Rules
Royal Parade Solitaire is played with two decks of 52 cards each.
First, all eight aces are removed before the two packs are shuffled. Three rows of eight cards are dealt to the tableau or "Parade". These form 24 foundations. When the patience is finished, the top row will be founded on the eight 2s which are built up in suit by threes, e.g. 2♣, 5♣, 8♣, J♣. The base cards of the middle row will be the 3s, again built up in suit by threes, e.g. 3♥, 6♥, 9♥, Q♥ The base cards of the last row are the 4s which are also built up in suit by threes, e.g. 4♠, 7♠, 10♠, K♠.
After the 24 cards have been dealt to the Parade, building up commences on any 2s in the top row, 3s in the middle row and 4s in the bottom row, any spaces thus created being filled by an appropriate base card (2, 3 or 4), until there are no more build options. Then 8 cards are dealt out in a row from left to right below the Parade to form eight depots. These cards become available for play either as base cards onto any spaces or to build on existing cards as before. When all available cards have been played, another row of 8 cards is dealt onto the depots, overlapping vertically any existing cards.
If the patience goes through, there will be no cards on the depots and the middle row will comprise all the queens, the top and bottom rows containing all the kings and jacks.
Menu
You can control the game through the menu with the following commands:
New Game - reshuffle the deck and start a new play.
Hint - provide an on-screen hint for all valid moves. The cards that can be moved are outlined in green, the locations where they can be moved to - in yellow. If there are no valid moves, the deck will be oulined, indicating that you have to deal a row of cards.
Undo - undo, one at a time, your moves
Settings - configure different options the way you like it.
Scoreboard - see the number of times you have this solitaire converged. You can get to the Game Center Leaderboard to compare you score to other players.
How To Play - see the documentation.
About - brief information about this app, including the links to this website and our Facebook page.
Gestures
You can control the game with the following gestures:
Tap a card on the table to send it to the appropriate place in the foundation if there is a valid move.
Tap a deck to deal a row of cards to the reserve.
Swipe left - undo your previous move.
Swipe right - show Hint.
Swipe up - bring up the Settings view.
Settings
You can configure different options the way you like it:
Don't discard Aces - play the variant with all aces in the deck.
Deal one of 2, 3 and 4 to the tableau - play the variant with a 2, 3, and 4 dealt to the left of each of the tableau rows to give a head start.
Deck on left - show the deck on the left side of the screen.
Show errors - show an error message if you attempt an invalid move.
Show labels - show labels next to each row to indicate whch cards go there.
Show card counters - show the number of cards in the deck and in the discarded Ace pile.
Use large cards - use large print cards, for the smaller screens.
Tap anywhere to deal - you can tap anywhere on the table to deal the next card.