How is Lady Palk different from Diplomat?

One rule. A packed run may be moved as a unit; in Diplomat cards move one at a time. The deal, the rank build, the free spaces and the single pass through the stock are the same.

What counts as a packed run here?

Any descending sequence of consecutive ranks, since suits are ignored on the tableau. A 9, 8, 7 of any suits is a run and may be lifted from the 9 down as one move.

Can any card go into an empty column?

Yes. There is no king rule and no forced fill.

No. The 72 stock cards are turned once, one at a time.

Where does the name come from?

PySolFC records it under this name as a Diplomat variant. Like many named solitaires of the period it was published without an author, and the name is the only history that survives.

Lady Palk Solitaire - Play Online & 100% Free

Play Lady Palk Solitaire — Diplomat With Runs That Move

Lady Palk is Diplomat with a single rule loosened. Same eight columns of four, same rank build, same one pass through a stock of seventy-two — but a packed run may be lifted and moved as a unit instead of one card at a time. That one change turns a slow, careful game into a mobile one where whole sequences swap columns to free the card beneath. Free in your browser, no sign-up.

How Do You Play Lady Palk?

Goal: build all eight foundations from Ace to King by suit.

Setup

Decks: two standard decks, 104 cards.
Tableau: eight columns of four cards, all face up.
Foundations: eight, empty.
Stock: the remaining 72 cards, turned one at a time to a waste. No redeal.

Rules

Build tableau columns down by rank, in any suit: any 6 on any 7.
A packed run moves as a unit. Because suits do not matter, any descending sequence is packed.
Any card may enter an empty column.
Foundations build up by suit from the Ace and are one-way.
One card off the stock at a time, and no redeal.

Lady Palk Strategy

With a suit-blind build and runs that travel, the board is unusually fluid; the skill is in not letting it become a tangle.

Build long runs deliberately. Any descending sequence moves whole, so a long run is a single object you can relocate in one move to expose whatever it covers. Aim your runs at a card you will need.
Keep the eight tops varied. Every stock card is a rank; eight distinct tops catch far more than eight tops that show three ranks.
An empty column is a sorting bay. Any card enters it, so a space lets you split a run at any point. Clear one early and keep it open as long as you can.
Aces and 2s first. Eight foundations need eight Aces. Never build a run over an Ace without a plan to move the run.
Play from the waste before the board. One pass through seventy-two cards; a card you skip is gone unless the board changes for it later.

Lady Palk and Diplomat

PySolFC registers Lady Palk as Diplomat with the single-card limit removed — its row stack is the plain rank stack rather than Diplomat's one-card wrapper — and rates it balanced where Diplomat is tighter. The same one-rule pairing separates Courtyard from Busy Aces. McClellan takes the same board a third way, with a suit build and three rows hidden.

Like every game in this family here, the first stock card is left for you to turn rather than dealt to the waste at the start.