Ground for a Divorce

Ground for a Divorce is a variant on Spider Solitaire with a few differences from that game that make it somewhat easier to win and, in my opinion, more interesting.

Ground for a Divorce uses 2 decks of cards and deals fifty cards out face up in 10 piles. As in Spider Solitaire, cards build down, regardless of suit, but only sequences of the same suit can be moved. When no moves are available, one card is dealt to each tableau pile. However, unlike in Spider Solitaire, empty spaces are allowed and are simply not dealt to. The final primary difference between Ground for a Divorce and Spider Solitaire is that Ground for a Divorces allows kings to be placed on aces. The object of the game is to group cards in 13 card sequences of descending order and move these sequences to the foundations.

Ground for a Divorce originated as a German game known as Scheidungsgrund. The story behind the name is that a woman played this game constantly, to the detriment of her marriage.

I found this game through the superb solitaire program pysol. I tried Spider, and enjoyed the gameplay, but felt that my chances of winning were so slim that it seemed unlikely to payoff for me. Strategy, while present, seemed hampered by the fact that so few cards were visible. Ground for a Divorce changes that by dealing out the tableau piles face up, allowing deeper strategy to be used. Additionally, allowing Kings to be played on Aces not only makes the game more interesting (strategy is more free form, but I personally find it more aesthetically pleasing.