Introduction
Addiction is a relatively new entry in the patience game catalog, but in our mind is a very good addition to the collection. Easy to learn and simple to play, addiction can be surprisingly challenging as you zenfully move each card to its rightful position, only to be caught off guard by a dead end requiring a reshuffle of the cards not already in their rightful place.
Addiction is a wonderful game in that it's simply to play mindlessly to kill a few moments, but can offer a surprisingly deep strategy for those who want to maximize their odds of winning in face of the constant shuffles and random configuration of cards.
It also happens to be a prime candidate for digital enjoyment, because while it is fun it does take a bit of space on the table, as all 52 cards are spread out in a large grid that might not neatly fit next to your coffee mug.
Setup
The table consists of four 13-slot horizontal rows. Each slot can hold a single card. Deal a 52 card deck and place one card in each slot. Remove the aces, leaving four empty slots on the table and 48 cards in play.
Objective
To win Addiction you must move the 48 cards to their correct location, so that each of the four rows has all 12 cards of a single suit with the two of the suit in the leftmost slot, the three of the suit in the slot to its right, and so on and so forth with the rightmost slot being empty. It does not matter which row holds which suit, only that the cards in that row are well ordered and all of the same suit.
Allowed Moves
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Move one card to a valid empty slot. Cards can be placed in empty slots if and only if the card in the slot to the left of the empty slot is of the same suit and has a rank one lower than the card being moved. For example a six of diamonds can be placed in an empty slot if the card to the left of that slot is the five of diamonds. Two's of a suit can only be moved to an empty slot if it is the leftmost slot of the row. As a result no cards can be placed in a slot whose left neighbour is either a king or itself empty.
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Shuffle. You are allowed to shuffle the cards on the table three times in a single game. When you shuffle all cards who are not in their correct location will be moved to a random slot on the board. Because cards who are already correctly placed will not move you can not directly lose progress by shuffling the board, but you might find yourself in a better position to proceed. Cards are considered to be in the correct position if they are either:
- a two in the leftmost position of their row
- of the same suit as the card to their imminent left, one rank higher, and that card is itself correctly placed.
The game will go on until either you've managed to form all four rows from beginning to end, or until you've run out of moves having already shuffled thrice.
And that's it!
Want to play Addiction and try your luck? Play a round at Cardgames.io.
