Layout, cross & clock-face games · Clocktower
Royal Parade shares the same tableau and reserve layout as Virginia Reel, but empty row spaces do not need to be filled immediately.
Move cards onto matching-suit +3 foundations. In Virginia Reel, fill empty row spaces immediately with 2s, 3s, or 4s.
Royal Parade is a patience game built around assembling three tableau rows, each containing one suit of cards in a specific rank sequence. Aces are removed before play begins. The three rows hold cards of rank 2 through King, with each row following a base-rank pattern: row 1 builds by 2s (2, 4, 6, 8, 10, Q), row 2 builds by 3s (3, 6, 9, Q, 2, 5, 8, J…), and row 3 holds Kings. A stock deals one card at a time; each card goes to a row gap or the waste.
Aces are removed from the deck before dealing. Three tableau rows are laid out with specific gap positions for each rank. Cards from the stock or waste fill row gaps if they fit the row’s required sequence; otherwise they go to the waste. Temporary gaps (positions not yet filled) can be used as routing points. The waste can be recycled a limited number of times. Win when all three rows are completely filled with their correct cards.
Each row follows a different rank interval (by 2s, by 3s, etc.), meaning the cards needed in each row form a non-consecutive sequence. A gap in a row is not just a missing card — it is a position waiting for a specific card from the stock or waste.
In Royal Parade, gaps can be temporarily used as routing space before their correct card arrives. This flexibility (absent in the stricter Virginia Reel variant) allows more forgiving card placement decisions.
Virginia Reel is a stricter variant of Royal Parade. In Virginia Reel, each gap must be filled immediately when a card matching that position becomes available — gaps cannot be used as temporary routing space. This forces more rigid sequencing and makes Virginia Reel harder than Royal Parade.
Royal Parade is part of Clocktower · Layout, cross & clock-face games.