2022 Summer Game #1: Five in a Row Solitaire

Have you ever been caught up in a solitaire game and refused to quit until you won? Of course, then you had to play again to see if you could do it again! That is what today’s game is like: addicting, aggravating, and amusing! What a great way to kick off the summer games!

Five in a Row Solitaire, game A6 in the Math Card Games book, works on the facts that make ten. If your child is comfortable with Go to the Dump game, this will be an easy transition to playing solo. Encourage the use of the AL Abacus if the facts aren’t solid yet.

You will need four of each basic number cards 1 to 9. The goal of the game is to pair all of the cards. Shuffle the deck and deal five cards face up in a row. Then deal five cards face down just below the first row, as shown here.

Ian is looking for any pairs that make 10 in the face-up row. He finds an 8 and 2 and moves them to two piles above the top row.

Now he will start turning over the second row of cards from left to right. He turns over a 7 and places it on the 5 above. The next card, 1, fills in the blank space left by the 8.

He then turns over a 3, pairs it with the 7, and places them on the two piles at the top.

Ian reveals the fourth face-down card and sees that it is a 9. He wants to pair it with the 1 above it, but pairs cannot be made in the same column. Rats. But wait! He can put it with the 1 in the second column!

The last card is a 3 and fills the blank left by the 2.

Now that the second row, the face-down row, is empty, Ian fills it with more face-down cards from the deck and continues to play.

Later in the game he is so close to winning but has a dead end because a 5 is on a 5. Game over.

He is eager to play again and wants to beat the cards. Guess what? He did play again twice and won both hands!

Here’s a fun variation: Two player solitaire! Each player needs a deck of four cards of each number 1 to 9. Each person sets up the cards as in the previous game. After the five face-up cards are laid out, deal out the entire stock to the face-down cards.

Play proceeds as before but the top cards that are face up can be stolen from the other person! Once a pair is collected in the two piles, they are safe and cannot be stolen. We put our paired piles below the face-down row so they don’t get in the way of stealing. 😊

We hope you enjoy these games as much as we do. Let us know how much fun you have!