Apparatus to facilitate the playing of the game of solitare

Abstract

Playing the game of Solitaire is facilitated with tiles, each tile including indicia representing playing cards, and a custom rack which includes compartments to house the tiles. In one embodiment the compartments are for stock, tableau tiles, foundations for a completed suit, a special tile storage compartment and sequence slots positioned in front of tableau compartments. The tiles are nestable or stackable such that when one is placed atop one another, they stay in place, yet they are not so tightly constrained that they cannot be easily picked up and removed from a stack of tiles. As such the tiles are lightly interlocked when stacked. For selected compartments in which tiles are upstanding a number of ridges are provided to form channels at the bottom of a compartment in which the bottom edge of a tile is adapted to fit. The purpose of the ridges is to prevent tiles from slipping, as they are stacked within a rack compartment. The compartments housing stacked tiles are configured to permit the tiles to lie flat and are thus not provided with the ridges. The sequence slots lie in front of corresponding tableau compartments so as to organize the sequences in relation to the upstanding tiles in the tableau compartments. The ultimate object of the Solitaire tile game is to stack all the tiles in the four foundation compartments, one each corresponding to a suit, with the game being won when a sequence from Ace to King exists in each of the four foundation compartments.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . Apparatus for the play of Solitaire comprising: 
 a number of tiles, each having playing card indicia on one side thereof, said one side including a raised plateau, the other side of said tile having a cavity adapted to mate with the plateau of an adjacent one of said tiles in a loose fit such that said tiles can be stacked neatly without sliding over each other due to the nesting of said tiles.    
     
     
         2 . The apparatus of  claim 1 , and further including a rack having compartments for housing said tiles during play.  
     
     
         3 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein said rack has tableau compartments opened toward the player and having parallel spaced apart side walls; and further including outwardly extending tabs at each of said side walls such that the spaces between said tabs are associated with different ones of said tableau compartments and serve to position corresponding tiles with respect to the corresponding tableau compartments.  
     
     
         4 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein selected compartments include at the base thereof a number of spaced apart ridges forming a corresponding number of channels, said channels adapted to receive a bottom edge of a tile when a tile is placed standing up in a selected compartment, thus to prevent tiles from shifting laterally when they are placed in a selected compartment.  
     
     
         5 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein the bottom of edges of said tiles are rounded to permit easy insertion into a corresponding channel.  
     
     
         6 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein said selected compartments include said tableau compartments.  
     
     
         7 . The apparatus of  claim 4 , wherein said rack includes a stock compartment and wherein one of said selected compartment includes said stock compartment.  
     
     
         8 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein said compartments include at least a tableau compartment, a stock compartment, and a foundation compartment for the housing of said tiles.  
     
     
         9 . The apparatus of  claim 2 , wherein said rack includes a number of outwardly extending tabs to form a series of sequence slots for positioning and organizing tiles.  
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein said rack includes tableau compartments, wherein said outwardly extending tabs define sequence slots, and wherein said sequence slots organize sequences of tiles in relation to upstanding tiles in said tableau compartments.  
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein said rack has a front edge, wherein said tableau compartments have sides and wherein the compartments defined by said sides are open to said front edge.  
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 11 , wherein said rack includes a series of outwardly extending tabs at said front edge, said tabs defining slots communicating with corresponding tableau compartments.  
     
     
         13 . The apparatus of  claim 12 , wherein said foundations and stock compartments are positioned behind said tableau compartments.  
     
     
         14 . The apparatus of  claim 8 , wherein said compartments include an auxiliary compartment for housing special tiles.  
     
     
         15 . A Solitaire game, comprising: 
 nestable tiles having card playing indicia thereon; and,    a rack having a number of compartments for housing selected tiles, whereby the play of Solitaire is facilitated through the nested tiles and a rack that keeps the tiles organized, with the tiles being stackable and the stacks being maintained by the nesting.