Idiot's Delight, Firing Squad and the other names for Aces Up

One game, many names

Card games that spread by word of mouth rarely keep a single name, and Aces Up is a good example. Wikipedia lists the game as Aces Up, Aces High, Idiot's Delight, Firing Squad and Drivel (or Drivel Patience, patience being the British word for solitaire). Michael Keller's Solitaire Laboratory adds Wheat and Chaff, which describes the game well: the four Aces are the wheat, and everything else is chaff to be cleared away.

Aces Up is the most common name today, and the one used by most apps and card-game sites. The name Aces High is a handy reminder of the most important rule: the Ace is the highest card of its suit, not the lowest. Whatever the name on the box, if the goal is to finish with one Ace alone in each of four piles, it's this game, and the rules in our how-to-play guide apply.

When "Idiot's Delight" means a different game

Wikipedia notes that two unrelated solitaires share the name Idiot's Delight, which is why searching for it turns up conflicting rules.

• Perpetual Motion (also called Narcotic) deals four cards at a time onto four piles, gathers cards of equal rank onto one pile, and discards them in sets of four. When the stock runs out, the piles are stacked back up and dealt again. If the rules mention four of a kind or redealing the piles, it's this game.
• King Albert is a larger layout game: 45 cards go into nine columns of nine down to one card, the last seven form a reserve, and you build down in alternating colors while moving Aces to foundations. Wikipedia says it earned the Idiot's Delight name because it is so rarely won. If the rules mention foundations or alternating colors, it's this one.

Aces Up has no foundations, no building and no redeal: one pass through the deck, four cards at a time, and only suits and ranks decide what can be discarded.

Harder variants

Only Aces into empty piles. The best-known harder rule allows nothing but an Ace to move into an empty space. Since empty piles are the main way to rescue buried cards, this makes winning much rarer; Wikipedia puts it at roughly once in every 270 games, against about 1 in 35 for the standard rules.

Easier variants

Firing Squad with a free cell. The Pretty Good Solitaire version of Firing Squad adds one free cell where a single card can wait. A card in the free cell can't be discarded or used to discard, but parking a blocker there is often enough to save a pile. Solitaire Laboratory estimates this wins around 90% of the time.

Win at four Aces. Some versions count a win the moment the four piles show only Aces, even with cards still in the stock. solitairewinrates.com measured 8.31% of games won under this rule.

Two decks. A double-deck version with eight piles is almost always winnable; Solitaire Laboratory puts it at over 99%.

Online versions. Some websites add their own help, such as letting Aces move anywhere or awarding tokens that work like extra moves, and their win rates rise accordingly.

Aces Up with Jokers

A physical game of Aces Up removes the jokers from the deck. Aces Up Solitaire keeps the standard rules but adds an optional Joker power-up: play one on a pile and every card in it except the Aces goes to the discard pile. It's a modern equivalent of the easier house rules above, and you choose when, and whether, to use it. Our odds study measured its effect: one Joker saved for the end lifts a skilled player from about 2% to about 15% of games won.

Which rules does Aces Up Solitaire use?

The standard ones described in how to play: one 52-card deck, four piles, Aces high, any top card may move into an empty pile, and the win comes when the deck is gone and the four Aces are alone in their piles. Jokers, undo and Timed Mode are optional extras on top.