take the King now, while you have a Queen to put it on. The general habit: when a Queen reaches the waste and a King is free, cash the King, unless the Queen starts a longer run that you would lose by doing so. ## Try it The waste shows 9♠. Three columns, top card first: - Column 1: 10♥, J♠, Q♦ - Column 2: 8♦, 9♥, 10♣ - Column 3: K♣, 2♠ Assume nothing else on the table fits during this run. What is the longest run you can make, and where does K♣ go in it? Answer: 8♦, 9♥, 10♥, J♠, Q♦, K♣. That is six cards, with the King last because it ends the run. The 10♣ waits for a later 9 or Jack. If you take 10♣ instead of 10♥ after 9♥, the run stops at three. If you go 10♥, J♠ and then 10♣, you get five but strand the Q♦ and the K♣. Play it on [Golf](../play/golf.html), compare it with the wrap-around chains in [TriPeaks chains](tripeaks-chains.html), and look up any unfamiliar term in the [glossary](../glossary.html). The [how to play](../how-to-play.html) page has the rules of every game.