Big Ben

Big Ben is a patience or card solitaire which uses two decks of playing cards mixed together. It is named after Big Ben, the nickname of the clock tower of the Palace of Westminster in London. Names Big Ben is also known in the literature as The Clock, Clock, L'Horloge, Grandfather's Clock Patience, Grandfather's Clock and Father Time. It should not be confused with the one pack games of Clock, the shuttling game, The Clock as a variant of Travellers or Clock as a relative of Block Eleven. Rules Before the start of the game, the following cards are separated from the decks: , , , , , , , , , , , . These cards are used to form a circle arranged like numbers on a clock face with the on the "9 o' clock" position, the at the "12 o' clock" position, and the at the "8 o' clock." This will be the foundations, or the "inner circle" (otherwise known as the "clock"). Twelve piles of three cards are then dealt around the inner circle. These piles form the tableau, or the "outer circle." The top cards of the outer circle are available for play to the inner circle or around the outer circle. Building on the outer circle is down by suit, while the foundations in the inner circle are built up by suit until the last card corresponds to its position on the clock (i.e. the should be built up to , for instance). Building is also continuous, with Aces placed over Kings in the inner circle and vice versa in the outer circle.