How to Play Elevens

Variations and Optional Rules

Two Player Block Eleven: Although Elevens is a solitaire game, it can also be played by multiple players. In this event, each player shuffles their own, independent deck of cards and deals a game of Elevens. After every player has finished a game, whichever player has managed to remove the most cards is declared the game winner.

Elevens - Line Layout: Some players prefer to alter the shape or format of the layout used in the game. This layout still consists of nine cards, however, instead of three rows of three cards, all nine cards are dealt out in one long line. This is commonly seen with online versions of Elevens. The format of the layout, of course, does not in any way have any impact on gameplay.

Eleven - Multiplayer: There is also a rarer multiplayer version of the game (with the slight difference in the name to "Eleven") in which each player plays in turns and all players share the same layout grid. The game is played using a standard 52 card deck from which all cards of rank Jack, Queen, or King have been removed. This will leave a deck consisting of exactly 40 cards. Each card in this remaining deck has a counting or adding value equal to the number marked on the card, with Aces having such a value of 1. The game can be played by from two to five players. If additional players want to participate (up to about 8) two such 40 card decks should be shuffled together for use in the game.

Determination of the first dealer and seating positions can be performed using any method, with draw for high cards a common method. The player thus drawing the highest ranked card from the shuffled, face-down deck has the first choice of seats and is also set as the first dealer. The remaining players would then take their choice of seat at the table in order of card ranks drawn. If multiple hands are to be played, the role of dealer rotates in a clockwise direction around the table.

The dealer should then thoroughly shuffle and offer the deck to the player at his right to cut. After the cut, the player then deals a grid using the top nine cards in the deck. This grid should consist of three rows of three cards, all dealt face-up near the center of the table. He then sets the remainder of the deck to the side of the layout as the stock pile. No cards are actually dealt to any of the players. The player to the immediate left of the dealer has the first turn, and the opportunity to take a turn rotates in a clockwise direction around the table.

On his turn, a player looks at the current layout on the table, and if he finds any two cards that can add exactly to 11, he removes both of these cards adding them to his capture pile, which he keeps aside. This then ends his turn, after which two new cards are dealt from the top of the stock to replace those which have been removed. If, however, he finds no such cards that add up to 11 in the layout, he instead must draw the top card from the stock. If this card, summed to any other one card on the layout, can add to exactly 11, he may take both cards, and add them to his capture pile, after which his turn ends. In this event, a new card is not dealt from the layout to replace the captured card. If the card drawn from the stock does not make any combination adding to 11, he simply adds the card to the layout, placing it face-up, anywhere near the cards already comprising this layout. His turn then ends, and the next player in rotation takes his turn.

If the stock pile runs out, but a player, on his normal turn, is still able to make a match of 11, he may make this capture, with the turn advancing to the next player. However, once a player is unable to make such a match on his turn and the stock pile is empty, the game immediately ends and scores calculated.

Each player checks their capture pile, and scores one point for each card captured, except for each 10 which has a scoring value of two points. The player who has the highest scoring value is declared the game winner.

Cover Up: Some players prefer to play a variant in which, in the event cards can be eliminated, instead of removing those cards from the layout, they are instead covered by dealing a replacement card from the deck, directly on top of the eliminated card. If the player manages to completely deplete the stock, they are then said to have won the game. The odds of completing this version are exactly the same as in the standard variant, as once the player has depleted the deck, the remaining top cards in the layout would all be able to be eliminated as well.

Block Ten: Block Ten is played almost identically to Elevens. A similar, nine card layout is dealt and the remainder of the deck set face-down on the table. However in this solitaire variant, players attempt to remove cards from this layout that total exactly 10. Similar to Elevens, in this variant Aces have a totaling value of 1. The royalty cards (King, Queen, Jack) can only be removed by matching that card with a card of the exact same rank (King to a King, Queen to a Queen, or a Jack to a Jack). The four 10's may never be removed, and are blockers once played to the layout. A player wins this game if they manage to remove all but the four 10's from the deck and then layout.

Simple Pairs: Simple Pairs is another related Solitaire card game. In this game also, the player deals a three by three card grid of face-up cards and places the rest of the cards in a face-down pile on the table. A player is entitled to eliminate (remove) cards from the layout which make pairs. Thus a five can be paired with any other five or a King with any other King. If the player manages to completely clear the layout and deck, that player has thus won the game.

Suit Elevens: A significantly more difficult variation of Elevens to win is called "Suit Elevens". As in many of the other variants of this theme, a  nine card grid of face-up card is dealt and the remainder of the deck is set in a face-down pile on the table. In this variant, however, in order to remove either the summation of two cards to 11, or three different royalty cards (King, Queen, and Jack), all cards that are removed as part of that combination must be of the same suit. This requirement makes this game much more difficult to complete.

Fifteens: Fifteens is another game played similar to Elevens. However in this variant, a tableau or layout of four rows of four face-up cards (sixteen total cards) is dealt on the table. The player then reviews this layout and remove two or more cards from the layout that total to a sum of exactly fifteen. However, a face card or card of value 10 can never be removed by summing in this way. In order to remove these cards from the layout, there must be four such matching cards, all of the exact same rank (i.e. four tens, four Queens, etc.). After any cards are removed from the layout by the player, he then refills the empty spaces left by the removal of the card by dealing new cards from the stock. Once the stock runs out, he simply continues play, removing the cards from the layout in legal combinations as and if able. If the player manages to deplete the stock and remove all cards from the layout he is said to have won the game.

Straight Fifteens: Straight Fifteens is a solitaire game played similar to Fifteens, but which is somewhat easier to end the game with a winning conclusion. This solitaire version is played identically to Fifteens with the only difference being that cards of rank 10, Jack, Queen, and King are removed from the layout by making a combination of cards consisting of one 10, one Jack, One Queen, and one King.

Thirteens: Thirteens is another solitaire game played similarly to Elevens. In this variant, the layout consists of ten individual cards set out in one row, with the rest of the deck set as a stock pile. The player may remove from this layout, any two cards that total to exactly thirteen. Each of the numbered cards has a summing value equal to the number printed on the card, Aces have a value of one, Jacks 11, Queens 12, and Kings 13. Kings can be removed individually from the layout when found there. All cards removed from the layout are replaced with cards dealt from the top of the stock. Once the stock runs out, the player continues play with the cards remaining in the layout. If the player manages to deplete the stock and the layout of all cards, they have won the game.

Nines: Nines Solitaire is played very similarly to Elevens. As in that game, a layout consisting of three rows of three face-up cards is dealt, and the remainder of the deck is set aside as the stock. The player is then entitled to remove any two cards that total to exactly nine. Aces have a sum value of one. Nines found on the layout may be removed individually. In order to remove tens and royalty cards (Jack, Queen, King), the player must find a four card combination consisting of any one ten, Jack, Queen, and King, and may thus remove all four cards together. Any cards removed from the layout are immediately replaced with cards dealt from the top of the stock. Once the stock pile is depleted, play continues with the cards remaining in the layout. If the player manages to play all cards from both the stock and the layout, they have thus won the game. The odds of winning Nines Solitaire on any specific deal is approximately 5.5%.

Eighteens: Eighteens is another solitaire game in which cards are removed from a simple layout through addition. In this game, a 12 card layout is initially dealt to the table, which is usually done as a single row of twelve cards. The legal combinations that can be removed from the layout consist of exactly one royalty card (Jack, Queen, King) along with three other cards, which amongst the three, total to exactly eighteen. Aces have a summation value of one. As cards are removed from the layout, these cards are replaced by the top card from the stock. If the player manages to completely play every card from the stock and then the layout, they are considered to have won the game.