Marina Golf, deal #26

About this deal

This is one of the harder deals of Marina Golf: only 0% of the quick simulated games won it, and the solver had to search for a while before finding the way.

The pile starts with the 2 of Spades. At the start you can reach Ace of Clubs, 5 of Diamonds, King of Diamonds, Queen of Spades, 4 of Spades, 7 of Clubs and Ace of Hearts.

2 of them fit on the 2 of Spades straight away.

Played perfectly, the opening run reaches 3 cards before the first stock card is needed.

5 cards in the layout are end values (Ace and King), which connect in one direction only – the cards most likely to be left behind.

The most common value in the layout is 4 (4 cards), so its neighbours 3 and 5 are the values to keep in sight.

16 cards wait in the stock; the solver's line turns 13 of them.

The solver's winning line has 48 moves.

Deal facts

Difficulty

Hard

Solver's winning line

48 moves, 13 of them stock turns

Quick simulated games won

0 of 200 (0%)

Starting card on the pile

2 of Spades

Cards in the layout

35

Cards in the stock

16

Cards playable at once

2

Longest opening run

3

How to approach it

• Follow the long opening run, but at every fork check which choice leaves a card for the next step.
• Plan the end values early: each of them needs exactly one neighbour on the pile at the right moment.
• This is a hard deal: use undo to test an idea, and the hint button if you are completely stuck.

A winning start

These are the first moves of the solver's winning line. Open them only if you want a nudge.