How to Play Big Bertha Solitaire
Big Bertha Solitaire is a variation of King Albert with two decks of cards, or 104 cards. Unique to the game is a foundation only for Kings.
Objective
Your goal is to move all 104 cards to the 8 foundation piles by suit, from Ace to Queen in ascending order by suit. You do this by moving and organizing cards in tableau, and using the reserve. You also needs to place all Kings in the King's foundation pile.
The Setup and Play Area
Foundation piles: There are two foundations. The main foundation consists of d8 piles where you aim to move playable cards in order from Ace to Queen by suit. In the King's foundation, you place Kings.
Tableau piles: This area consists of 15 columns of 6 face-up cards, totaling 90 cards.
Reserve pile: The rest of the cards, or 14 in total, go to the reserve.
Waste pile: There is no waste pile in the game.
Available moves
- Cards in the reserve can be moved to the tableau or the foundations one at a time. Only after a card is moved can you play the next cards in the reserve.
- Tableau cards can be moved by sequencing them in descending order, alternating by color. For example, a 10 of Spades can be placed on top of a Jack of Hearts.
- The last card of each tableau column can be moved to a foundation if it is playable.
- You can move multiple cards at one time. To move a group of cards, they must be sequenced in descending order, alternating by color, and the top card of that group must be placed on top of a playable card of the opposite color and one rank higher.
- You can only place any card in an empty tableau column.
- You win when all cards have been moved to the foundation.
Strategy
- Move Acecs or Kings to the foundations as soon as they’re available. This will clear the card from the tableau, enabling you to build more.
- Use the reserve pile as soon as you can. You want to move all the reserve cards to the tableau to then move them to the foundation.
- Try to free up lower-ranking cards. Because foundations are built starting with Aces, try to make low cards available so you can move them out of the tableau into the foundation and make other cards playable.
- Try to build the foundations evenly. If one foundation is built immediately in the game, you now have fewer cards of that color to help you sequence.
- Moves Kings to empty tableau columns or to the reserve. If a King if available, try to prioritize emptying a tableau column to place it there.
- Try to empty the tableau columns quickly. This allows you to move any card or sequence to these empty columns and free up cards.
- The first visible sequence may not always be the best one. Plan out your moves to remove as many cards as possible from the tableau.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some games similar to Big Bertha Solitaire?
Try King Albert Solitaire, which is the same game with one deck of cards.
What are the odds of winning?
When looking at 119 random games played, 38 were won, making the win rate 31.93%.
What are other popular Solitaire games?
Here are some good games to try:
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