| Monte Carlo | |
| Subtitle: | A Patience game |
| Image Caption: | Screenshot of Monte Carlo |
| Alt Names: | Double and Quits, Weddings |
| Namedvariants: | Monte Carlo Thirteens |
| Deck: | Single 52-card |
| Family: | Adding and pairing |
Monte Carlo is a pair-matching patience or card solitaire game using a pack of 52 playing cards where the object is to remove pairs from the tableau.[1] Despite its name, it has no relation to the city with the same name nor to any casino-related game. Alternative names for this game include Good Neighbours and Weddings.[2]
The game is set up by laying out 25 cards so that they form a 5x5 grid. The rest of the pack is set aside as the stock.
Cards that make up a pair (such as two Kings or two Sixes) are removed when they are immediately next to each other horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. Once some or all such pairs have been removed, the cards are consolidated, i.e. moving cards to the left as if towards the upper left corner to fill any gaps left behind by the discarded pairs. New cards are then laid out from the stock to form a fresh layout of 25 cards.[3]
This process is repeated continues until it is no longer possible to remove pairs (e.g. in the finishing stages of the game one might be stuck with "4-6-4-6."). The game is out if all cards are successfully discarded.
Although luck is a large part of Monte Carlo, strategy can sometimes play a part. For example, one could leave a pair alone to be used to aid freeing a separated pair (e. g. two Queens that are left alone to unlock a Q-7-Q).