---

  Home  |  Download  |  Games  |  Features  |  Gallery Support  

---

Big Ben solitaire rules (2 decks of cards)<< Betsy Ross | Big Ben (Relaxed) >>

Goal: Build the 12 inner 'clock' piles up in the same suit. Aces play onto kings. A pile ends when it reaches the value for its position on the clock.

Build the 12 outer piles down in the same suit. Kings play onto aces. Empty piles can not be filled.

You can only move one card at a time. You can not play to a pile with less than 3 cards. Any time you wish, draw cards from the deck to top up all piles to a minimum of 3 cards.

If all outer piles have at least 3 cards, turn over one card at a time from the deck, playing the top card to other piles when you can.

---

Also known as: (The) Clock, Father Time, Grandfather's Clock

Variations: Big Ben (Relaxed)

Early descriptions do not allow the waste pile to play to the outer piles. That annoying rule has disappeared in newer descriptions.

Rules source: Games of Patience - 2nd Series, Miss Whitmore Jones (Grandfather's Clock) ~ Patience Games with Examples Played Through, Cavendish (The Clock) ~ Dick's Games of Patience, Dick and Fitzgerald (The Clock) ~ Solitaire and Patience, George Hapgood (Grandfather's Clock) ~ Two-Pack Games of Solitaire, George A. Bonaventure (Grandfather's Clock) ~ 100 Games of Solitaire, Helen L. Coops (Grandfather's Clock Two Packs) ~ Lady Cadogan's Illustrated Games of Solitaire or Patience, Adelaide Cadogan (The Clock) ~ The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience Games, Albert H. Morehead & Geoffrey Mott-Smith ~ The Penguin Book of Patience, David Parlett


This is one of 7 layouts for Big Ben in Solitaire Forever II.


Back to top