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Strategy Tips


The best strategy is to win SUPER FAST! But seriously folks, Royalty has many levels of strategy to it, and understanding these strategic considerations is essential for your becoming a Royalty master. So, here the game authors and contributing Royalty experts have compiled some strategy tips designed to help you succeed:

Leave Open Piles

Novices to the game quickly fill all open spaces and get stuck, then claim that the game is "impossible to beat" and go back to playing Micro$oft solitaire. They fail to grasp one of the most important strategies of the game: leave yourself some room to operate.


The Hand is There for You

Beginners are also tempted to use cards from their hand like it is going out of style. But you only have a limited amount of stacks on which to build, so priority should be given to uncovering new cards in your source piles. You can always take cards from your hand, so don't think of it as another source pile. Instead, think of your hand as a kind of toolbox, which you use to connect cards from your source piles, or add to existing stacks.


The More the Merrier

When you have the option of removing several cards in a row from your source piles, that's almost always better than removing a single card. Remember, your hand is always available, and cards from your source piles are the priority.


Don't Suck

A very important strategy in this game is to be good at it. Try to avoid sucking at the game.


Nonpolluted Royalty Stacks

The special Royalty rules add another dimension of strategy to the game. So one thing to think about is that royalty cards have at least eight places they can go (and sometimes more due to "royal privilege"), while most other cards are restricted to the six build piles. And even though royalty are accepted everywhere, they will be turned away if they attempt to bring any "commoners" with them. For this reason it is sometimes a good choice to avoid "polluting" your royalty stacks. If you have moved a Jack and Queen from your source piles to a build pile, avoid the temptation to add that 10 from your hand to the bottom of the stack. If you do, you no longer have the option of moving the stack to a royalty pile, which would free up a more valuable build pile.


The "Undo" Feature Can Be Your Friend

Unlike some solitaire games, you are not penalized for using the "Undo" feature. We figure if you're undo-ing moves, it's costing you precious time, and that's already enough of a penalty. Thus, undo becomes a powerful tool for the serious Royalty gamer. Perhaps you are at a crossroads: you only have one open build pile, and you have several decent options of cards to move from your source piles. Here is where "undo" is essential. By moving a card from a source pile and then undo-ing that move, you can effectively see the next card, allowing you to make the wisest choice.


Set Reasonable Goals

Perhaps you just downloaded Royalty, and after playing several times without winning, you finally beat the game, with a score of 273. Now, as you read these stragey tips, you think "Wow! Now that I know all this, I'm a Royalty master!" Listen to the words of experience: attaining the upper echelons in the Royalty ranks requires an investment of time, a honing of mousing skills and rapid decision-making. Don't expect to become a master overnight. Perhaps a reasonable goal for you would be "I'm going to break 200." That's a reasonable goal for a Royalty newbie. Perhaps your goal is to always have a lower time than a Royalty-playing friend. This is a commendable goal.


Begin Stacks With Low to Middle Numbers

After much number-crunching, we have figured out that the ideal numbers to start a stack (all other factors being random) is in the vicinity of 4-7. Why? Because then as you uncover additional cards, there is a greater likelihood that they will be an upper or lower neighbor. "So why isn't the ideal in the middle then?" ask the astute mathematicians. "Why isn't it just 7?" Because of the way stacks are handled. You can always add a number to the top of a stack, but adding a lower neighbor requires an empty build pile, which you may not always have. Also, Royalty cards have more options, so we don't need to allow as much for them. Thus, the ideal numbers for starting stacks are in the "lower middle" range.


Go Without Food or Drink Until You Accomplish a Time Objective

Sometimes self-administered consequences have a desirable result in your gaming skills. While we don't advocate extremes ("If I can't break 40, I'll flog myself!"), placing yourself under pressure might be just the thing you need.


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Last updated 7.19.2019
© 1997-2007 Zach Bardon and Kevin Baba