What is Lady Betty?
Lady Betty is a deal-and-place patience game in the Sir Tommy family. Like Sir Tommy, the stock is dealt one card at a time and each card must immediately go to either a foundation or one of several waste piles. Lady Betty adds two twists: foundations start at ranks 2, 3, 4, and 5 (not Aces), and each foundation is suit-locked once its first card arrives — building upward by suit with wraparound rather than just by rank. Six waste piles (versus Sir Tommy’s four) provide more routing flexibility.
Full rules
One 52-card deck. Four foundation positions build upward by suit from base ranks 2, 3, 4, and 5, wrapping from King to Ace in the same suit. The first card placed on any foundation locks that position to its suit for the rest of the game. Six waste piles start empty; each accumulates cards dealt to it with only the top card available.
Deal one card at a time from stock. Each card goes immediately to a foundation (if it fits that suit’s current top) or to any one waste pile. Win by moving all 52 cards to the foundations.
Suit-locking and base rank planning
The suit-lock means the first cards reaching each foundation position determine which suits go where. A careless early placement — putting a 3 of hearts on the base-3 foundation — locks that position to hearts for the entire game. All subsequent 4♥, 5♥ and so on must use that foundation; all other suits must use the remaining positions.
Ideal play surveys the early stock cards and chooses the suit assignment that minimizes future waste conflicts. This is similar to the first-move commitment in Colours Solitaire.
Read the Lady Betty strategy guide →
Six waste piles vs. Sir Tommy’s four
Two extra waste piles compared to Sir Tommy give more routing freedom, which partially offsets the added complexity of suit-locked wraparound foundations. The extra piles are most useful when suit distribution in the stock is uneven — two piles can be dedicated to building toward a specific foundation while the others handle low-priority cards.
Lady Betty is part of The Greenway · Waste-pile builders and is a variant of Sir Tommy.
More Waste-pile builders games
- Sir Tommy — Deal one at a time to four waste piles.
- Colours — Six waste piles, building by colour with wraparound.
- Last Chance — A Sir Tommy relative with seven piles and one concealed reserve card.
- Puss in the Corner — Build by color around four corner waste piles, with one ordered redeal.
- Strategy — Assign each drawn card to eight piles before the foundation phase begins.
- Calculation — Race four foundations built by fixed increments.
Also try
- Beleaguered Castle (Castle games) — Eight columns flanking four aces.
- Canfield (Canfield family) — Compact reserve patience with wrap-around foundations.
- La Belle Lucie (Fans (La Belle Lucie)) — Eighteen fans, strict suit-down building.
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