Play New York Solitaire Online — An Open Stock and Three Wastes

New York deals almost nothing and asks you to place the rest. Two decks give eight columns of one card, and one more card goes to a foundation: its rank is the base of all eight foundations. The stock is open: its top card is face up and you play it by hand to a foundation, a column, or any of three waste piles, which take cards from the stock only. Columns build down by alternate colour, turning the corner from ace to king, one card at a time, and any card fills a space. Foundations build up in suit from the base rank, turning the corner. No redeal. Bank all 104 to win.

Setup

Shuffle two decks. Deal one card face up to each of eight columns and turn the next card onto its foundation; it fixes the base rank for every suit. Turn the following card face up on the stock. Three waste piles start empty.

Rules

• Foundations build up in suit from the dealt base rank, turning the corner from king to ace. Each suit has two piles.
• Columns build down by alternate colour, turning the corner: a black king on a red ace.
• One card at a time between columns.
• Any card fills a space.
• The stock is open. Its top card is face up and in play: move it to a foundation, a column, or any of the three waste piles. Nothing is dealt by clicking; the next card turns up when the top one leaves.
• The wastes take cards from the stock only. The top card of every waste is in play.
• No redeal. The stock is played once, card by card.
• Win when all eight foundations hold thirteen cards.

Strategy

Every stock card must be placed somewhere, and the three wastes are where the unplayable ones go. Because a waste's top card is the only one you can reach, the whole game is sorting the stock into the wastes so that the cards you need next are on top when their turn comes.

• Sort by distance from the base. Put cards close above the base rank on one waste, the middle ranks on another, the far ranks on the third. The hint does exactly this.
• Bank straight from the stock. A stock card that a foundation wants should never touch a waste.
• Keep the columns short. One card a column means every column is a host; a long column has buried its hosts.
• Turn the corner on purpose. With the base at, say, a nine, a queen is three away and a two is six. Read every card by its distance from the base, not its face value.
• Spaces are cheap. Any card fills one, so use them for stock cards that fit nowhere else rather than clogging a waste.
• Watch the waste tops. A waste card that becomes playable should go the moment it does; the next stock card might have to cover it.

Where It Sits in the Forty Thieves Family

New York is the open-stock member of the Bristol line: three wastes fed by hand instead of by a deal, on a two-deck Forty Thieves board with a dealt base rank. Gotham is the same with three cards a column and a rank build with runs; Dover and Vincent deal their wastes from the stock.

Other Games to Try

• Gotham — three cards a column, rank build, runs
• Dover — the stock deals to three wastes, down by rank
• Vincent — one deck, down in suit with runs
• Canfield — the classic dealt-base game

About This Online Version

New York runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install it as an app on your phone or computer and it works offline. You get unlimited undo, a hint button that names a legal move, statistics that track your wins and times, and seeded deals: every game has a seed you can replay, so a board you enjoyed (or lost) can be played again exactly.