Layout, cross & clock-face games · Clocktower
Build twenty-four foundations in three rows. Every pile builds by suit in +3 intervals, and in this improved variant any empty row space must be filled immediately with its base rank.
Move cards onto matching-suit +3 foundations. In Virginia Reel, fill empty row spaces immediately with 2s, 3s, or 4s.
Virginia Reel is a stricter version of Royal Parade. Like Royal Parade, it assembles three tableau rows with cards following specific rank-interval sequences (row 1 by 2s, row 2 by 3s, Kings in row 3). Unlike Royal Parade, Virginia Reel applies an immediate-gap rule: when a card that fits a specific row gap becomes available, it must be placed in that gap immediately — it cannot be routed elsewhere temporarily. This makes sequencing decisions more consequential and the game harder.
Aces are removed before dealing. Three tableau rows hold cards following specific rank-interval patterns. Stock deals one card at a time. Each stock card must go to a row gap (if it fits that row’s sequence) or the waste. The immediate-gap rule: a card that fits a gap must fill it — you cannot choose to send it to the waste instead.
Waste cards are available to fill gaps when the correct gap position opens. Waste recycles a limited number of times. Win when all rows are completely and correctly filled.
In Royal Parade, a card fitting a row gap may be rerouted to the waste if placing it in the gap would be premature. In Virginia Reel, that option does not exist. The card must fill the gap immediately, even if doing so creates a less favorable board state.
This makes Virginia Reel a more constrained game: you cannot delay placing a card to wait for a better sequencing moment. The waste pile receives only cards that do not fit any current gap — which limits your control over waste composition.
Because waste-pile composition is less controllable in Virginia Reel (the immediate-gap rule forces certain cards directly into rows), the waste tends to accumulate cards in a less predictable order than in Royal Parade. Tracking which row-gap cards are in the waste and when they will surface on each recycle becomes the primary planning skill.
Virginia Reel is part of Clocktower · Layout, cross & clock-face games and is a variant of Royal Parade.