Solitaire

The following rules were developed as a way to play solitaire with the E Lele! deck and enjoy many of the same elements of the game and learn about the birds, habitats, threats and protection while playing.

E Lele! Solitaire is a single-player card game where you strategically match Bird pairs to their Habitats and try to achieve the highest possible score.

The highest possible perfect score is 70, including playing Social Attraction card to one extra habitat capacity. Without Social Attraction, the highest possible score is 68.

Start by separating the cards into four piles by type: Habitats, Birds, Threats and Protections.

Tip: since the cards are directional, it’s handy when you play to shuffle them in a way that maintains consistent orientation.

Before playing, it is recommended to remove Translocation, Sea Level Rise and Carbon Reduction from the game (or if you draw them, just discard them). Translocation and Sea Level Rise are cards that can swing the score widely one way or the other, so they imbalance the score and make those games outliers that can’t really be compared to any games without those cards being played. 

Game Play

The game is played with three rows of cards laid across the table.

Habitats

Row 1 (Habitat Row): The top row starts with the Habitat cards, and as the game progresses Bird pairs are played onto the Habitats. To generate the Habitat Row, deal cards from left to right until you have the following cards laid down:

2 Islets and 1 each of Sea Cliff, Dune, Coastal Grassland, Gulch Wall and Lava Field

If you already have 2 Islets or one of the other cards laid down, and you draw another one, discard and continue until you have these 7 cards.

The total value of the Islets should be between 5 and 7, so if you have Islands valued either 4 or 8, discard one and keep drawing until you get two Islets with a combined value of 5-7.

Once you have those 7 cards, keep drawing additional Habitat cards until the total capacity is exactly 20. (The extra cards can be any type, including Urban or Fern Burrow. Tip: count your running total as you go — you need to land on exactly 20, so stop as soon as you reach it.)

You should end up with 8 or 9 Habitats cards in all, laid out across the top row, with a total capacity of 20.

Leave a space (about the width of one row of cards) below the row of Habitat cards for the placement of Bird pairs as the game progresses.

Place the remaining Habitat cards to the side; they will not be used in the game.

Bird Cards

Row 2: Below the Habitat cards, lay out one row of Bird cards with 6 piles across, each with 2 face down cards and one face-up card on top.

Row 3: Immediately below Row 2, lay down a row 7 face-up Bird cards.

Place the remaining Bird cards in a pile face down at the bottom of the table. This is the Bird card draw pile.

Threat and Protection Piles

Place the Threats deck in a pile face-down to the left of the Habitat row.

Place the Protections deck in a pile face-down to the left of Row 2.

Playing the Game

In the 12 Bird cards face up in Rows 2 and 3, find matches of wahine (♀) and kane (♂)* and move them up to lay them in a suitable Habitat, representing a successful thriving colony of birds. (* Mōlī (Laysan albatross) contain one ♀♀ pair.) Once a Bird pair is placed on a Habitat, it can’t be moved later.

Each time a Bird pair is moved up to a Habitat, if a Bird is moved from Row 2, you can either turn over the card that is now exposed underneath, or you can choose one of the cards in Row 3 to move up on top of the pile in Row 2; then fill in the empty spaces in Row 3 from the Bird draw pile. If a pile in Row 2 is all played up and it leaves an empty spot, then you can fill it with a card from Row 3 or from the Bird draw pile. There should always be 12 cards to match with, until the draw pile is exhausted.

Proceed to match Bird pairs and play them in Habitats, turning over or replacing cards with each pair, until you have no more moves to play.

Habitat capacities apply, so once a Habitat is full, no further bird pairs can be played there. 

Getting Stuck

Once you can’t make any more pairs or have no matching Habitats to play them in, then remove all 6 of the cards in Row 3 and place them in a discard pile.

Deal out 6 new Bird cards from the remaining Bird draw pile to refill Row 3.

Then draw one card from the top of the Threats deck, and two cards from the top of the Protections deck (see Threat Cards and Protection Cards sections below for how to play them).

Threat Cards

With the Threat card, go from left to right in the Habitat row and play the Threat card on the first Habitat that it can affect. Each subsequent time you get stuck and draw a Threat card, alternate playing from right to left, then left to right again.

For Bird level Threats, if there is one or more Bird pairs in the Habitat, the Threat covers the bottom-most pair of Birds, and that Bird pair isn’t counted unless the Threat is removed. If there are no birds yet on that Habitat, then the Threat card is still played there and effectively takes up one spot in the Habitat’s capacity that can’t be used until the Threat card is removed. (You can still play other pair(s) in the Habitat.)

For Habitat Loss, the Threat covers the entire Habitat and no more Birds pairs can be played there, and nothing from the Habitat is counted, unless the Habitat Loss is removed.

Protection Cards

At the same time as you draw a Threat card, you draw two Protection cards.

If you draw a Protection card that counters a Threat card, then you can choose to play it immediately and remove the Threat card, or you can choose to hold it to play any time later, including at the end of the game. You can apply a Protection card to whichever applicable Threat Card or Habitat you choose. Keep unused Protection cards face up below the Protection deck (to the left of Row 3), available to use later if needed.

You can play Habitat Restoration to remove Habitat Loss. (Habitat Restoration doesn’t remove Bird level Threat cards if they are in the Habitat that is restored.)

When you play a Protection card to remove a Threat card, move both to a discard pile.

Play Bird Sanctuary to remove and prevent any Threat cards to that Habitat; tuck it underneath a Habitat card so the top of Bird Sanctuary card is showing and that Habitat is protected.

End of Game

Continue matching Bird pairs and moving them to the Habitats, and when you get stuck replace Row 3 and draw 1 Threat card and 2 Protection cards, until you either 1) fill up all available Habitat spots, or 2) exhaust the Bird draw pile and have no remaining moves. You may not be able to fill up all of the Habitat spots at the end of the game. You may also end up with Bird pairs with no matching Habitats available.

At this point, the game is over. Total up all of your Bird cards that have been played in the Habitat row, and are not canceled out by a Threat.

Keep track of your scores and try to best yourself, or compare with other players!

Strategy

Like with other forms of regular card-deck solitaire, luck plays a role and you can have games that go very smoothly with lots of matches, and other games where you get stuck a lot, but overall you should have a decent chance to get quite a few Birds played into Habitats, and there are strategies to help you score higher.

There are several elements of strategy in the game that can be employed:

●      Choose which orders to match your Bird pairs, e.g. match the highest value first, or match from Row 2 so you can uncover hidden cards or move higher value Birds up from Row 3.

●      Choose which Bird pairs to match if you have multiple options. For example, generally it may be advantageous to match pairs that have one in Row 2, so you can access the card underneath it. However, there are times when it may be better to match a card in Row 3 to avoid losing access to a card if the row is discarded.

●      When you match and play a Bird from Row 2, choose whether to turn over a card below it, or move up a Bird from Row 3 to Row 2.  By turning over a card you get access to more cards overall, but you can protect higher value Birds in Row 3 by moving them to Row 2.

●      Choose which Habitat to place a Bird pair in. Most Birds can nest on Islets, but Ka‘upu cannot — so save Islets for last and fill other Habitats first to keep your options open.

●      Choose when and how to play your Protections cards.

As you look for Bird matches, try using the Hawaiian names, English names, Linnean names and images so you can learn them all. Also, take time to read the bird factoids, especially when you play a Bird pair into its Habitat!