Here are the approved set of variations that will be randomly assigned to students. Students will have the option to select a variation of their own they would like to implement, but you need me to sign off on the decision.
All instructions below are from (c) "Solitaire, Aces Up and 399 other card games", by David Parlett.
Use two packs. Deal eight cards face up. Each of them may act as a base, and the object is to build upon a base in ascending sequence regardless of suit until it contains thirteen cards (ranking continuously via King, Ace etc.). The end product is therefore eight piles of thirteen cards.Before turning any cards from stock, you may build as far as you can and will amongst cards on the table, filling the vacancies they leave with cards turned from stock so that there are always eight bases. When you can or will proceed no further, turn cards from stock and build them if possible or discard them face up to a single wastepile if not. Throughout the game, the top card of any suite may be built upon the top of any other if it fits. In this way it is sometimes possible to whittle a pile far enough down to receive the top card of the wastepile, or to clear one out entirely so that its space may be occupied by a new base turned from stock or taken from the top of the wastepile. It is important to keep track of each suite, and to turn it face down as soon as it reaches its full complement of thirteen, after which it goes out of play (hint find way to show on the screen the number of cards in each pile). No redeal is allowed. Every effort must therefore be made to deplete the wastepile by the judicious transfer of available cards in the layout.
Deal eight fans of three cards each to start the tableau (which may be regarded as eight columns of three, if preferred). If any of them are Kings, shift them to the bottom of their fans. The object is to found the Aces as and when they become available and build them up to the Kings regardless of suit.Turn cards from stock three at a time and place them one on each of three waste columns in order from left to right. Exposed cards of the fans and waste columns are available for building on suites or packing on the tableau. Pack in descending sequence regardless of suit, moving only one card at a time. A vacancy made by clearing off a fan is never refilled, and there is no redeal.
Use two packs. Take an Ace of each suit and lay them in a column down the left side of the board as foundations, and do likewise with Kings on the right. Between the two columns deal twenty cards face up in four rows of five, forming the reserve.The object of the game is to build the Aces up in suit to the Kings and the Kings down in suit to the Aces.
Build from the reserve as far as you can, filling spaces immediately from stock. When stuck, deal twenty more cards, one on each place in the reserve in any order you please. Use top cards of the reserve to build again as far as you can. The play of a top card releases the one below it for building if possible, but from now on do not replace cards from stock until you cannot (or will not) build any further. When that happens, deal another twenty cards as before. Keep playing in this way, replenishing the reserve not piecemeal but always twenty at a time, and not building until the deal is completed. Of course, the last deal may comprise fewer than twenty cards. Cards may not be reversed from suite to suite, and there is no redeal.
Use Two Packs. Deal a row of eight cards (the 'indicators') at the top of the board. Leave room below it for another row of eight (not yet dealt) and below that deal a second row of eight. Allow room for the bottom row of cards to be extended in columns towards you. These constitute eight waste piles.The object is to build eight suites in the middle row, in ascending sequence but regardless of suit. The base card of each suite, to be founded as and when it becomes available, is to be the one rank higher than the indicator about it in the top row, and the indicator itself will subsequently be used to crown the suite to show that it has been completed (Example: suppose the leftmost card of the top row is a Jack. When a Queen turns up, set her below the Jack as a base, and build K, A, 2, and so on. When the Ten is reached, crown that suite with the Jack and cease building).
All cards in the bottom row are immediately available for founding as bases or building on any suite in the middle row. When all such moves have been made, deal the next eight cards of stock from left to right across the bottom row, filling vacancies from which previous cards have already been built. Where a card covers another, overlap them so that both are visible. Having dealt, pause and make any builds that may be possible. Each exposed card in the bottom row is available. When built, it releases the one below it for building. Continue in the same way, building as far as possible, then dealing eight across, then building again, and so on there is no redeal.
Take the four Aces and put them at the top of the board. Build them up in suite to the Kings.Deal the next eight cards face up in a row. Do any building that can be done and fill the spaces from stock. Keep building and filling until you can go no further. Then deal another row of eight overlapping the first, pause, and build again. From this row onwards do not fill vacancies except by the next deal, and always deal eight across before resuming play. After each deal the top and bottom cards of each column are available for building. The removal of either, of course, releases the next card above or below it. There is no redeal.
Use Two Packs. Deal sixteen cards in four rows of four, forming a center square. Around it deal a frame of twenty cards (four parallel to each side and one at each corner) and around that an outer frame of twenty-eight to enclose the inner frame entirely. From the center square, remove all cards which are not Aces or Kings, taking them from left to right and top to bottom as dealt, and place them face down to one side to form a reserve pile.For Convenience and your sanity you can reposition all cards in the center square so that the top two rows of four will contain Aces that will be built up and the bottom two rows of four will contain Kings that will be built down.
The object is to eventually get all Aces and Kings into the center square as base cards, and to build the Aces up in suit to the Sixes, and the Kings down in suit to the Sevens.
All cards in the outer frame are immediately available for founding and building. The removal of an outer card releases for building that card of the inner frame which is adjacent to it edge by edge (not diagonal, for which reason the play of an outer corner card does not release an inner corner card). When stuck, deal cards from stock to fill gaps in the double frame, proceeding from left to right and from top to bottom. When the stock is exhausted and no more building can be done, turn up the cards of the reserve one by one and build them, pausing to build from the frame whenever possible. The cards of the reserve may not be used to fill gaps in the frames, and there is no redeal.
Take the Queen of Hearts, King of Spades, and Jack of clubs. Put the Queen in the middle and deal eight cards around her: two above, two below and two each side (to form a large PLUS sign). These eight represent the guards of the bower. Put the King up at the top right and deal a packet of seven cards face down beside him. These seven are a reserve of King's guards. Put the Jack down at the bottom left.The object is to build all the cards of the pack into a single pile by the Jack of clubs, starting with a Ten, descending in sequence regardless of suit, passing from Ace to King as necessary, and finishing with the King of Spades, followed by the Jack of Clubs
Hearts. In story-line terms, the Knave's object is to dispatch all the guards and onlookers and find himself alone with the Queen of Hearts.Turn cards from stock and build them if possible or discard them to any of three wastepiles if not. Available for building on the single suite are the top card of stock, the top of each wastepile, and the eight guards of the bower. It is obligatory to build a guard of the bower as soon as possible, in preference to one from anywhere else, and to fill its space with the top card of the King's reserve. The King of Spades is not to be taken till last, leaving the Queen of Hearts to go off with her admirer.
When the stock is exhausted, gather up the wastepiles and start dealing again. Three redeals are allowed if you insist on a happy ending.
Deal cards face up in seven overlapping rows of seven to make a tableau of seven columns. The first card dealt from the pack is the 'penguin' -- it will lie at one corner of the finished tableau at the buried end of the first column. As you deal, take out and found as bases the other three cards of the same rank as the penguin.The object is to free the penguin as the fourth base card and to build all bases up into thirteen-card ascending suit sequences, turning from King to Ace as necessary.
Exposed cards are available for building or packing. Pack the tableau in suit and descending sequence, turning from Ace to King as necessary. A properly packed sequence headed by an exposed card may be shifted as a whole provided that the join follows the rule. A space made by clearing out a column may be filled only with a card one rank lower than the bases, either alone or at the bottom of a packed sequence headed by an exposed card.
During play, any exposed card may be moved into a reserve called the 'flipper', which at any time may contain a maximum of seven cards. All cards in the flipper are available at any time for building on suites or packing back on the tableau. or for filling spaces in accordance with the appropriate rule (It is therefore possible, though rarely desirable, to free the penguin in the first six moves).
I don't know if I'll be needing this one:
Object is to found the Aces as they appear and eventually build them up in suit and sequence to the Kings.Turn cards from stock and play them face up to any of eight waste piles. Aces may be founded when they appear, but no other cards are to be built until the piles have been completed. With skilful packing, it should be possible to play off all forty-eight cards from the tops of the piles downwards.