SWMBO and her family play a four-handed version of "almost Klondike." They call it "Hell." Four decks of cards, four players. Each player deals his own "layout row" but with only five stacks rather than 7, and keeps his own deck as his turnover pile. The turnover pile is called your "Hell Pile," and you turn over 3 at a time to look for cards to play. All aces play to the middle of the table, and anyone can play onto any ace pile. With 16 Ace piles, there's almost never a "lost" game where there's no play left. First one to empty his "Hell" pile shouts "HELL" and wins the "hand." (You do not have to empty the original 5 stacks that are laid out - only your "turnover" deck.)

You have to use decks with a different back for each player, since scoring for each "hand" is EACH player's "number of cards played to aces" minus "number of cards left in Hell pile." Cards left in the player's own "layout" don't count either way.

Normal play - to 500 points, can take a few hours, and make some families cease speaking to each other for a couple of days. (Also note, it's best to keep "tipable" liquids and sticky finger stuff off the table. Some players get a bit "excitable.")

John