How to play
Solitaire
Make room for
the next card.
Move a run. Uncover a face. See how one little opening can lead to another.
One lower. Other colour. That is an opening.
One lower. Other colour.
The seven columns are the tableau. Build down: a red 6 fits on a black 7. Hearts and diamonds are red; clubs and spades are black.
This close-up follows four columns of a constructed position. Three other columns stay offstage. Covered faces are still unknown.
Where can the 6 hearts / 5 clubs run land?
Choose an answer to check your reason.
Read the answer
Yes. The 6 is one below the 7 and a different colour. Its descending, alternating 5 comes with it.
A legal landing is a rule. Whether to use it is your choice.
Carry the run. Uncover a card.
Choose the 6, and its face-up 5 comes too. Every card in a moving run must descend by one and alternate colours.
Moving that run exposes a covered card. It turns over automatically. Watch its unknown face become new information.
Before · the same cards, before this move.
Uncovering cards is often useful: it gives information and possible moves, not a promised win.
Upstairs, build the other way.
The four foundations are your goal. Move an available ace to its suit, then build up to king: A, 2, 3 … J, Q, K.
Here the ace of spades leaves its column for the spade foundation. That column is now empty. Only one available top card enters a foundation at a time.
Before · the same cards, before this move.
As a rule, which card could follow this ace of spades?
Choose an answer to check your reason.
Read the answer
2 of spades. Foundations climb one rank at a time in the same suit. Red/black alternation belongs to the tableau.
You win when all 52 cards are on the four foundations.
A space has a rule too.
The 2 of spades can follow the ace: same suit, next rank. Notice how this move empties another column.
A space is useful, but it cannot take any card. Look at the two face-up runs before choosing what could enter.
Before · the same cards, before this move.
Which run may enter an empty column?
Choose an answer to check your reason.
Read the answer
The king-led run. Its king may enter the empty space; the alternating queen travels with it. This is a legal choice, not a forced best move.
The empty-column rule concerns the first card of a run.
Give a king room to move.
Move the king of diamonds and its queen of spades into the empty second column. A king-led run may fill a space.
Watch the covered face turn over. This is new information; it does not prove this choice wins, or that the revealed card has a useful move right now.
Before · the same cards, before this move.
Try to uncover cards and create useful spaces. These are strategic heuristics, not forced deductions.
Turn the next possibility.
The stock holds face-down cards. Tap it to draw onto the face-up waste. Draw 1 turns one card; Draw 3 turns up to three.
We use Draw 3 here. Watch three cards turn over in order. The last one drawn lands on top. Only that top waste card is available.
Before · the same cards, before this move.
The other two visible waste cards are covered, not three separate choices.
One top card reveals the next.
An ace can start the club foundation. Take this ace from the waste; the 2 of hearts underneath becomes available.
You may play an available waste card onto a legal tableau or foundation target. This 2 of hearts still cannot go on the spade foundation.
Before · the same cards, before this move.
A foundation’s top card may also return to a tableau column when it fits.
Keep looking through the stock.
You may draw again while cards remain in the waste. New cards cover its previous top.
Here we draw the remaining seven packets to show the stock reaching empty. This is a demonstration of the mechanism, not advice to skip every possible move.
Before · the same cards, before this move.
The last packet can contain fewer than three cards.
Turn over. Don’t shuffle.
With an empty stock, tap it to turn the remaining waste face down into a stock again. Tap once more to draw. Redeals are unlimited.
The order is preserved, not shuffled. If you played nothing, another pass does not magically produce new options. Here the next draw starts with the same 9 of spades.
Before · the same cards, before this move.
Redealing is a rule. Whether it offers something new depends on what changed.
An earlier move opens a later door.
Draw again: 9 of spades, 2 of hearts … and now the king of spades is on top. The club ace is gone, so the next packet ends one card later.
That king can enter the empty fourth column. Playing the ace changed the waste; moving the 2 of spades made a space. Together those choices created a new legal opportunity.
Before · the same cards, before this move.
A real opening, not a solved deal. Now try a different short position for yourself.
Make your own openingA different table.
Your opening.
Two small goals: build the heart foundation through 2, and uncover the card beneath the king of clubs / queen of hearts run.
This constructed position uses Draw 1. Try the rules freely; you do not need to finish all 52 cards.
Page-memory practice only. Leaving or reloading loses it. Your ordinary games stay separate.
Hearts through 2 · card beneath king uncovered
Enable JavaScript to play this short practice. The illustrated lesson and quick rules are readable without it.
All seven columns. On narrow screens, scroll this table sideways.
Tap a face-up card, then its destination.
Start a fresh practice attempt? You can undo this reset.
How to move the cards
Tap a face-up card to select it and any valid cards below it. Then tap the destination’s top card, empty column or suit foundation. Legal destinations get a green outline. Tap the same card or Cancel selection to clear.
Keyboard: Tab between cards and controls; Enter or Space selects and moves. Escape clears selection; H explains a legal option; A sends a selected single top card to its foundation when legal; Ctrl/Cmd+Z undoes. Double-click an available single top card for its foundation.
In this practice, Explain a move gives a reason before you choose Apply. Undo also reverses draws, automatic flips and resets. Reset asks before replacing your progress.
An explanation marks this attempt as assisted. It never plays a move without Apply.
Continue to regular SolitaireYour next opening is waiting.
Build down in alternating colours. Build up by suit. Uncover what you can, then decide what to try next.
Play Solitaire Return to your practiceRegular Solitaire starts a fresh random deal. Deals are not guaranteed winnable. Neither this practice nor the regular game autosaves.
The quick rules.
- Goal: put all 52 cards on the four suit foundations, ace to king. J, Q and K follow 10.
- Tableau: seven columns, descending by one and alternating red/black. Move a single available card or a complete valid face-up run; covered cards cannot move.
- Empty column: only a king or king-led run may enter. Exposing a covered card flips it automatically.
- Foundations: one available top card at a time, same suit, next rank. A foundation top may return to a legal tableau target.
- Stock & waste: Draw 1 or up to 3. Only the waste top can move. Tap empty stock to recycle without shuffling; tap again to draw. Redeals are unlimited.
The site’s controls.
How do I play the regular game?
Tap a card, then its destination. Choose Draw 1 or Draw 3 above the board; changing the mode starts a fresh deal. New deal and mode changes ask before replacing active play. Tab, Enter/Space, Escape, H, A, double-click and Ctrl/Cmd+Z work as described in the practice.
What do Hint and Finish do?
Regular-game Hint highlights a legal action; it does not guarantee a solution and does not apply it. Undo reverses moves, draws and flips. Finish appears once stock and waste are empty and all remaining tableau cards are face up, and sends them to foundations when the engine can complete the sequence.
Should I always move to a foundation?
It is legal when the rank and suit fit, but legality is not strategy. A card may still be useful in the tableau. You can return a foundation’s top card to a legal column or use Undo. Uncovering cards and making useful spaces are heuristics, not guarantees.
Will I win? Can I return later?
Random deals are not guaranteed winnable. Hints suggest legal actions, not a winning plan. This version does not save when you reload or leave. New deal gives you a new random arrangement.
What does a fresh deal look like?
A shuffled deck deals 1 through 7 cards across the seven columns, only each column’s last card face up. The remaining 24 form the stock. Our constructed teaching positions show later situations; they are not the initial deal.