Translated from French by Steve ThorsTen (2019)
Number of players: 1
Difficulty: 1
Order of cards: No specific order needed
Hourglass or Clock and Patience is a simple game that requires a lot of patience and is very amusing. The game is sometimes available under a different name – the 13th hour, as it often ends up unsuccessful and teaches players to be patient.
Arrangement of the Cards
To start the game, you will first need to remove the Joker cards from the deck. Then, you will draw from the 52-card deck (same as used in blackjack) to build the clock face placing the deck in the middle. Remember that the clock face is built with cards going from 2 to an Ace, excluding the Kings and Joker. This is what we call the 13th hour. The deck is placed in the center once you have done dealing the 12 cards before that. The game's goal is very simple – just flip all cards face up.
Starting and Finishing the Game
The game plays out very simply. You just keep taking cards from the top. Every time you reveal a card, you can place it at a corresponding location around the clock face. If you reveal a King, you will place him on top of the 13th hour and just keep drawing from the cards below him.
The game continues until you have moved all cards from the central deck around the clock. If you can no longer make a move, and there are still cards in the deck, you have just lost. It's that simple.
Adapted from the original source:
- cphv.ch/siteludotheque