Vineyard takes the rules of Castles in Spain and deals them across ten columns instead of thirteen: the first two hold six cards, the rest five, and every card is face up with no stock. The tableau builds down in alternating colours, one card at a time, and an empty column takes any card. Fewer, deeper columns mean fewer free tops to work with and more cards between you and the aces, which is exactly the trade the game is about.
Ten tops instead of thirteen. Every card you can reach is a column top, and Vineyard gives you three fewer than Castles in Spain. Treat each top as a resource: a move that turns a useless top into a useful host is worth more than a move that merely banks a card.
A space is a workbench, so open one early. Any card may enter an empty column, and with single-card moves a space is the only place a card can wait while you dig beneath it. The five-card columns clear faster than the two six-card ones; start there.
Plan the whole dig. Nothing is hidden. Before you start lifting cards off a buried ace, count the cards above it and find a home for each one, in order. A dig you cannot finish leaves the board worse than it was.
Keep the low cards near the surface. One card at a time means a long run is a wall. If a two or a three is under a run you are building, stop building and bank it first.
The Beleaguered Castle family is the open, stockless line of patience, and Castles in Spain is its alternating-colour branch. Vineyard keeps every rule of Castles in Spain and changes only the shape of the deal: ten columns, two of them a card deeper. That makes it the same puzzle with less room, and the family's clearest illustration of how much the number of column tops matters when every move is a single card.
Vineyard 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.
Only in the deal. Ten columns of six and five replace thirteen columns of four. The alternating-colour build, the one-card move and the open spaces are the same.
No. All 52 cards are dealt face up into the ten columns, and there is no stock.
No. Only the top card of a column moves, one card per move.
Any card. A space is a workbench, and with single-card moves it is the most useful thing on the board.
Neither. All 52 cards are on the table from the start, and the game is decided by the order of your moves.
A little. Three fewer column tops and two deeper columns mean fewer free cards at any moment, so a dig takes more planning.