Rules
Duchess Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use one standard 52-card deck.
- Deal four reserve fans of three face-up cards each.
- Deal four face-up tableau cards, one to each tableau column.
- Leave four empty foundations; the remaining cards form the stock.
- Choose one top reserve fan card to start the first foundation and set the base rank.
- The other three foundations start with available cards of that same rank in their suits.
- Foundations build upward by suit, wrapping from king to ace.
- Tableau columns build downward by alternating color, wrapping from ace to king.
- Only top reserve fan cards, top tableau cards or sequences, and the top waste card are playable.
- No cards can be built onto the reserve fans.
- While reserve cards remain, empty tableau spaces must be filled from a reserve fan top.
- After the reserve is gone, empty tableau spaces are filled from the waste, or from the stock if the waste is empty.
- Deal one card at a time from stock to waste, with one redeal.
- Win by moving all 52 cards to the foundations.
How to play
How to play Duchess Solitaire
Duchess Solitaire begins with a small but important choice. Four reserve fans are dealt, each with three face-up cards, and only the top card of each fan is available. Before the normal game begins, choose one of those four top cards to start the first foundation. The rank you choose becomes the base rank for the entire deal.
From there, build all four foundations upward by suit. If you choose a 9 as the starting card, every foundation must begin with a 9 of its own suit. A foundation then climbs 10, jack, queen, king, ace, 2, and so on until it has all thirteen cards of that suit.
The tableau gives you four working columns. Build them downward by alternating color: a red 6 can go on a black 7, and because Duchess wraps around the rank edge, a king can go on an ace of the opposite color. Legal face-up sequences can move together, but empty tableau spaces are not free choice spaces. Duchess has special vacancy rules, and they are where many deals are won or lost.
Background
What is Duchess Solitaire?
Duchess is a one-deck patience game in the reserve-packer family. It is related in spirit to Canfield because both games use a reserve, foundations that may start away from aces, tableau building by alternating color, and rank wraparound. Duchess has a different personality, though: instead of one large reserve pile and an automatic foundation starter, it gives you four small fans and asks you to pick the foundation base yourself.
Duchess is also known as Glenwood. That name matters because "Duchess" can be confused with Grand Duchess or Duchess of Luynes, which is a different two-deck patience game. The playable game on this page is the one-deck Duchess/Glenwood version with reserve fans, four tableau columns, a stock, a waste, and one redeal.
Setup
The Duchess layout on this page
The opening deal uses 16 table cards and a 36-card stock. Twelve cards form the reserve: four fans of three cards each. Four more cards become the bases of the tableau columns. The foundations start empty until you choose one reserve fan top card.
The reserve fans are visible, but visibility is not the same as availability. You can see buried reserve cards, but only the top card of each fan can move. Once a top card leaves, the next card in that same fan becomes available.
Base rank
Choosing the first foundation card
The opening choice is not cosmetic. If the top reserve cards are 4, 7, queen, and king, choosing the queen means every foundation needs its queen before that suit can climb. Choosing the 4 means the 3s are the final foundation cards instead of early foundation cards.
A good starting card usually has nearby support. Look for a rank that already has follow-up cards visible in the tableau or reserve, or a rank that will free a fan quickly. A glamorous high card is not automatically best; what matters is whether the chosen rank gives several suits a route to start.
Reserve
How reserve fans work
The reserve is made of four separate fans. Only the top card of each fan is active. A reserve top can start or build a foundation, build onto a non-empty tableau column, or fill an empty tableau space when reserve cards remain. You cannot place any card back onto the reserve.
Because each fan is only three cards deep, reserve progress can happen quickly. The trap is using a fan top just because it is available. If that move fills a tableau space with an awkward card, you may expose the next fan card but lose the column you needed to play it.
Vacancies
Empty tableau spaces are not wild spaces
Duchess vacancy rules are stricter than many tableau builders. While any reserve cards remain, an empty tableau space must be filled from a reserve fan top. After all reserve fans are empty, a vacancy is filled from the waste top. If there is no waste card, this online version lets you tap the empty space to take the next stock card directly into the tableau.
That means you should not create empty spaces casually. Emptying a column can be a strong reserve reveal, but it can also force a poor reserve card onto the table. Before moving a whole sequence away, check which reserve fan top will have to occupy the vacancy.
Examples
Legal and illegal Duchess moves
Foundation moves are suit-specific and depend on your chosen base rank. If the base rank is 6, an empty heart foundation needs the 6 of hearts. Once that card is placed, the 7 of hearts is legal, but the 7 of diamonds is not. After king comes ace, then 2, still in the same suit.
Tableau moves ignore suit but require alternating color and one-rank descent. A black 10 can take a red 9. A red ace can take a black king. Same-color builds are illegal, and a card cannot skip a rank. A tableau sequence can move together only when the sequence is already legal from top to bottom.
Starting cardChoose one top reserve card, such as the 8 of hearts, to set every foundation base
FoundationIf the base rank is 8, an empty club foundation needs the 8 of clubs
Foundation wrapQ, K, A, 2 can continue in the same suit
TableauRed 6 onto black 7
Tableau wrapKing onto ace of the opposite color
Reserve vacancyWhile reserve cards remain, an empty tableau space must be filled by a reserve fan top
Waste vacancyAfter the reserve is gone, the waste top fills empty tableau spaces
Stock vacancyIf the reserve and waste are empty, tap an empty tableau space to fill it from the stock
Stock
How the stock, waste, and redeal work
After the reserve and tableau are dealt, the remaining 36 cards form the stock. Deal one card at a time to the waste. Only the top waste card is playable. It can go to a foundation, build onto a tableau card, or fill a tableau vacancy after the reserve has been exhausted.
This version allows one redeal. When the stock is empty, the waste turns face down into a new stock without shuffling. After that redeal is used, the waste order is final. Drawing through the stock too quickly can bury a useful card until the timing is worse.
Winning
How you win Duchess Solitaire
You win by moving all 52 cards to the foundations. The stock and waste do not have a separate scoring role; they are sources that feed the foundations and tableau. A deal is stuck when there is no legal foundation move, tableau build, vacancy fill, draw, or redeal.
The most satisfying Duchess wins often feel like a delayed release. The opening base rank may make some cards look useless at first, but once the foundations wrap through king and ace, those same cards can suddenly become the final connectors that clear a suit.
Strategy
Duchess Solitaire strategy that improves the position
Start by judging the four reserve tops as a group. The best base rank is often the one that gives you more than one immediate foundation start or a clear reserve follow-up. If a top reserve card has no visible support and choosing it would leave the other foundations waiting for buried cards, it may be a poor opening even if the card itself looks powerful.
Keep reserve fans moving, but do not empty tableau spaces blindly. A reserve card that fills a vacancy should either start a foundation, build a useful alternating-color bridge, or uncover another reserve card with a plan. If it merely parks a stiff card in your only open column, the move may reduce your options.
Notice which ranks are late foundation cards. If the base rank is 5, the 4s are not early foundation cards; they are the final cards of their suits. They may need to remain in the tableau for a long time as connectors. Sending every available card to a foundation without checking the tableau can remove the support you need to move sequences.
Use the waste as a timed resource. Because the stock deals one card at a time and only one redeal is available, each draw changes the current opportunity. Before drawing, check the waste top, all reserve tops, and every foundation. A quiet foundation move can make the next waste card much easier to use.
Mistakes
Common Duchess Solitaire mistakes
- Choosing the first foundation card without checking the other reserve tops.
- Forgetting that the chosen rank, not the ace, starts every foundation.
- Missing wraparound moves such as king onto ace in the tableau.
- Creating a tableau vacancy when the forced reserve filler is awkward.
- Trying to fill empty tableau spaces with tableau cards.
- Drawing through the stock while the waste top has a useful foundation or tableau move.
- Using the single redeal before the current waste order has been exploited.
Difficulty
Is Duchess Solitaire winnable?
Duchess is not guaranteed from a random shuffle. The opening choice gives the player real agency, and the four reserve fans make more information visible than a single hidden reserve pile would, but the stock order and vacancy rules can still trap important cards.
This page does not invent a win-rate number. A meaningful percentage would need to be measured against this exact implementation, including one redeal, movable tableau sequences, the stock-to-vacancy rule after reserve and waste are empty, undo, and hints. The honest version is simple: Duchess is playable and strategic, but not every deal will cooperate.
Variants
Duchess variants and house rules
The core Duchess identity is stable: one deck, four reserve fans, a chosen foundation base, four tableau columns, a stock, and a waste. Rule descriptions can still differ in small ways, especially around how strictly a tableau vacancy must be filled and how software handles the "stock if no waste exists" situation.
This page states its version directly. Reserve fan tops fill vacancies while the reserve exists. Once the reserve is empty, the waste top fills vacancies. If the waste is empty and the stock still has cards, tapping an empty tableau space deals one stock card to that space. The stock deals one card to the waste and allows one redeal. Changing any of those rules changes the difficulty enough that it should be treated as a real variant.
Nearby games
How Duchess compares with Canfield, Agnes, and La Belle Lucie
Canfield is the closest familiar relative. It also uses a changing base rank, wraparound foundations, alternating-color tableau building, a reserve, stock, and waste. The big difference is control: Canfield deals the first foundation card automatically and hides most of its reserve in one pile, while Duchess lets you choose from four visible reserve fan tops.
Agnes also uses base-rank foundations, but it has a broader tableau and reserve depots rather than Duchess-style vacancy pressure. La Belle Lucie shares the visual idea of fans, but its gameplay is different: it is a fan patience game with no stock in the same sense and much stricter same-suit movement. Duchess sits between those games as a compact, choice-driven reserve builder.