Poker Puzzle is variation of the classic "fifteen puzzle" game, using poker hands.

This game was invented by Randy Rasa, and is available as part of the Poker Solitaire Pack collection.

Getting Started

The game is begun by taking a pack of 52 cards, shuffling it, and dealing the first twenty-five cards face-up into a 5 x 5 grid. The remainder of the cards are not used until the next hand.

Object

The object of the game is to re-arrange the cards within the 5 x 5 grid to form the best possible poker hands.

Moving Cards

Only cards horizontally or vertically adjacent to the empty space may be moved. Simply click on the card you'd like to swap the space with. You can move the cards as often as you like, until you're happy with the arrangement.

Cashing In A Hand

When you've created a complete hand in one of the rows or columns, you may cash it in. To do so, click one of the row or column labels within the score box. When you click it, the specified hand will be removed from the tableau and scored. You can also right-click anywhere, and select "Cash In" from the resulting pop-up menu. Note that when the mouse pointer passes over the row and column labels within the score box, the value of the hand will be displayed.

Scoring

You earn points for each type of poker hand you can create. The number of points awarded per hand is based on the hand you create, and the cards in the hand.

Refer to Poker Solitaire Pack Scoring for details on the scoring systems used for this game.

Strategy

This game often allows for very high scores. I find that I can sometimes hold back potentially lucrative cards for later use, while using lower-value cards such as twos, threes, and fours just to get rid of them. Be very careful that you remove hands along one of the edges of the grid (not the middle!) just before exhausting the deck. Once the deck is empty, it's very easy to end up blocking yourself off from further moves.

The rules to this game are copyright Randy Rasa, and neither the rules nor the game they describe may be reproduced without written permission.