Railroad! Yard Solitaire
A Solitaire Card Game of Strategy and Sequencing
Welcome to the Yard
You are a yardmaster in a busy classification yard. Cars are lined up on four sidings, waiting to be pulled onto the main line. The order in which you pull them is up to you. Match cars by color or denomination as they couple together, and you’ll clear the yard. Choose poorly, and cars will pile up.
Railroad! Yard Solitaire is a single-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. It rewards careful thinking, pattern recognition, and a willingness to plan several moves ahead.
What You Need
- One standard 52-card deck. Remove the jokers — you will not need them.
- A flat playing surface large enough to lay out four parallel rows and a separate area for the main line.
- Five to fifteen minutes per game once you are comfortable with the rules. Your first few games will take longer.
Object of the Game
End the game with no cards remaining on the main line. This is called clearing the yard. If any cards remain, you have lost — the number of cards remaining is your score, and lower is better. A perfect game ends with a score of zero. Wins are rare and rewarding; expect to lose more often than you win, especially while learning.
The Layout
Before play begins, your table will look like this. The main line begins empty. The yard contains four sidings, each holding thirteen cards dealt face-down except for the rightmost card of each row, which is turned face-up. This face-up card is called the head.
The main line starts empty. Each siding holds 13 cards with the rightmost (the head) dealt face-up. Buried cards are revealed one at a time as cards in front of them are pulled.
The right end of each siding is the head. This is the only card you may pull from that siding on any given turn. When you pull a head, the card immediately to its left is flipped face-up and becomes the new head. You see each card for the first time at the moment it becomes a head.
Setup
Thoroughly shuffle the deck and deal the cards round-robin: one card to Siding 1, one to Siding 2, one to Siding 3, one to Siding 4, then back to Siding 1, and continue until the deck is exhausted. Each siding receives thirteen cards. Slightly overlap all dealt cards within each siding, left to right.
Deal all cards face-down except the very last card dealt to each siding (the thirteenth), which is turned face-up to become that siding’s head.
How to Play
The game proceeds in a sequence of turns. On each turn, you take exactly one action:
Choose any head card and pull it onto the right end of the main line.
After you place a card on the main line, you must check for matches. If matches occur, cards are removed from the main line and placed into the discard pile, and you must check again. When all matches have resolved, your turn ends and you take another turn.
The game ends when all four sidings are empty — meaning all 52 cards have been pulled onto the main line.
Pulling a Head Card
Take the face-up card from any siding of your choice and place it at the right end of the main line. Then flip up the next card to its left in that siding — this is the new head. You may pull from any non-empty siding, in any order you choose.
Matching Rules
Matching is the heart of the game. After every card you place on the main line, compare the most recent card you placed (call it N) against the card three positions to its left (call it N−3). These are the only two cards that matter for the match check.
If the main line has fewer than four cards, no match is possible yet. Skip the check and continue with your next turn.
Suit Match
If N and N−3 share the same suit, the two cards between them — the middle cards — are discarded. The N and N−3 cards remain on the main line.
A suit match removes the two middle cards. The matching pair (7♥ and J♥) stays on the main line and may participate in a future match.
Rank Match
If N and N−3 share the same rank, all four cards — N, N−3, and the two middle cards — are discarded together.
A rank match removes all four cards. When a rank match is available, it is almost always worth taking.
No Match
If N and N−3 share neither suit nor rank, no match occurs. The card you just placed stays on the main line and your turn ends.
Cascading
After a match, the main line shrinks. The discarded cards are removed, and the remaining cards stay in their relative positions. This is called compression.
After every discard, the N and N−3 positions are now occupied by different cards. You must check for a match again. This chain of matches is called a cascade, and it can continue for several iterations.
You keep checking and discarding until either the main line has fewer than four cards, or the new N and N−3 do not match. Only then does your turn end.
Cascade Example
The following shows how placing 4♥ onto the main line triggers three consecutive matches and clears the entire main line.
Faded cards are about to be discarded. After each discard the check re-runs on the new N and N−3 until no match remains.
Strategy
You decide which siding to pull from each turn. Your goal is to balance emptying the main line quickly against setting up future cascades.
When the main line has three cards and you know what will land at N−3 on your next pull, look across the four siding heads and ask: which one would trigger a match against that future N−3? Sometimes the immediate match is right. Sometimes pulling a card that exposes a more useful head is better. You cannot see the buried cards, so forward planning is partly a gamble.
Suit matches are more common than rank matches but less valuable: a suit match removes two cards; a rank match removes four. When a rank match is available, it is almost always worth taking.
Pay attention to which cards have already been played. As the game progresses, you can deduce what is still buried in each siding by elimination. The deeper you are in a game, the more your knowledge informs your choices.
When no match is available among the four heads, choose the pull that keeps your options open. Avoid emptying a siding too quickly — each siding emptied reduces your future choices.
Winning and Losing
The game always ends when all four sidings are empty. Every game has all 52 cards pulled onto the main line.
- Win: The main line is empty after all 52 pulls. Your score is zero.
- Loss: Cards remain on the main line. Your score equals the number of cards remaining.
Scores are always even numbers, because cards are discarded in pairs of two or pairs of four. A typical game ends in a loss. Wins are uncommon; skilled players win roughly one in ten games.
Quick Reference
| Situation | What to do |
|---|---|
| Your turn | Pull the head card from any non-empty siding and place it at the right end of the main line. Flip the next card in that siding face-up. |
| Fewer than 4 cards on main line | No match possible. Take your next turn. |
| N and N−3 share a suit | Discard the two middle cards. N and N−3 remain. Re-check. |
| N and N−3 share a rank | Discard all four cards (N, N−3, and both middle cards). Re-check. |
| N and N−3 share both | Rank match takes precedence. Discard all four. |
| No match | Turn ends. Take your next turn. |
| After any discard | Re-check N vs N−3 with the new arrangement. Repeat until no match or fewer than 4 cards remain. |
| All sidings empty, main line empty | You win. Score: 0. |
| All sidings empty, cards remain | You lose. Score = number of cards remaining (always even). |
Variants
Shuffle two decks together and deal into eight sidings of thirteen cards each. The strategic space doubles and games take roughly twice as long. Recommended for two-player cooperative play. With two decks, rank match takes precedence if N and N−3 match both rank and suit.
Two players play simultaneously, each with their own shuffled deck. First to clear the main line wins. If neither clears, lowest score wins.
Set a five-minute timer. Whatever score you achieve when time runs out is your final score. Forces quick pattern recognition over deliberate planning.