Turn an open deal into a workable plan.

Locate the Aces before moving cards

Trace the cards covering each Ace. A short route to one foundation may help remove blockers from another column. An Ace in the reserve is immediately available, but a buried Ace needs a route through the tableau.

All cards remain face up. Look beyond the current top card and identify what each move will expose before making it.

Keep reserve cards available until they help

Every reserve card can be selected independently. Moving one onto a column spends that flexibility and may cover a useful tableau card. Leave it in reserve until the move builds a foundation or helps uncover something valuable.

The reserve is not a row of free cells. Once a card leaves, its slot cannot receive a replacement.

Open a short column

The one-card column is a natural first candidate. If its card can move to a foundation or another column, the space becomes available for any single card. Longer columns may also be worth clearing when their top cards have an obvious route out.

Use a gap to park an obstruction, expose the card beneath it, then recover the space when possible. Filling it permanently with a King may reduce your options elsewhere.

Plan sequences as individual moves

A red Five under a black Six cannot move as a pair. With an empty column, move the Five aside, move the Six onto a red Seven, and then put the Five back onto the Six. The game requires each of those moves separately.

Foundation top cards can return to the tableau when needed. For example, a black Six from a foundation can accept a red Five once placed on a red Seven. Use this only when it opens a useful route, then rebuild the foundation.

Compare the two opening deals

Play Raglan with the same single-card movement, any-card empty columns, and independently accessible reserve cards. King Albert starts with columns of nine through one and a seven-card reserve. Raglan instead deals columns of seven, seven, seven, six, five, four, three, two, and one; its six reserve cards remain individually accessible.

Raglan starts each foundation with an Ace. Its exposed Twos can therefore move directly to the matching foundations. Check whether a Two in reserve can go up now or whether a tableau blocker must first move. In King Albert, locate each Ace before planning its Two. Both versions permit a foundation top card to return to the tableau when a legal placement opens useful access.

The shared reserve and one-card routing guidance above applies to both games. Undo lets you revisit a decision; a restarted seed preserves the same opening.