Martha

Martha is a tidy one-deck game built on a slightly unusual deal: twelve columns of only four cards each, alternating face-up and face-down, with the Aces already sitting as foundations before you start. The short columns make the layout wide and shallow, and the face-down cards are never far below the surface.

The rule that defines it is the one about gaps: sequences can move around the tableau freely, but an empty column will only accept a single card. That turns emptying a column from an obvious good into a decision with a cost, and it is what stops Martha from collapsing into an easy game despite starting you off with all four foundations open.

The four Aces come out of the deck first and sit as foundations. The other 48 cards are dealt into twelve short columns of four, alternating face-up and face-down so that the top and third cards show. Columns build downward in alternating colours and the foundations build each suit up from its Ace to King. An already-ordered sequence can be moved whole or in part, but a column you empty takes only one card — you cannot move a run into a gap, which is the restriction that gives the game its shape.

Twelve short columns means a lot of face-down cards close to the surface, so early play is about flipping them cheaply. The single-card gap rule is the constraint to plan around: an empty column is much less useful here than in games that accept a sequence, so emptying one is rarely worth contorting for. Because the Aces are already placed, foundations start moving immediately and the usual warning about advancing them too early applies with force — a two sent up early is a card you can no longer build a three onto.