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How to play solitaire: the rules of five games
Most solitaire games share one goal: get every card out of the layout and onto the foundations, or off the table. In Klondike and FreeCell you build down in alternating colors and send cards up by suit from ace to king. Spider sorts two decks into suits, TriPeaks plays cards one higher or lower, and Pyramid removes pairs that add up to 13.
Klondike
Klondike is the game most people mean by "solitaire". Put all 52 cards on four foundations, one per suit, from ace up to king.
The deal
Deal seven columns from left to right. The first has one card, the second two, and so on up to seven. Only the top card of each column is face up. The other 24 cards are the stock, face down. Above the columns are four empty spaces for the foundations.
The moves
- Build down in alternating colors. A red 7 goes on a black 8. A black 7 goes on a red 8. Suit doesn't matter here, only color.
- Move runs as a unit. Any face-up card, along with everything on top of it, can move onto another column if the card at its base fits. Wikipedia describes it this way. Bicycle's rules are stricter: all the face-up cards in a column have to move together.
- Turn face-down cards. When the last face-up card leaves a column, turn the next card over.
- Empty columns take kings only. A king, or a run that starts with a king, can fill an empty column. Nothing else can.
- Foundations go up by suit. Aces start them, then the 2 of the same suit, then the 3, up to the king. Wikipedia's scoring table includes bringing a foundation card back down onto a column, and our game allows it.
- The stock. Turn cards from the stock onto the waste pile, face up. Only the top waste card can be played. When the stock runs out, turn the waste pile over to make a new stock.
Turn one or turn three
This is the big choice in Klondike. Turning one card at a time lets you see every card in the stock on each pass. Turning three at a time shows you only every third card, and the cards under it come free only when you play the one on top. Wikipedia lists five common ways to play the stock:
| Cards turned | Passes through the stock |
|---|---|
| Three at a time | No limit |
| Three at a time | Three passes |
| One at a time | Three passes |
| One at a time | One pass, playing cards as you go |
| One at a time | No limit |
Our game uses no limit on passes for both turn one and turn three. BVS Solitaire's versions allow two redeals (three passes), so if you're used to a limit, you can set one yourself and stop there.
Standard scoring
Scoring is optional. Our game uses the standard table from Wikipedia's Klondike article:
| Move | Points |
|---|---|
| Waste pile to a column | 5 |
| Waste pile to a foundation | 10 |
| Column to a foundation | 10 |
| Turning over a face-down card | 5 |
| Foundation back down to a column | -15 |
| Turning the waste back over (turn-one games) | -100, never below 0 |
Wikipedia also describes a timed version (2 points off every 10 seconds, plus a bonus for a fast finish) and casino-style scoring, where you buy the deck and win back money for each card on the foundations. Semicolon's Klondike rules give the casino version as 52 points to play and 5 back for each foundation card. Our game doesn't use either.
Winning and losing
You win when all four foundations reach the king. You lose when no useful move is left. Not every deal can be won, even with perfect play; Wikipedia quotes the mathematician Persi Diaconis calling the exact odds "one of the embarrassments of applied probability". Our Klondike strategy section has the share of deals our own solver could win.
FreeCell
FreeCell deals every card face up, so there's no luck after the deal. You use four free cells as parking spaces while you dig out the aces.
The deal
All 52 cards go face up into eight columns: four of seven cards and four of six. Above them are four free cells and four foundations, all empty.
The moves
- Move one card at a time: the top card of any column, or a card from a free cell.
- A card can go on a column whose top card is one higher and the other color, on its foundation, into an empty free cell (one card per cell), or into an empty column. Any card can start an empty column.
- Foundations go up by suit from ace to king. Cards on them stay there.
- You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations.
Moving several cards at once
The rules allow only one card per move, but moving a run one card at a time through the free cells and empty columns is allowed, so games let you move the whole run in one go. People call that a supermove. Wikipedia puts the limit as the number of empty cells plus one, doubled for each empty column. Moving into an empty column, that column doesn't count, since you can't use it for parking along the way.
| Empty free cells | No empty columns | 1 empty column | 2 empty columns |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 2 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| 3 | 4 | 8 | 16 |
| 4 | 5 | 10 | 20 |
Worked out from the rule above, for a run going onto a column that already has cards.
Deal numbers
Many FreeCell programs number their deals, so players can compare the same game. Our FreeCell game deals by number using the method published on Rosetta Code, and our tests check all 52 cards of two deals printed there. Wikipedia says only one deal in the classic set of 32,000 can't be won: number 11982. Random games on our site come from that set and skip it. Our FreeCell strategy notes say how many of the 32,000 our solver won.
A little history
Wikipedia credits Paul Alfille with FreeCell. He wrote the first computer version for the PLATO system in 1978. Its ancestor is Baker's Game, which Martin Gardner described in 1968 and which builds by suit instead of by color.
Spider
Spider uses two decks. Build runs from king down to ace in a single suit; each finished run comes off the table. Clear all eight and you've won.
The deal
Deal 54 cards into ten columns. The first four get six cards, the other six get five. Only the top card of each is face up. The last 50 cards are the stock.
The moves
- Build down regardless of suit. Any 6 can go on any 7. You can't put anything on an ace, and a king only moves into an empty column.
- Only one-suit runs move together. A 7, 6 and 5 of spades can move as a unit. A 7 of hearts with a 6 of spades on it can't: you'd have to move the 6 first.
- Empty columns take any card or any one-suit run.
- Face-down cards turn over once nothing is on them.
- Dealing. When you're stuck, deal ten more cards from the stock, one on each column. You can only deal when no column is empty, so fill every gap first. That gives five deals in all.
- Finished runs. A full run of one suit, king down to ace, comes off the table to the foundations.
One, two or four suits
| Setting | The 104 cards | What it feels like |
|---|---|---|
| One suit | Eight sets of spades | Every build is in suit, so every run can move. The gentlest way in. |
| Two suits | Four sets of spades, four of hearts | You have to untangle red and black builds. |
| Four suits | Two full decks | The classic game, and much harder. |
Wikipedia gives spades for one suit and spades and hearts for two, which is what we use.
Scoring
You start with 500 points, lose 1 for every move and gain 100 for every finished run. Unlike the version Wikipedia describes, where an undo also costs a point, here undo gives the point back.
Wikipedia also quotes Hoyle's estimate that a good player wins about one game in three. Try it on our Spider solitaire page, starting with one suit if you're new.
TriPeaks
In TriPeaks you clear three peaks of cards by playing them onto a single waste pile, one rank higher or lower each time. Wikipedia credits Robert Hogue with inventing it in 1989.
The deal
Deal 28 cards in four overlapping rows that make three peaks. The top three rows (3, 6 and 9 cards) are face down; the bottom row of 10 is face up. The other 24 cards are the stock. Turn the top stock card face up to start the waste pile.
The moves
- Play any uncovered peak card that's one higher or one lower than the top waste card. Suit doesn't matter. On a 7, play a 6 or an 8.
- The played card becomes the new top of the waste pile, so you can keep going: 7, 8, 9, 8, 7 and so on.
- Kings and aces connect (BVS Solitaire's rule): you can play an ace on a king, and a king on an ace.
- A face-down card turns up once both cards lying over it are gone.
- When nothing fits, turn the next stock card onto the waste pile. You go through the stock once; there's no redeal.
- You win when all three peaks are clear. If the stock is gone and nothing fits, the game is over.
Scoring
Our game uses BVS Solitaire's TriPeaks scoring, in points instead of dollars:
| What happens | Points |
|---|---|
| First card of a run | 1 |
| Each card after it in the same run | 1 more than the last (2, 3, 4...) |
| Turning a card from the stock | -5, and the run starts over |
| Clearing the first peak | 15 |
| Clearing the second peak | 15 |
| Clearing the third peak | 30 |
So long runs pay. A run of 10 cards scores 1 + 2 + ... + 10 = 55 points, while ten single cards between stock turns score 10. Wikipedia quotes Hogue's analysis that "over 90% of all the games dealt are completely solvable", if you knew where every card was. Play it on our free TriPeaks page.
Pyramid
Pyramid is a pairing game. Remove two cards at a time that add up to 13, and take the whole pyramid apart.
The deal
Deal 28 cards face up in a pyramid of seven rows: one card on top, then two, and so on to seven at the bottom. Each row half covers the row above it. The other 24 cards are the stock.
The moves
- A card is free once both cards lying over it are gone. The bottom row starts free.
- Remove two free cards whose values add up to 13. An ace counts 1, a jack 11, a queen 12.
- A king counts 13 by itself, so a free king comes off alone.
- Turn stock cards one at a time. The card you just turned and the top card of the waste pile can pair with each other or with any free pyramid card. A turned card you don't use goes on the waste pile when you turn the next one.
- When the stock runs out, turn the waste pile over and go through it again. We allow 3 passes in all, as BVS Solitaire does (two redeals). In Wikipedia's description the game ends when the stock runs out, and its Par Pyramid variation turns the waste over twice.
- You win when every card is gone: the pyramid, the stock and the waste.
| This card | pairs with |
|---|---|
| Ace (1) | Queen (12) |
| 2 | Jack (11) |
| 3 | 10 |
| 4 | 9 |
| 5 | 8 |
| 6 | 7 |
| King (13) | Nothing: it goes on its own |
Wikipedia puts the odds of winning under the strictest rules at "around 1 in 50". The extra passes help a lot, as our Pyramid strategy notes show. Try it on our Pyramid solitaire page.
Common variations
- Klondike: a limit of one or three passes through the stock; casino scoring; Bicycle's rule that a column's face-up cards move only all together. Wikipedia lists relatives like Thumb and Pouch (build on any other suit) and Whitehead (build by color).
- FreeCell: Baker's Game (build by suit), "relaxed" FreeCell where runs move no matter how many cells are free, and the original PLATO version, which offered 1 to 10 free cells.
- Spider: "relaxed" Spider lets you deal with gaps on the table. Wikipedia lists relatives such as Spiderette, Will o' the Wisp and Simple Simon.
- TriPeaks: Wikipedia mentions playing with a wild card, starting with every peak card face up, and letting you choose your first waste card. Its article doesn't say whether kings and aces connect; BVS Solitaire connects them, and so do we.
- Pyramid: one pass only (the strict game), winning once the pyramid alone is clear ("relaxed"), or turning three stock cards at a time (Tut's Tomb, in Wikipedia's list).
How our games work
- Winnable deals. With "Winnable deals only" on (the default), Klondike, Spider with one or two suits, TriPeaks and Pyramid deal only from deals our own solver has won with every card known. You still have to find the way, since you can't see the face-down cards.
- Undo takes back as many moves as you like.
- Hints: 6 per game. Klondike, Spider, TriPeaks and Pyramid hints only use cards you have already seen. FreeCell hints come from our solver, since every card is face up anyway.
- Moving cards: tap a card, then tap where it goes, or drag it. Double-tap sends a card to its foundation (or to its best place). If a move isn't allowed, a red message says why.
- Today's deal: one deal per game each day, the same for everyone with the same settings, with a streak for days you win.
Glossary
- Column (tableau)
- The main rows of cards you build on. Tableau is the older word for the whole layout of columns.
- Foundation
- Where cards go up by suit, from ace to king. Filling them all wins Klondike, FreeCell and Spider.
- Stock
- The face-down pile you turn cards from.
- Waste pile
- Where turned stock cards go. Only its top card is playable.
- Pass
- One trip through the stock.
- Redeal
- Turning the waste pile back over to go through the stock again. Each redeal starts a new pass, so 3 passes means 2 redeals.
- Run (sequence, build)
- Cards going down one rank at a time, like 9, 8, 7.
- Alternating colors
- Red on black, black on red: the Klondike and FreeCell building rule.
- Free cell
- A FreeCell parking space for a single card.
- Supermove
- Moving a whole run at once in FreeCell, as a shortcut for moving it card by card through free spaces.
- Free card (uncovered, exposed)
- In Pyramid and TriPeaks, a card with nothing lying over it.
- Peak
- One of the three stacks in TriPeaks.
- Turn one, turn three
- How many Klondike stock cards you turn at a time.
Sources
- Wikipedia, "Klondike (solitaire)": layout, moves, ways to play the stock, standard scoring, casino scoring, the Diaconis quote.
- Bicycle, "Klondike" rules page: the deal, building, kings in empty spaces, moving face-up cards together.
- Semicolon, "Rules for Klondike": strict and familiar stock rules, casino scoring.
- BVS Solitaire rules pages for Klondike, Klondike II (turn one), FreeCell, Spider Solitaire, Tri Peaks and Pyramid: redeals, empty-column rules, king and ace connecting in TriPeaks, TriPeaks scoring, Pyramid's two redeals.
- Wikipedia, "FreeCell": layout, moves, the supermove rule, deal 11982, history.
- Rosetta Code, "Deal cards for FreeCell": the numbered-deal method and sample deals.
- Wikipedia, "Spider (solitaire)": layout, dealing, suit options, scoring, Hoyle's estimate.
- Wikipedia, "Tri Peaks (game)": layout, moves, history, Hogue's solvability figure, variations.
- Wikipedia, "Pyramid (solitaire)": layout, card values, stock and waste, Par Pyramid, odds, variations.
Keep playing
- Klondike solitaireThe classic: seven columns, turn one or three, with undo and a daily deal.
- FreeCellEvery card face up and four free cells. Play any numbered deal.
- Spider solitaireTwo decks, ten columns, one, two or four suits.
- TriPeaksClear three peaks one card higher or lower. Build long runs for points.
- Pyramid solitairePair cards that add up to 13 and take the pyramid apart.
- Solitaire strategyTips for each game, with win rates from our own solvers.
- Spite and MaliceA two-player race built from solitaire-style stacks, against the computer or a friend.
- Kings in the CornerBuild down in red and black around the table, for 2 to 4 players.