What is Alternations in alternating colours?
The same Alternations deal — two decks, seven columns dealt face up and face down by turns, and a stock that goes round once — with one change: cards build down in alternating colours, red on black and black on red.
It is the harder way to play: runs are slower to build, fewer stock cards find a place, and only a few hands in a hundred are won. Play it free here with hints, unlimited undo and a timer.
What changes
A card goes on one a rank higher and of the other colour: a red nine on a black ten, a black jack on a red queen. A run moves as a whole only if its colours alternate all the way. Everything else is as in Alternations on any suit: one pass through the stock, any card in an empty column, and foundations built up in suit from ace to king.
Strategy for alternating colours
With fewer places for every card, planning matters more:
- Look at both twins. Every card has two places it can go — the two tens of the other colour for a nine, say — and a twin of its own. Pick the spot that frees the most.
- Free the face-down cards first. Turning a card over is worth more than lengthening a run: each hidden card may be the one a column is waiting for.
- Use empty columns to re-sort. An empty column is the only way to fix a run that’s stuck in the wrong colours. Keep one free as long as you can.
- Make every stock card count. Deal the next card only when the table has nothing left to give: the waste gives back only its top card.
- Use hints and undo. Hint looks for a line of play that wins; when there isn’t one, Undo lets you go back and try another way.
Questions and answers
How much harder is it than on any suit?
Much harder. On any suit most hands can be won; in alternating colours only a few in a hundred. Expect to use undo, and count every win as a real achievement.
How do I know a hand can’t be won?
When no move is left and the stock is empty, we’ll tell you and offer to undo or deal a new hand. Hint says so too when it finds no move worth making.
Is it scored differently?
The score is the same — 10 points for each card home, 1,040 for a win, plus a bonus for speed — but your profile earns twice the XP for a win in alternating colours.
How do I switch to building on any suit?
Use the buttons above the board: each way of playing opens in its own tab and keeps its own saved game, so you can go back and forth without losing either.
More solitaires
пасьянс.укр also has classic Klondike Solitaire, FreeCell, where every card is face up from the first move, and Spider Solitaire, another game for two decks.