Postcard Patience

What is Postcard Patience?

Patience is the old name for solitaire, and Postcard Patience is a road trip through five of its quieter classics. You start at Home at the bottom of the map and walk up through Clover Downs, Willowbend River, Shell Cove, Orchard Hills and Harbor Town to Lantern Peak. Each region has its own local custom, a short solitaire we reworked so a hand takes a minute or three, and a host who explains it the first time you sit down.

There are no lives, no timers, no coins and no gates. Undo is always free, you can deal any hand again, and every hand in the valley has been checked by our solver, so the goal can always be reached. It's free and runs in your browser on a phone, tablet or computer, with nothing to download.

The five local customs

Meadow Pairs (Clover Downs)

Cards sit in a grid four wide. Clear two cards of the same rank that touch, side by side, up and down or corner to corner. The cards behind slide up to close the gap and fresh cards come in from the meadow pile. It's our take on Monte Carlo.

River Run (Willowbend River)

Cards lie along a winding river. A card can hop onto the card just before it, or three places before it, when the two share a suit or a rank, and everything under it hops along too. You aim to finish with as few piles as you can. This is Accordion, dealt open so you can plan the whole river.

Shell Fans (Shell Cove)

Cards lie in fans of three and only the top card of each fan can move. Send cards home in suit from Ace upward, or onto the next higher card of the same suit on another fan. A hermit crab holds one spare card, and once per hand the tide can gather the fans and lay them out again. It grew out of La Belle Lucie.

Orchard Rows (Orchard Hills)

Four rows, one suit each, built from 2 at the left upward. The aces are taken out, which leaves gaps. A gap takes the next card of the suit just to its left, a gap at the start of a row takes any 2, and a gap after the highest card is stuck. Once per hand you can shake the trees to lay the loose cards out again. This is Gaps, also called Montana, with short rows.

Harbor Piers (Harbor Town)

The ferry deals one card to each of four piers. Ship a card out when a higher card of the same suit is showing on another pier. Aces are high. An empty pier takes any top card. This is Aces Up with a smaller deck.

Lantern Peak, the last region, mixes all five customs with the strongest twists.

Controls

Tap a card to play it to its best spot, or drag it where you want it. When a card has more than one place to go, the first tap picks it up and the spots it can go light up. On a computer you can also use the arrow keys and Enter, U to undo, H for a hint and Esc to step back to the map.

Settings has a four-color deck, a large card mode with a big rank and suit, a card back picker and a table cloth picker.

Goals, wishes and stars

Every hand shows two chips at the top. The goal is what you need to finish the stop, such as leaving 4 cards or fewer in the meadow or finishing the river with 3 piles or fewer. The wish is the best result our solver found for that exact deal, or for Shell Fans and Orchard Rows, finishing without the tide or the shake.

You earn up to three stars per stop: Goal, Wish, and Own way for finishing without a hint. Undo never costs a star. When you reach the goal with moves still left, a Finish button appears so you can stop there or keep going for the wish.

Twists

Each region brings its own twists, and they are always visible before you move.

• Morning mist: some cards lie face down until a card touching them is cleared.
• Butterfly, Stepping stone and Gull: a wild card. The butterfly pairs with any card it touches, the stone matches any card on the river, and the gull flies off with any one showing card.
• Frost: a frosted card can't be used until it thaws. The number on it counts down with every move.
• Rapids: on fast water, cards can also hop two places back.
• Tide pools: only the top card of each fan shows.
• Basket: lift any loose card out of the orchard to open a gap.
• Crane: the crane holds one card, and its card still counts as showing.
• Sea fog: only the top card of each pier shows.

Keepsakes, postcards and companions

Each region has eight stops on the main trail and two side trips, sixty stops in all. The first time you reach the goal at a stop on the Spring road you find that stop's keepsake, a little object with a note, like a pressed clover from the Village Green or a brass compass from the harbor. Every finished stop also sends a postcard to your travel journal.

Finish a region and a companion joins you: Puddle the duckling, Nib the crab, Pip the squirrel, Gale the gull and Hoot the owl, alongside Biscuit the dog who starts with you. You choose who walks with you on the map. Finishing a region also gives you its table cloth, and milestones unlock card backs that are shared with our other card games.

Reach The Summit and the Summer road opens: the same valley repainted, with new deals and a little more bite. Autumn and Winter follow, for 240 hands in all.

Day Trip and leaderboards

The Day Trip is one hand that is the same for everyone on the same day, worldwide (it changes at midnight UTC). The custom rotates from day to day. Your first try counts on the daily board, and you can replay it for practice afterward.

Your day streak grows with each Day Trip you play, and one missed day a week won't break it. There is also an all-time board for total stars.

Festivals

Every week, Monday to Sunday, the valley holds a festival, such as the Kite Festival, Lantern Night or the Harvest Fair. You get five hands, one of each custom, each with the festival's twist. Finish all five for that festival's keepsake.

Tips

• In Meadow Pairs, look at which cards will slide next to each other before you take a pair. Pairs near the end of the meadow move fewer cards.
• In River Run, a hop of three usually opens more chances than a hop of one. A card you cover can't help any more, so check what it was matching first.
• In Shell Fans, the danger is a low card buried under high cards of its suit. Save the crab for the card that opens a whole fan.
• In Orchard Rows, every move leaves a new gap where the card came from. Plan so the new gap lands after a card whose next card is free.
• In Harbor Piers, keep an empty pier for a card that is hiding a lower card of its own suit, and ship low cards first when you can.
• If the hint says it can't see the goal, undo a few moves. It means the current position can no longer get there.

Questions