Clock Patience
A luck-driven solitaire laid out like a clock.
Setup
Deal 13 face-down piles of 4 cards: twelve clock positions and one center king pile.
How to Play
- Flip the top card of the center pile.
- Place it under the pile matching its rank and flip that pile's top card.
- Kings go to the center.
- Continue until four kings appear.
How to Win
Win if all cards are revealed before the fourth king stops the game.
Simple, quick, and excellent for teaching ranks.
Is Clock Patience Right for You?
Clock Patience lays thirteen piles in a clock face plus a center, and you simply turn cards to their matching hour position until the whole deck unwinds. Reach for it when you want a near-effortless, almost meditative way to shuffle through a deck.
Maybe skip it if: If you want any real decisions to make, skip it; there are essentially none.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Believing your choices matter; the outcome is fixed the moment you shuffle.
- Misplacing cards by rank, since a single misdeal quietly breaks the whole chain.
Strategy Tips
- There is no strategy; play it to relax, not to win.
- Place each card precisely so you do not lose track of which piles are exhausted.
- Treat the count of revealed Kings as your built-in clock for how the game is going.
Popular Variations
Hidden Kings
The classic loss condition is turning the fourth King before the deck is done; some play it as Watch where you keep a tally.
Travellers (Grace's Patience)
A near-identical relative with the same clock structure but slightly different placement rules.
Our Take
We are blunt about Clock Patience: it is pure fortune-telling with cards, decided entirely by the shuffle, with roughly a 1-in-13 chance of going out. We keep it around as a calming ritual, not as a game we expect to influence.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the odds of winning Clock Patience?
About 1 in 13, since winning depends only on whether the fourth King appears as the very last card.
Can skill improve your chances at Clock Patience?
No. Every move is forced, so the result is determined entirely by the initial shuffle.