SolitaireAbout Solitaire-Online
Twelve classic card games, free, in the browser, with nothing between you and the deal. No account, no download, no interruption. This page explains who makes it and the principles it is built on.
What this is
Solitaire-Online is a collection of twelve card games that run in your browser. Ten are solitaire: Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Yukon, Russian Solitaire, Pyramid, TriPeaks, Golf, Forty Thieves and Canfield. Two are trick-taking games played against computer opponents, Hearts and Spades. Every one is free and complete. There is no premium tier, no locked variant and no daily limit.
You do not make an account, because there is nothing to make an account for. Open a page, a hand is dealt, you play. Close the tab and the game waits for you in the same browser.
Why it exists
Solitaire is one of the most played games in the world, and most places you can play it online have become difficult to actually use. Video adverts between hands. Consent walls stacked in front of the board. Accounts, streaks, coins, energy meters, notifications asking you to come back.
None of that makes solitaire better. It makes it slower. We wanted the version that respects the four minutes you came to spend, so we built it.
| What you get | What you will not find |
|---|---|
| Twelve full games, free | Paid unlocks or premium variants |
| Instant play, no sign-up | Accounts, logins or email capture |
| Unlimited undo and hints | Timers or energy meters gating play |
| Your game saved locally | Data sent to a server about you |
| Works offline-ish and on any device | An app you have to install |
How it is built
The site is static HTML, CSS and JavaScript. There is no framework, no build toolchain in what gets deployed, no analytics tag and no advertising script. Every asset the games load, including fonts, styles and card images, is our own file served from this domain.
The site is delivered through Cloudflare, which sits in front of the server as a cache and a filter for malicious traffic. On the four pages that display an email address, Cloudflare adds a small script of its own that hides the address from harvesting bots. The privacy policy sets out exactly what that means and what Cloudflare can see.
The ten solitaire games share a single rules engine, which is why they behave identically: the same drag, the same undo, the same hints, the same save behaviour. Hearts and Spades sit on a second, smaller module, because a game with three opponents and a bidding round has almost nothing in common with a tableau. Both share the same deck, artwork and sound effects, which are synthesised live with the Web Audio API rather than downloaded as files. If you want the longer version, we wrote it up in Ten Games, One Engine.
The guides and the blog
Alongside the games there are two libraries of writing. The guides are reference: complete rules, strategy and a glossary, the things you look up when you want to know how a game works. The blog is longer-form — the history of patience games, what the maths says about which deals are winnable, and notes on what we are building.
We try hard to be accurate, including about the limits of what is known. Where a popular claim is shaky — that Napoleon invented solitaire, that card games measurably improve memory — we say so rather than repeat it.
Who makes it
Solitaire-Online is an independent site, built and maintained by one person. It is not owned by a games network or a publisher, and there is no company behind it. That is the honest answer to why it loads quickly and why nothing on it is trying to convert you into anything.
Credits
The card artwork is the Vectorial playing cards set by OpenClipart-Vectors, published on Pixabay and free for commercial use with no attribution required. We credit it anyway, because someone drew fifty-two cards and gave them away.
How it is funded
At the time of writing, it is not. The site carries no advertising and sells nothing. Running costs are modest and paid personally.
That may change: if the site grows, advertising is the most likely way it would pay for itself. If that ever happens we will say so plainly on this page and in the privacy policy before it goes live, not after. What will not change is the core promise — the games stay free and complete, and nothing gets put between you and the board.
Getting in touch
Bug reports, rules disputes and suggestions are all welcome at [email protected]. There is more detail about what is useful to include on the contact page.