Goal of the game
Build each of the twelve foundations to its target — top row 2 → 5 → 8 → J, middle row 3 → 6 → 9 → Q, bottom row 4 → 7 → 10 → K. All foundations build up by suit in steps of three. The game is won when every foundation has reached its Jack, Queen, or King respectively, exhausting the deck.
Setup
Shuffle a standard 52-card deck. Deal 24 cards face-up into three rows of eight slots — the parade. As 2s, 3s, and 4s appear in the deal they move into their correct row (top row for 2s, middle for 3s, bottom for 4s); other ranks sit in their dealt slot for now. The remaining 28 cards form the stock pile. The top of the stock is always face-up and immediately playable.
Règles du Royal Parade
- Distribue 24 cartes en 3 rangées de 8 - la rangée du haut garde les 2, celle du milieu les 3, celle du bas les 4 dès qu'ils apparaissent.
- Construis chaque fondation par couleur croissante par paliers de 3.
- Les cases vides dans le défilé sont comblées par le talon ou d'autres cartes du défilé.
- Deux redistributions sont autorisées.
Win and loss conditions
You win when all twelve foundations have built up to Jack, Queen, or King for their row and no cards remain in the stock or parade. You lose when the stock is exhausted, both redeals are spent, and no legal move advances any foundation. Solitaire Royal's undo lets you backtrack costly choices; you can also restart the deal or shuffle a new one. Deals are randomly shuffled and guaranteed solvable.
Stratégie et astuces
- Place d'abord les quatre 2 et les quatre 3 avant de chasser les valeurs supérieures.
- Ne gaspille pas de redistribution tôt - réserve-les quand le défilé se bloque.
- Une case vide dans la rangée du milieu est la plus flexible.
Royal Parade traces back to 19th-century European patience compilations, where it appeared under the names Hussars (English military theme) and Financier (French). The stepped-foundation mechanic — building in increments of three rather than one — was unusual enough that the game survived multiple regional renaming waves. It became one of the standard mid-difficulty patiences in mid-20th-century English and French solitaire anthologies, and remains popular today as a spatial-planning alternative to the Ace-to-King grind of Klondike.
