Welcome to Simple Pairs!

Simple Pairs is a fun card game where your goal is to remove pairs of cards with the same rank until there are no cards left. Some people also call it Jamestown.

But here’s the thing – Simple Pairs is not that easy. It’s a challenging game that relies heavily on luck. So if you’re up for a real test, this game is perfect for you.

Getting Started

To play Simple Pairs, you’ll need a big playing area. Just like in other solitaire games, you’ll use the entire deck of cards. And how you arrange the cards is crucial for the game to work.

Alright, let’s get started with Simple Pairs! First, we need to shuffle the deck. Once that’s done, I’ll lay out the tableau for you. There will be a total of nine piles. We’ll start with nine face-up cards on the table. These are the cards you can play from. The rest of the deck will be put aside for the stockpile. We’ll also have a foundation pile where we’ll place pairs of cards once we remove them from the game.

[image: a setup of the space with the tableau holding nine faceup cards, a stockpile, and a foundation pile holding a removed pair of cards]

In Simple Pairs, we don’t build cards or exchange them from the stockpile. Once we remove cards from the tableau, we’ll use the stockpile to refill the empty spaces. If there are no more cards in the stockpile, we won’t be able to refill any spaces.

Let’s Play!

When I play Simple Pairs, my goal is to find pairs of cards with the same rank. It doesn’t matter if the sets are different; the only thing that matters is the ranking of the cards. If I find a pair, I remove them from the tableau and place them in the foundation pile. Then, I refill any empty spaces with cards from the stock. This is the main rule of the game, and I keep repeating these steps until I can’t make any more valid moves. If that happens, I lose. But if I manage to remove all the cards and place them in the foundations, I win!

In Simple Pairs, cards with the same rank have equal value. Each card in a standard deck, from Ace to King, has its own unique value. Here’s the full list of ranked cards: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King.

If you can remove all the cards to the foundation pile, then you win the game. Otherwise, it’s a loss. This solitaire game has a very low win rate, and we actually know the exact probability of winning. Unfortunately, your chances are only about 24 percent.

If you can remove all the cards to the foundation pile, then you win the game. Otherwise, it’s a loss. This solitaire game has a very low win rate, and we actually know the exact probability of winning. Unfortunately, your chances are only about 24 percent.