Quiddler Solitaire

I received Quiddler as a Christmas gift. Looking to play a solitaire version of Quiddler, I made up my own. The official version of Quiddler Solitaire is here:

https://www.setgame.com/sites/default/files/instructions/QUIDDLER%20SOLITAIRE%20INSTRUCTIONS%20-%20ENGLISH.pdf

I devised my own before Googling the one above. It's a bit different. I play with half the deck. The half deck contains 59 cards.

The number of times each letter is repeated in the half deck is:
A-5, B-1, C-1, D-2, E-6, F-1, G-2, H-1, I-4, J-1, K-1, L-2, M-1,
N-3, O-4, P-1, Q-1, R-3, S-2, T-3, U-3, V-1, W-1, X-1, Y-2, Z-1,
QU-1, IN-1, ER-1, CL-1, TH-1.

My version involves dealing 7 cards off the deck face up. Spell one word and discard the letters used for the word. Replace the cards discarded from the deal deck. Continue until you can't spell a word. To win, all cards must be used to spell real words.

I use traditional Scrabble rules to spell words. No proper nouns or abbreviations are allowed. I allow single letter words although you can try it with "a" and "I" not allowed.

I think mine is better because you don't have to shuffle 118 cards at a time and then spend time dealing out 48 cards. It is also more difficult with only 7 letters to choose from. It is also more like traditional solitaire in that the deck is 59 cards and you have 7 columns of cards. You can also play a variation with 8 cards up at a time. This makes it a bit easier.  Their version is better because of the unpredictability of using two decks.

Aces Up!

Four card solitaire described here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aces_Up

Video of someone playing a hand here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5c_nzx6p4k

The odds are long on winning a hand of this game of solitaire. With the wind storm last week, I lost power and then the power came back on but no cable, internet or land phone over the weekend. With no internet, I resorted to playing hands of solitaire and branched out into four card solitaire. I coded up a player and it boasts a winning rate of roughly one in 39 hands or a winning rate of 2.56%. The average number of cards remaining is about 14.3. This game is exceedingly simple and easy to code up. The only strategy involved is moving cards to empty spaces. The algorithm is as follows:

1.    Move a card lower than the same suit above it to the empty space.
2.    Move a card lower than a card on another pile with same suit to the empty space.
3.    Look back one into the piles and move a card below it that will result in creating another empty space.
4.    The ace strategy seems to work as moving any ace available to the empty spot that results in a discard is then made.
5.    Move any card that results in a discard.
6.    Move any ace to the empty spot.
7.    Move any card available to the empty spot.

That’s it. I’ll search for further refinement as I move forward.