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Spoilt is one of the strangest games in the shuttling family because it stops being rank-only. It uses a 32-card Piquet deck, maps rows to suits and columns to ranks, and turns the usual shuttling loop into a suit-plus-rank placement puzzle with almost no actual player control.
Why Spoilt stands apart
In Clock, Travellers, and Hide and Seek, a card only cares about rank. In Spoilt, every card has one exact square. That makes the layout feel more like a concealed sorting grid than a standard shuttling layout. The other big difference is the role of the 7s, which act as stop points and define the game's loss condition.
How the suit-rank grid works
- Use a 32-card deck containing 7 through Ace in each suit.
- Deal 28 cards face-down into a 4x7 grid and keep four reserve cards aside.
- Treat rows as suits and columns as ranks from 8 through Ace, with an extra space for 7s.
- Flip a reserve card and place it in its exact suit-rank position.
- Take the displaced card from that square and send it to its own correct square.
- When a 7 appears, place it at the left edge of its suit row and restart from reserve.
- If the fourth 7 arrives too early and the forced reveal is wrong, the game is spoilt and lost.
Rules and setup
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Deck | 32-card Piquet deck |
| Layout | 4x7 grid plus a 4-card reserve |
| Placement rule | Exact suit and rank destination |
| Special cards | 7s occupy the left edge of each suit row |
| Failure trigger | Fourth 7 causes a bad forced reveal |
| Win rate | About 5% to 10% |
Difficulty and win rate
Spoilt is still an automatic patience, but it is materially less hopeless than the 1% shuttlers. The reduced deck and reserve give it room to breathe, while the exact suit-rank targets keep it from becoming easy.
The usual estimated win rate is about 5% to 10%. That is enough to make wins feel attainable without turning the game into a solved formality.
What is the difference between Spoilt and Clock Solitaire?
These games share lineage, not board logic. Clock is a rank-only circular sorter with a centre-King ending. Spoilt is a compact suit-rank grid with 7-based stop points and a reduced deck. Even though they are related, they feel completely different once the cards start moving.
| Feature | Spoilt | Clock |
|---|---|---|
| Deck size | 32 cards | 52 cards |
| Placement | Suit and rank | Rank only |
| Board shape | Grid plus reserve | Clock-face circle |
| Stop card | Fourth 7 | Fourth King |
| Win rate | About 5% to 10% | About 7.69% |
Background
The name Spoilt comes from the loss condition: if the final 7 forces an out-of-place reveal, the whole arrangement is declared spoilt. That naming logic is more informative than a generic FAQ entry because it explains the central tension of the game in one sentence.
My take on Spoilt
I like Spoilt because it feels exact. Every card belongs to one specific square, and the 32-card deck keeps the whole game tight.
What I don't love is that it takes longer to read than Clock. Clock explains itself immediately, while Spoilt asks you to learn the grid first.
Other solitaire games I recommend
If you want another odd branch of this family, try Hidden Cards. If you want a cleaner version of the same basic loop, try Clock Solitaire.