The Cunning Draw — a solitaire matching game with the Minor Arcana
The Sun — Games & Amusements

The Cunning Draw

A Solitaire Matching Game Through the Minor Arcana

No wild cards, no foundations to build — just fifty-six cards, a memory for what's already showing, and a stock pile to turn to when luck runs thin. The Cunning Draw is a quieter kind of solitaire: match the exposed rank against the exposed rank, clear the pile beneath, and see how far luck and a sharp eye can carry you.

How It Works

The full Minor Arcana — Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles, Ace through King — is shuffled and dealt into eight piles of five, with the rest held back in a stock pile. Only the top card of each tableau pile is in play, alongside whatever's turned up from the stock. Suit never matters here, only rank: find two exposed cards that share a rank, and both leave the table for good, uncovering whatever was buried beneath. When the board locks up, draw from the stock — and once the stock runs dry, it flips over and becomes the stock again, so you can cycle through as many times as it takes. Clear the whole deck and it's yours. Full instructions live inside the game — look for the "How to Play" button.

The Goal

Clear all eight piles by removing every card in matching pairs of rank — suit never matters.

How to Play

  • Only the top card of each tableau pile is in play — the rest are buried and dimmed until uncovered.
  • Click a top card to select it.
  • Click another top card of the same rank (Ace matches Ace, Queen matches Queen, and so on — any suit) to remove both.
  • Click the selected card again to deselect it.

The Stock Pile

  • Click the Stock pile to flip its top card face-up onto the Waste pile.
  • The exposed Waste card is in play just like a tableau top card — it can be selected and matched against any other exposed rank.
  • Once the Stock is empty, clicking it flips the Waste pile back over to become a new Stock, so you can cycle through the draw again — repeat as many times as it takes.

When You're Stuck

If none of the exposed cards share a rank, draw from the Stock for a new card to try. If both Stock and Waste are exhausted of moves, cycle the draw again, or Undo your last move, or start a New Game.

Buttons

  • Undo — reverse your last move (including draws).
  • Restart — reset the board to this game's original deal.
  • New Game — shuffle and deal a fresh board.

Tip: scan every exposed card before your first move — pairs are often hiding in plain sight.

56
Cards Left
0
Pairs Cleared
16
Stock
0
Times Cycled
Stock & Waste
Tableau
Wands
Cups
Swords
Pentacles
Match by rank only — suit never matters
· ✦ ·

There's no message from the cards in this one, no reading to sit with — just the shuffle, the memory, and the small satisfaction of a pile going quiet one pair at a time.

From the Sun Chapter What matches doesn't always match on the surface.
Sometimes it's the number underneath that counts —
and the cunning ones know to turn the deck again.