Solitaire is a game which as been played for centuries. A deck of playing cards used to be how solitaire was played, but with the computer age, many solitaire games are now available to play online. This unique version of solitaire called 10-20-30 is still played with a deck of cards and is extremely difficult to win.
A Game with No Name
Thirty-five years ago, my grandmother taught me this solitaire game which she stated was passed down from generation to generation in our family line. This game had never been given any name that she was aware of other than solitaire. I used the name 10-20-30 since the cards taken off the table need to add up to those amounts. However, in doing research, I discovered that the game instructions given online for 10-20-30 require starting with four rows instead of the seven I am accustomed to.
How to Play
You will use a regular 52 card deck with no jokers. Shuffle well. Start by laying out seven cards face up. On top of the first seven cards, about halfway down each card, lay out seven more cards face up. Lay out a third row like this as well. You will keep the remainder of the cards in your hand face down.
Face cards are worth 10, aces are worth 1, and the rest are face value. You must always have three cards to reach 10, 20, or 30 and only in the specified combinations given below. You cannot take cards that are in the middle of a row.
* Look at the first row and see if they add up to 10, 20, or 30. If they do, remove the row and put it on the bottom of the pile in your hand, face down, and move on to the next row. The removed row will not be replaced, so you will be working then with only six rows.
If the row does not add up to 10, 20, or 30, add a card, face up, to the row from the cards in your hand, which will give you four cards in that row. You will now be looking to see if any three cards from the combinations below add up to 10, 20, or 30 in that row.
- 3 bottom cards
- 3 top cards
- 2 bottom cards and 1 top card
- 2 top cards and 1 bottom card
If you do not see 10, 20, or 30, move to the next row and repeat the process starting from the paragraph with the asterisk.
How you remove the cards when you do see a 10-20-30 combination is important if you ever want to win this game. If you do see three cards in that row that add up to 10, 20, or 30 in one of the four combinations above, remove those three cards, taking whatever cards are on the top, if any, and placing them on top of the cards on the bottom which complete the 10, 20, 30 combination, then pick up all three cards and put them face down on the bottom of the deck in your hand. This will leave one card in that row. Move onto the next row and start again at the asterisk. It will take you two full rounds through the rows to have a trio to work with again in that row.
When you have finished with the seventh row, you will start over at the first row, adding another card and going through the process again.
Extra Information You Need to Know
You really have to pay attention to catch all of the combinations of 10-20-30. If, while playing, you see a combination you missed in a previous row, you can keep playing, but you will not win the game.
If you remove a 10-20-30 combination from a row and there is another 10-20-30 combination still there, remove it too. Take all of the combinations out of the row as you can before moving onto the next row. Some of the rows will get very long, so you do not want to miss removing any combinations.
You win the game if you have removed all the cards from the table. You lose the game when you have used up all the cards in your hand. The rows that are left will be quite long.
Enjoying the Challenge
If you like solitaire, you will enjoy this game of 10-20-30. I believe I have won the game only ten times in 35 years, so winning is definitely a challenge. When you do win, you will probably feel, as I did, like you have really accomplished something. Of course, then you will have to try it again just to see if you can increase the odds of winning.
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