Solitaire Guides

Everything from your very first deal to the strategy that turns a losing hand around — written for people who actually want to get better.

Learn the rules

Rules

How to Play Klondike

The board, the goal and every legal move — explained the way you would teach a friend at the kitchen table.

8 min read
Rules

How to Play Spider

Two decks, ten columns and eight runs to build — plus why the suit count changes everything.

7 min read
Rules

How to Play FreeCell

Every card face up, four free cells, and almost no luck — plus the maths behind moving several cards at once.

7 min read
Rules

How to Play Russian Solitaire

No stock, no mercy, and only one landing spot per card. The rules, and the plan that actually beats them.

9 min read
Rules

How to Play Forty Thieves

Two decks, one pass through the stock and no group moves. The rules, and why empty columns are the whole game.

9 min read
Rules

How to Play Yukon

Klondike without the stock, and with a move so generous it changes how you read the board.

7 min read
Rules

How to Play Pyramid

Pairs that add to thirteen, two redeals, and one buried card that can end the whole game.

7 min read
Rules

How to Play TriPeaks

One rank up or down, Ace wraps to King, and the streak bonus that rewards planning a chain before you start it.

6 min read
Rules

How to Play Golf

One rank up or down, no wrapping, and a King that stops a chain dead.

6 min read
Rules

How to Play Canfield

A casino game built to beat you: a thirteen-card reserve, a random base rank and foundations that wrap.

7 min read

Play better

Strategy

12 Klondike Strategy Tips

Why you should hold cards back, which column to dig first, and how to spot a deal that was never winnable.

9 min read

Background & reference

Reference

A Short History of Solitaire

Cartomancy, a Victorian rulebook, a gold rush, and the intern whose card game shipped on every PC on earth.

6 min read
Reference

Which Games Can You Actually Win?

FreeCell is nearly always winnable. Pyramid nearly never is. Here is what to expect from each game.

6 min read
Reference

The Solitaire Glossary

Tableau, talon, reserve, supermove — every term you will meet, defined in plain English.

5 min read