How to play solitaire
The rules for every variant on this site, written out plainly. Solitaire rules are old and stable — these are the standard ones.
Klondike
Klondike is the classic one-player card game most people mean when they say "solitaire": seven tableau piles, four foundations, and a stock you deal from. Draw one card at a time for an easier game, or three at a time for the version most desktop apps shipped with.
- Build the four foundations up from Ace to King, one suit each.
- On the tableau, stack cards downward in alternating colours: a red 7 takes a black 6 underneath.
- Turn over face-down tableau cards as they are uncovered.
- Draw from the stock when no move is available. Draw-one is easier than draw-three.
- Move a King (with anything on it) into an empty tableau column.
Klondike questions
Draw one or draw three — which should I play?
Draw one is the forgiving version and the right place to start. Draw three is the one that shows up in most desktop solitaire apps and is noticeably harder to win.
Is Klondike always winnable?
No. A single deal is not guaranteed to be solvable, and a fair share of deals are dead before the first move. Roughly a third of random draw-three deals are winnable with perfect play.
Can I undo a move?
That depends on the game you are playing. The ones in the list below each handle undo slightly differently; most offer at least one step back.
Spider
Spider is played with two decks and ten tableau columns. You build runs of the same suit from King down to Ace, and a finished run of thirteen leaves the table. One suit is the relaxed version; four suits is the real thing.
- Deal ten tableau columns. The first four hold six cards, the rest hold five; only the top card of each is face up.
- Build downward in the tableau regardless of suit, but only a same-suit run can be moved as a group.
- Deal a row from the stock only when no column is empty.
- Complete a King-to-Ace run in one suit and it is removed.
- Clear all eight runs to win.
Spider questions
What does "one suit" mean?
The deck is built from a single suit repeated eight times, so every card can stack on every other card. Three suits and four suits get progressively harder.
Why can I not deal from the stock?
Spider will not let you deal while a tableau column is empty. Fill every column first.
Can I move a run that mixes suits?
You can stack different suits on each other, but you can only pick up and move a group of cards that are all the same suit and in descending order.
FreeCell
FreeCell gives you all 52 cards face up from the start and four free cells to park cards in. Almost every deal is solvable with enough thought, which is why it feels more like a puzzle than a card game.
- All cards are dealt face up into eight tableau columns.
- Build the tableau downward in alternating colours.
- Use the four free cells to hold a single card each, temporarily.
- Build the four foundations up from Ace by suit.
- Only one card at a time can move between free cells and columns.
FreeCell questions
How many free cells should I use?
As few as possible. Treating the free cells as a last resort is the difference between solving a deal and painting yourself into a corner.
Is every FreeCell deal solvable?
Microsoft famously claimed every deal was solvable, then found a handful that were not. In practice the overwhelming majority are, and all 32,000 of the original numbered deals are.
What is "supermove"?
Some implementations let you move a longer sequence by shuffling it through empty free cells automatically. It does not change the rules, just the clicking.
Pyramid
Pyramid is a matching game rather than a stacking game. Twenty-eight cards are laid out in a triangle and you clear pairs that add up to thirteen. No suits involved.
- Clear the pyramid by removing pairs of cards whose values add up to 13.
- Ace counts as 1 and pairs with Queen. Jack pairs with 2, 10 with 3, and so on down to 7 with 6.
- A King counts as 13 and is removed on its own.
- Only fully uncovered cards can be paired, though you may pair two exposed cards from anywhere in the pyramid.
- Draw from the stock when the pyramid is stuck.
Pyramid questions
Which cards count as "exposed"?
A card is exposed when nothing is resting on it — the bottom row of the triangle and whichever cards that row has been peeled back to reveal.
How does the stock work?
You turn one card at a time from the stock. It can pair with any exposed pyramid card or with the previous stock card.
Can I pair two stock cards?
Yes, if the two most recent stock cards add up to thirteen, and in most versions you can also pair a stock card with an exposed pyramid card.
TriPeaks
TriPeaks lays three overlapping peaks of cards and asks you to clear all of them by working one card up or down from the one you are holding. Fast, forgiving, and easy to pick up.
- The card in the waste pile is your current card. Move it one rank up or down onto any exposed peak card, ignoring suit.
- Aces wrap: you can play a King onto an Ace and an Ace onto a King.
- Only cards with nothing resting on them are available.
- Draw from the stock when no move is available.
- Clear every card in the three peaks to win.
TriPeaks questions
Does suit matter?
No. TriPeaks is a rank game. Only the number or letter on the card matters.
What happens if I cannot move?
Turn a card from the stock. It becomes your new current card.
How is it scored?
Usually by cards cleared, with bonus multipliers for streaks. Do not worry about the score on your first run; clear the board first.
Golf
Golf deals seven columns of five cards and gives you a single waste pile to build runs from. It is one of the quickest solitaires to play and one of the least forgiving.
- Build the waste pile down or up by one rank from the top card, ignoring suit.
- Only the bottom card of each column can be played.
- Aces wrap in both directions.
- Turn one card from the stock at a time to keep the run alive.
- Clear all thirty-five tableau cards to win.
Golf questions
Is Golf solitaire winnable?
Often, but a lot depends on the deal and on saving your Kings and Aces, which can only be played next to their neighbours.
Why can I not play a card from the middle of a column?
Every column is a stack. Only the bottom card is exposed until the ones below it are cleared away.
Crescent
Crescent is a two-deck solitaire with sixteen tableau piles arranged in two rings around eight foundations. There is no stock and no waste: every card is on the table from the start, so every deal is decided by how you shuffle the rings.
- Build the foundations up in suit, starting from the Ace that is already there.
- Move the exposed card from a tableau pile directly onto its foundation.
- An emptied tableau pile is refilled from the stock, so the rings keep moving.
- Tableau piles do not build on each other.
- Finish all eight foundations to win.
Crescent questions
Why is there no stock?
Crescent is a card-shuffling puzzle. The tableau piles are the only storage, and they are refilled automatically when you clear one.
How hard is it?
Noticeably harder than Klondike because there is nowhere to park a card you do not need yet.
Collections
These packages bundle a dozen or more solitaire variants behind a single menu. If you want to try several games without opening a new tab each time, start here.
- Open a collection and pick the variant you want from its menu.
- Rules for the individual games are usually shown in the collection itself.
- Most collections separate draw-one and draw-three Klondike as different entries.
Collections questions
Which collection should I start with?
Take the largest one you can find in the list. The card-face and control options are the same across variants, so a bigger collection only means more games.
Do collections save my progress?
Not usually. Treat each game as a standalone session and finish it in one sitting.
Other variants
Solitaire is a family, not a single game. These are the variants that do not fit the standard Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, TriPeaks, Golf or Crescent mould — Scorpion, Yukon, Forty Thieves, Beleaguered Castle and the rest.
- The rules are different in every one of these, and they are printed in the game itself.
- If a variant feels impossible, it probably is one of the unsolvable-deal games; start another.
- Yukon and Scorpion are the two worth learning first if you are coming from Klondike.
Other variants questions
How many solitaire variants are there?
Hundreds. Nobody agrees on the exact count because variants blur into each other and new ones keep being invented.
Which variants are easiest?
Generally the ones that deal all cards face up: Yukon, Scorpion, and anything derived from FreeCell.