Play Grounds for Divorce Solitaire
Two decks, an open deal, and a stock that skips empty columns. Play a free game of Grounds for Divorce below.
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Grounds for Divorce is a two-deck Spider game with an open deal and an unusual stock. Ten columns start with five face-up cards each. You build down in any suit and move same-suit runs, as in Spider. But when you deal from the stock, empty columns get nothing, so any space you clear stays clear.
How the Grounds for Divorce deal is laid out
The game uses 104 cards from two decks. Each of the 10 columns gets five cards, all face up. The remaining 54 cards form the stock.
Grounds for Divorce rules
These rules follow Pretty Good Solitaire’s Grounds for Divorce page.
- Building. Place a card on any card one rank higher, in any suit.
- Moving. Move a single card, or a run going down in sequence in one suit.
- Empty columns. Fill with any card or legal run.
- The stock. Each deal puts one card on every column that has cards in it. Empty columns get nothing.
- Completed runs. A King-to-Ace run in one suit is removed automatically.
- Winning. Clear every card in completed runs.
How it differs from Spider
Pretty Good Solitaire names two differences from Spider Solitaire: the opening layout, and the stock rule, which it calls the most important one.
The layout. Spider deals six or five cards per column with only the top card face up. Grounds for Divorce deals five face-up cards to every column, so you can see the whole table from the start.
The stock. Spider won’t let you deal until every column has a card, and then a card lands on every column. Grounds for Divorce lets you deal with gaps on the table and skips them. Pretty Good Solitaire’s tip spells out the result: once you make a space, it stays until you move cards there yourself.
Relaxed Spider also lets you deal with empty columns. The difference is that Grounds for Divorce never drops a stock card into the gap.
Grounds for Divorce strategy
Make spaces early. Pretty Good Solitaire’s advice is to make spaces as soon as possible. In most Spider games a space is temporary. Here it’s yours to keep through every deal.
Use spaces to sort. A kept space lets you split mixed-suit runs into their same-suit pieces, and you don’t lose it on the next deal. Two spaces make long sorting jobs possible.
Watch the shrinking deal. Each deal only covers columns that have cards. The more spaces you hold, the fewer columns get buried, and the further the stock stretches.
Prefer same-suit builds. Pretty Good Solitaire’s tip for this game, as for Spider, is to favour same-suit sequences even though any-suit building is allowed. Only same-suit runs move as a group, and only they clear.
Plan from the open deal. Every card on the table starts face up. Before you move, find the columns you can empty fastest.
The board above is free in your browser, with unlimited undo, hints and numbered deals you can share. For another open two-deck deal, try Beetle Solitaire.
Rules source: Pretty Good Solitaire (Goodsol)
Frequently asked questions
What is Grounds for Divorce Solitaire?
Grounds for Divorce is a two-deck game in the Spider family. It deals five face-up cards to each of ten columns and keeps the rest as a stock. You build down in any suit, move same-suit runs, and clear King-to-Ace runs in one suit. The stock never deals cards into empty columns.
How is Grounds for Divorce different from Spider?
There are two differences. The opening deal puts five face-up cards in every column, where Spider deals mostly face-down cards. And the stock skips empty columns: you can deal with gaps on the table, and they stay empty. Pretty Good Solitaire calls the stock rule the most important difference between the two games.
What happens to empty columns when you deal?
Nothing. Under Pretty Good Solitaire’s rules, the stock deals one card to each column that has cards in it, and no cards to empty columns. So a space you’ve made stays empty through every deal, until you move a card or a run into it yourself. That’s why it pays to make spaces early.
Are the cards face up in Grounds for Divorce?
Yes. Pretty Good Solitaire’s layout deals five cards face up to each of the ten columns, so every card on the table is visible from the start. Only the stock is hidden. Each stock deal adds new cards to the columns that still have cards, which is where the surprises come from.