Maze is a Patience

Patience (game)

Patience is a genre of tabletop games, consisting of card games that can be played by a single player. Patience games can also be played in a multiplayer fashion....

 game using 48 out of a deck of 52 playing card

Playing card

A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games...

s. Although the words maze

Maze

A maze is a tour puzzle in the form of a complex branching passage through which the solver must find a route. In everyday speech, both maze and labyrinth denote a complex and confusing series of pathways, but technically the maze is distinguished from the labyrinth, as the labyrinth has a single...

and labyrinth

Labyrinth

In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...

are synonymous with each other, this game and the solitaire game of Labyrinth

Labyrinth (solitaire)

Labyrinth is Patience game which uses a deck of 52 playing cards. Just as the words labyrinth and maze are not synonymous, this game and the solitaire game of Maze should not be confused with each other because they are different in the manner of game play and dealing...

 should not be confused with each other because they are different in the manner of game play and dealing. In fact, this game is more akin to another solitaire game, Gaps

Gaps

Gaps is a member of the Montana group of Patience games, where the arrangement of cards from Deuce to King is the object. Other games in the group include Spaces, Vacancies, Clown Solitaire, Montana itself, and Blue Moon.-Rules:The cards are dealt into four rows of thirteen. The aces are removed...

, though less mechanical.

Rules

First, all 52 cards are laid out into 6 rows, similar to a 6 x 9 grid. The first two rows should have 8 cards each, while the rest have 9 cards each. Then, the Kings are moved and discarded from play. This leaves six gaps, four left behind by the Kings and the two spaces formed on the first two rows.

The rule of the game are as follows:

• A gap is filled by a card that is the same suit and a rank higher than the card on the gap's left or one that is the same suit and a rank lower than the card on the gap's right, whichever is more advantageous.
• A gap to the right of a Queen can be filled with any ace or a card that is the same suit and a rank lower than the card on the gap's right, again, whichever is more advantageous. However, a gap to the left of an Ace is not filled.
• The rows run from left to right, top to bottom.
• The rows are continuous. The last card of one row is connected to the first card of the next. So goes with the last card of the sixth row to the first card of the first row. Thus, a gap on the extreme left of a row can be filled with a card with the same suit and a rank lower than the card on the gap's right or a card with the same suit and a rank higher than the last card of the row above, and vice versa.

The game is won when all 48 cards are arranged in four suit sequences from Ace to Queen with an Ace as the first card on the first row and a Queen as the last card of the sixth row; it does not matter where the gaps end up when this is achieved.