Rules for Gaps

Gaps (also known as Montana) is a solitaire game that rewards careful thinking and planning. All cards are laid out face-up on the table, and the goal is to arrange them in ascending order by suit. The empty spaces left behind as you move cards are what drive the game forward.

The game is for 1 player and typically takes 10 to 20 minutes. You need a standard 52-card deck.

Remove the four Aces from the deck and set them aside. They are not used in this game.

Shuffle the remaining 48 cards and deal them face-up in four rows of 13 cards each, forming a 4x13 grid.

Where each Ace was dealt, leave that space empty. These four empty spaces are the gaps that give the game its name. Their starting positions depend on where the Aces happened to land.

The goal is to arrange all cards so that each row contains a complete suit in ascending order:

• Row 1: 2 through King of one suit
• Row 2: 2 through King of another suit
• Row 3: 2 through King of another suit
• Row 4: 2 through King of the fourth suit

Which suit goes in which row is not fixed in advance. You decide this as the game unfolds, based on where the cards are.

You can only move cards into gaps, and there are strict rules about which card can go where:

• Main rule: A card can move into a gap if it is the same suit and one rank higher than the card immediately to the left of the gap
• Leftmost position: Any 2 can be moved into a gap at the far left of a row
• Blocked gaps: A gap to the right of a King cannot be filled, since no card ranks higher than a King

Example: If ♣️5 sits to the left of a gap, only ♣️6 can go there.

On each turn, move one card into a gap:

1. Look at the gaps and find which cards can legally move there
2. Moving a card into a gap leaves a new gap in the spot the card came from
3. Keep moving cards until you solve the game or get stuck

Tip: Be mindful of gaps that end up to the right of Kings. Those cannot be used and will block progress.

When you can no longer move (all gaps are blocked by Kings), you can reshuffle:

• Any cards not in a correct sequence from the left are collected
• Correct sequences (cards in proper order starting from 2) stay in place
• The collected cards are shuffled and redealt into the remaining spaces
• One gap is placed after each correct sequence in each row
• You typically get 2 to 3 reshuffles per game

A bit of forethought goes a long way in Gaps:

• Choose suits wisely: Since you decide which suit builds in each row, plan based on where cards already sit
• Reassign rows if needed: You can move a 2 from one row to another to change which suit is being built there
• Avoid King blocks: Try not to let all your gaps end up after Kings
• Think ahead: Consider where each move will leave the new gap before committing to it
• Build long sequences: Longer sequences survive the reshuffle and give you a better starting position

Victory: The game is won when all four rows contain a complete suit sequence from 2 to King.

Defeat: If you have used all reshuffles and still cannot move (all gaps are after Kings), the game is lost.

How often the game is winnable depends on how many reshuffles are allowed. With unlimited reshuffles, the game can always be solved.

There are several variations of Gaps worth trying:

• Montana: Similar rules but may allow different reshuffling methods
• Addiction: Uses Aces during reshuffles to create new gap positions
• Fixed suit order: Suits are assigned to rows in advance (for example ♠️-♥️-♦️-♣️ from top to bottom)
• Limited reshuffles: Anywhere from no reshuffles (very difficult) to unlimited
• Ordered redeal: Cards are collected in order and redealt without shuffling
• Double Montana: Played with two decks across 8 rows