How to Play

Aces Up (Idiot's Delight, Firing Squad, Aces High) is a fast one-player patience where the full deck is dealt in batches of four onto four piles. Discard the lower card of any same-suit pair of tops until only the four Aces remain.

Aces Up is a fast one-player patience game (also called Idiot's Delight, Firing Squad, or Aces High) in which the full deck is dealt in batches of four onto four piles, and the player repeatedly discards the lower of any two face-up cards sharing a suit. The aim is to finish with nothing left except the four Aces. A game runs two to four minutes and is won roughly once in every thirty-five attempts.

Players

1 player. Aces Up is strictly solitary; there is no partnership or competitive variant.

Card Deck

One standard 52-card deck, no jokers. All four suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades) and all thirteen ranks are used. In this game the Ace ranks high: A, K, Q, J, 10, …, 2 from top to bottom. Suits have no inherent precedence.

Objective

Discard every card from play except the four Aces, one left sitting on top of each of the four piles. Any other end state is a loss.

Setup and Deal

1. Shuffle the 52-card deck thoroughly.
2. Deal one card face-up into each of four piles arranged in a row; the remaining 48 cards form a face-down stock (draw pile) set aside.
3. Only the top card of each pile (the most recently placed one) is considered 'in play'; earlier cards in the same pile are buried until the top leaves.

Gameplay

1. Same-suit discard: Scan the four top cards. If two or more of them share a suit, the lower-ranked cards of that suit are removed from the game entirely (placed in a discard pile out of play); the highest card of that suit stays. Because Aces rank high, an Ace on top of one pile kills every other card of its suit that is currently on top of another pile.
2. Resolve every discard: Repeat the same-suit discard until no two top cards share a suit. A single exposed card below a removed one may create a new match, and so on.
3. Empty pile refill: Whenever a pile is completely empty, you may move the top card of any other pile into the empty slot. This move is optional but is the only strategic lever in the game. Only a single top card may move at a time (not whole stacks); once moved, it becomes the top card of the empty pile and further discards are reconsidered.
4. Deal the next batch: When no more discards or moves help, deal exactly one card from the stock onto each of the four piles (four cards total, in any consistent order). If a pile is currently empty you may not skip it; deal onto it just like the others.
5. Continue: Alternate discarding, moving into empty piles, and dealing the next four cards until the stock is empty. Carry out any final discards after the last batch is dealt.
6. Illegal play: Removing a card that is not the lowest of its suit among current top cards is illegal; if noticed, return the card. Moving anything other than a top card into an empty pile is illegal.

Winning

You win when the stock is exhausted and the only cards left on the piles are the four Aces, one per pile. Any end state with non-Ace cards still present is a loss. The game is solitary, so there are no tie-breakers and no points; the result is a clean win or loss.

Tips and Strategy

• Empty piles are the whole game. Create one whenever possible and use it to isolate an Ace or a high card that is blocking useful discards.
• When you are about to kill the last card of a pile, think twice about the next deal: a freshly empty slot is about to be refilled, and the four new cards may not line up well.
• An Ace sitting on top of a pile is a sniper: every other card of its suit dealt on top of another pile is doomed. Try to keep Aces exposed rather than buried.
• With multiple top cards of the same suit, discard order does not matter (only the highest survives), so there is no need to agonize over sequence; focus instead on what will be revealed.

Variations

• Easy Aces Up (any-card empty-pile rule): Allow any single card (not just a top card) to be moved into an empty pile. Raises the win rate significantly.
• Strict Aces Up: Empty piles may only be filled with Aces. Drops the win rate to roughly 1 in 270.
• Reverse Idiot's Delight: Use low-ranked Aces (Ace = 1) and finish with the four Kings instead. Mathematically identical, just inverted.A♠K♠

Glossary

• Pile: One of the four stacks of face-up cards. Only the topmost card of a pile is 'in play'.
• Top card: The most recently placed card of a pile; the only card a discard or move can affect.
• Stock / draw pile: The face-down reserve of undealt cards.
• Discard: To remove a card from the game permanently (not the same as the playing discard pile in other games).
• Ace-high / high Ace: A ranking convention where the Ace is the highest card, above the King.A♠K♠