Puss in the Corner

Puss in the Corner puts the four Aces in a square at the middle of the table and four waste piles at the corners, and then does something unusual: the foundations build up by colour rather than by suit. Hearts and diamonds are interchangeable, spades and clubs likewise, so each foundation will take twice as many cards as it otherwise would.

The other kindness is control. When four cards come off the stock you decide where each one goes rather than dealing one to each pile, and when you take your single redeal you choose the order the piles are gathered in. For a game this simple, that is a surprising amount of agency, and it makes it a genuinely pleasant beginner's game rather than a coin toss.

The four Aces are set out as foundations in a square at the centre, and four more cards go to the corners as the tops of four waste piles. Foundations build up from Ace to King by colour, not by suit — so a heart will go on a diamond and a spade on a club, which roughly doubles what each foundation accepts. Deal four cards at a time from the stock and distribute them freely among the corner piles, not one each. Only the top card of each waste pile is available. When the stock runs out you may gather the waste piles in whatever order you choose and go through once more.

Two rules make this friendlier than it looks. Building by colour means each foundation accepts twice as many cards as a suited one would, and being able to choose which corner pile each dealt card goes on is real control rather than luck. Use it: keep one pile for high cards you will not need for a while and keep another shallow for cards that are nearly playable. The single redeal lets you choose the gathering order, so before triggering it, look at which pile you want on top and stack accordingly — that choice is worth more than anything else in the game.