Aces Up
Deal a card onto each of four piles, then throw out every card that a higher card of the same suit outranks. Clear the table until only the four aces are left.
How to play Aces Up
How to play
Each deal puts one card face up on each of the four piles. When two top cards share a suit, the lower one can be discarded: tap it, or drag it to the discard pile. Aces are high, so they are never discarded. When a pile is empty, you may move the top card of any other pile into it. When nothing more goes, tap the stock to deal four more. You win when the stock is used up and only the four aces are left, one on each pile.
Undo and deals
Undo takes back discards and moves since the last deal, but not the deal itself, because by then you have seen the new cards. Twelve more deals of four follow the first one; the toolbar shows how many deals are left and how many cards are still to go.
Tips
An empty pile is your one real tool. Use it to dig out an ace or a high card buried in a pile, or to uncover a card that can then be discarded. An ace at the bottom of a pile never has to move again. Look at every pile’s cards before you fill a space: the card under the top one matters.
Levels
Both levels play by the same rules. Every Classic deal, including the daily, was won first by a solver that knew the stock order. Relaxed deals are gentler: each one is won by simply following the hints from the very first card, and the hint never looks at the stock.
Questions
How do you play Aces Up solitaire?
Deal four cards face up in a row. Whenever two of the top cards share a suit, discard the lower one. Move any top card into an empty pile. Deal four more cards on top when you are stuck, and win by ending with only the four aces.
Are aces high or low in Aces Up?
High. An ace beats every other card of its suit, so it can never be discarded. That is why the game ends with the four aces, ideally one on each pile.
How often can you win Aces Up?
Not often with random deals. Our solver, which knows the order of the stock, wins about one random deal in four; the plain strategy our hint follows, which can’t see the stock, wins about one in thirty. Every deal here has been won by the solver first, so a win is always possible.
What can go into an empty pile?
The top card of any other pile. It is the only way to reach a card buried under others, so use the space for a card that is in the way, such as one sitting on an ace.
Does the hint look at the face-down cards?
No. The hint only uses the cards you can see: it searches the discards and moves you can make before the next deal and points to the line that discards the most cards.