Thinking about solitaire

I've said it before. I have a problem with the standard version of solitaire we've all seen (known as patience). It's just too brainless. Yes, there are times when I'm burnt out and don't really want to think, but there are tons of other things I can do then besides solitaire. When I play a game of solitaire I want at least a minimum of brain activity to challenge me. I've reviewed a couple of more puzzling variations of solitaire in a previous post. Now I've got one of my own design (with a pool theme -- with a nickname like Fast Eddie you know I like pool). Try this solitaire for a change of pace:

Nineball Solitaire (copyright 2009 - Edgar Williams)

Object of the game: to eliminate all the cards in the ‘rack’

Scoring: one point for each card eliminated in the rack plus a ten point bonus for each complete rack eliminated, plus a one point bonus for each unused card remaining in the ‘kitchen’ area

Setup: Remove the 1-9 of hearts and 1-9 of diamonds from a standard deck of playing cards. These will be the only cards needed. Shuffle these cards and deal out nine cards face up in a diamond pattern, starting at the top and overlapping the cards in each row on top of the last row as shown below. This is the ‘rack’. Then deal out the remaining nine cards face down into three piles of three cards each. This is the ‘kitchen’. Finally, turn over the top card in each of the three piles in the kitchen.

Gameplay: Remove cards in groups of 1 to 7 cards, using the following rules. You may remove any face up cards that have no cards on top of them (you may only remove a card with a card (or cards) on top as long as you are removing the card(s) on top as well). The cards you remove must add up to either 9 or 19. If you use any of the cards in the kitchen, turn over the next card in the pile and you can use it for further play.

Example Game: Say the cards are dealt out as shown below. First, remove the 7 and 2 in the rack as they add up to 9, and removing the 2 means that you may remove the 7 underneath it. Now, remove the 3, 1, and 5 in the rack as they add up to 9. Now you can remove the 8, 4, and 3 in the rack and the 4 in the kitchen area as they add up to 19. All you have left to remove is the 8 remaining in the rack. You have a 2, 9, and 9 to work with in the kitchen area. Get rid of the first 9 in order to see the card beneath. The 6 exposed is no help. Get rid of the other 9. The 6 exposed there is no help either. You are stuck at this point and must end the game. You receive 8 points for the cards you removed from the rack and no bonus as you did not clear the rack. If, instead of the 6 being underneath the first 9, the ace had been there, you would have been able to remove the 8 from the rack plus the ace and cleared the rack.

- Edgar Williams