I recreated an unusual 9-19-29 solitaire game my grandfather used to play — does anyone know its real name?
When I was a child, I often watched my grandfather sit alone in the living room and play a rather unusual solitaire game.
I never learned its official name. I only remember the rules:
- Deal the cards into four rows.
- Remove all Jacks, Queens, and Kings.
- You may remove three exposed cards when their total is 9, 19, or 29.
- Continue dealing and removing valid combinations.
- Strangely, whenever the game is completed successfully, a single 3 remains.
After my grandfather passed away, my mother often talked about how much she missed this game. Playing it with physical cards while commuting wasn’t practical, so I decided to recreate it as an iPhone game for her.
Since I still don’t know its original name—and because the last remaining card is always a 3—I called it Lucky 3.
Has anyone here played this solitaire variant before? Does anyone know its traditional or original name?
I’ve released my recreation on iOS. If anyone is interested in trying it, I’d be happy to share the App Store link in the comments.