The Clock
The Clock is one of a few solitaire games with the gimmick of having a layout that resembles some real-world object, in this case a clock (Pyramid could also be said to fall in this category). The Clock is entirely based on luck; once the deal is done, the game plays out as it must, and there’s nothing the player can do to influence the outcome. It might be apt to say that you don’t play The Clock, it just happens to you.
Object of The Clock
The object of The Clock is to turn the 48 cards other than kings face-up before the four kings are turned face up.
Setup
The Clock requires the use of one standard 52-card deck of playing cards. While the only one you can impress by using your Denexa 100% Plastic Playing Cards is you, you might as well use them for something, right?
Shuffle and deal thirteen piles of cards. Arrange twelve of them into a circle, then place the thirteenth pile in the center, as shown in the diagram at right.
Game play
The twelve piles making up the main circle of The Clock’s tableau each represent one of the hours on a typical clock face. The pile at the top of the circle represents the 12, the one to its right the 1, and so on around the circle (clockwise, natch). Each of these piles also has an associated rank of card, with the aces being represented by 1, the jacks by 11, and the queens by twelve, with the twos through tens represented by the same number as their face value. The central pile represents the hands of the clock, as well as the kings. Here is where The Clock’s game play begins.
Draw one of the face-down cards from the king (clock hands) pile and turn it face up. Place that card face-up at the bottom of the pile belonging to that card, and draw the top card of that pile. Then, move that card to its appropriate pile, and so on.
The game is lost if the fourth king is exposed when there are still other face-down cards in play. If the fourth king is the last card revealed, the game is won.
