These rules describe Golf as implemented in the app: strict classic Golf, where exposed column cards one rank above or below the waste top are played onto it, with no wraparound, a draw-one stock, and a single pass, scored like its namesake across a nine-hole match. The published sources offer several relaxations — the choices made here (and why) are called out below.
Clear all 35 column cards by playing them onto the waste, one rank up or down at a time, in as few strokes as possible. The stock and waste do not need to be emptied. A hole's score is the cards left on the board (or below zero for a cleared board), and nine holes make a match. Lower is better throughout.
- Columns: Seven face-up piles of five cards — only each column's exposed (last-dealt) card may play.
- Stock: The face-down draw pile (16 cards after the deal). You get one pass through it — no recycles.
- Waste: The face-up pile every played and drawn card lands on — its top card is the match target.
- Hole: One deal. Nine holes make a match.
- Par: 45 strokes for a nine-hole match, five per hole, matching a hole where a straightforward game clears most of the board.
Rank order runs Ace, 2 … 10, Jack, Queen, King, and does not wrap: an Ace connects only to a 2, and a King only to a Queen. Nothing may be played on a King — once one tops the waste, only a stock flip revives the board. Suits never matter.
- Use a standard 52-card deck (no jokers).
- Columns: Deal 35 cards face up into seven columns of five.
- Waste: Flip one card face up to start the waste.
- Stock: The remaining 16 cards, face down.
- Play any exposed column card that is one rank above or below the top waste card, regardless of suit. It becomes the new match target.
- Ranks never wrap, and nothing plays on a King.
- Tap the stock to flip one card onto the waste. You get a single pass through the stock — no recycles.
- Cards never leave the waste, and there is no building.
- The hole ends when the board is cleared, or when the stock is spent and nothing plays.
- Your hole score is the number of cards still on the board. It starts at 35 and each play removes a stroke.
- Flipping a stock card costs nothing — its price is the plays it didn't make.
- Clearing the board subtracts one point per stock card left, so scores below zero are the best results.
- There is no time bonus — strokes are the whole score.
- A match is nine consecutive holes. The totals sum, and par for the match is 45.
- New Game abandons the match and starts a fresh one at hole 1. Restart returns the current hole to its starting layout. Switching games keeps the match — every game's session is stashed, and Golf resumes where it left off.
You win a hole the moment the last column card is played, regardless of the stock and waste. Most holes are not winnable under strict rules (that is the classic game), so the match score is the real contest: clear what the deal allows and beat par across nine holes.
Where the linked sources offer relaxations, this implementation uses:
- Strict adjacency. No wraparound between Ace and King, and nothing plays on a King (Wikipedia's standard rules). The relaxed "Turn the Corner" variant raises winnability dramatically but is a different, easier game.
- Single pass through the stock with no recycles (universal across sources — the pass limit is the game).
- Traditional golf scoring. One stroke per card left, minus one per banked stock card on a clear, totaled across a nine-hole match with par at 45 (Wikipedia's scoring). Lower is better, unlike every other variant in the app, and this is the app's only multi-deal structure.