Floor IV · Card wing
Ember Steps
A patience game for one: climb the pile one rank up or down and leave as few cards on the table as you can.
- Stakes 5 to 200 glints
- Glints have no cash value
- 18+ only
Play Ember Steps
16 in the stock
Choose a stake to begin.
About Ember Steps
Ember Steps is an old patience game with a stake on it. Thirty-five cards are dealt face up in seven columns of five, one card starts the pile and sixteen wait face down in the stock. Only the bottom card of each column is free to move.
A free card can go onto the pile when it is exactly one rank above or below the pile card: a seven on a six or an eight, a queen on a jack or a king. Suits do not matter. Ranks do not wrap round, so nothing goes on a king except a queen, and only a two goes on an ace.
When nothing fits, turn the next card from the stock onto the pile and carry on from it. The round ends when the table is clear, or when the stock is empty and no card fits. What comes back depends on how many cards are left on the table: the fewer, the more.
The cards are dealt at random; after that, the skill is in choosing which run to play first. Show a good move marks the card that starts the longest run of plays from where you are. It cannot see the stock, and neither can you.
How to play
- Pick a stake from 5 to 200 glints and press Deal the steps.
- Press any glowing card to play it onto the pile: it is one rank above or below the pile card.
- When nothing fits, press Turn the stock for a new pile card.
- Once the stock is empty and nothing fits, the round settles by the number of cards left on the table.
Pay table
Every figure is what comes back for one glint staked; multiply by your stake. The count is the cards still on the table in the seven columns when the round ends. The numbers come straight from the data file the game itself reads.
| Cards left on the table | Back for 1 glint |
|---|---|
| 0 | 11 |
| 1 to 2 | 2.8 |
| 3 to 4 | 1.4 |
| 5 to 6 | 0.7 |
| 7 to 8 | 0.4 |
| 9 or more | – |
At a glance
- Cards
- One 52-card pack: 35 on the table, 1 on the pile, 16 in the stock
- Stakes
- 5 to 200 glints a round
- A move
- Any bottom card one rank above or below the pile card
- Wrap
- None: an ace goes only on a two, a king only on a queen
- Clearing the table
- About 2 deals in 100 with careful play
- Round
- Two to four minutes
Where to stop
A long patience round can feel like one round when it is really ten minutes. Decide how many deals you will play tonight before the first one, and count deals rather than moves.
Fair play
Your browser's built-in randomness settles each outcome the instant you press the button. Nothing is tuned to your glints, your history, the hour or the length of your session, and the chamber has no idea who you are. Across many rounds every chamber returns somewhat less than it takes in, which is how games of chance are built. Glints are worth nothing in money, so nothing real changes hands either way.
No round is ever bought: every chamber is free, glints cannot be purchased, and a free rekindle to 2,000 glints is there whenever you drop below 40. Playing or success here does not imply future success at real-money gambling.
