This is a standard solitaire, described in Morehead/Mott-Smith's "Solitaire and Patience Games", as well as Douglas Brown's "150 Solitaire Games".

Elevens is a member of the "Simple Addition" family of solitaire games, in which the object is to remove cards that add up to a certain number, in this case, 11.

Setup

The layout is three rows by three columns, and the object is to discard pairs of cards totaling eleven. Face cards are discarded in triplets -- one Jack, one Queen, and one King, of any suits. Spaces are filled immediately from the deck.

These are the valid moves:

The game is won if you discard all the cards.

Strategy

There is not a great deal of opportunity for strategy in this game. This is one game where you don't have to do a lot of thinking, and you are not kept waiting long to see if you win.

Obviously, the J-Q-K triplets are most desirable. If one of those appear early on, you have a decent chance of coming out on top at the end of the game.

Odds

Your chances of winning are about one out of every seven or eight games. Here are my current statistics:

• Games Played: 99
• Games Won: 13 (13.13%)
• Average Score: 18.12