Free solitaire games

Which solitaire should you play?

• Klondike is the one most people mean when they say solitaire. Canyon Klondike lets you pick Draw 1 for a gentler game or Draw 3 for the classic hard version, which scores 1.25 times as much.
• Spider uses two decks, ten columns and no foundations to build on. Moonlit Spider has 1 Suit for learning, 2 Suits for a real puzzle and 4 Suits for experts, with score multipliers of 1x, 1.5x and 2x.
• Free cell deals every card face up, so nothing is luck once you start. Four Cells gives you four cells to park cards in, and nearly every deal can be solved with good planning.
• Yukon looks like Klondike but has no deck, and you can move any face-up card along with everything on top of it. Yukon Trail also has Russian, which builds down in the same suit and scores 1.5 times as much.
• Pyramid is about adding: pair cards that make 13 and take the pyramid apart from the bottom. Desert Pyramid adds an Expedition where each cleared pyramid buys more daylight.
• Peaks is the quickest. In Star Solitaire you play cards one higher or one lower onto a single pile, long streaks score big and every fourth card in a row earns a wild Comet. A deal takes two to four minutes.

How to play Klondike solitaire

Klondike uses one 52 card deck. Seven columns are dealt left to right, one card in the first, two in the second and so on up to seven, with only the top card of each face up. The other 24 cards wait face down in the deck. The goal is to move every card onto four foundation piles, one per suit, built up from Ace to King.

• In the columns, build down in alternating colors: a red 9 goes on a black 10, a black 4 on a red 5.
• Any run of face-up cards that's already in order can move together, as long as its bottom card fits where it lands.
• When you move the last face-up card off a column, the card under it turns over. Getting those hidden cards into play is most of the game.
• Only a King, or a run starting with a King, can go into an empty column.
• Turn cards from the deck onto the waste pile. The top waste card is always playable. In Draw 3 you turn three at a time and only the top one can be played.

Klondike tips

• Play from the columns before the deck when you can. Every move there might uncover a hidden card, and the deck isn't going anywhere.
• Work on the tallest columns first. They hold the most face-down cards.
• Don't empty a column unless a King is waiting to fill it. An empty column with no King is wasted.
• Don't rush low cards to the foundations if you still need them as landing spots. A 3 on the foundation can't hold a red 2 for you anymore.

There's more in our Klondike strategy tips.

How to play Spider solitaire

Spider uses two decks, 104 cards, across ten columns. The first four columns get six cards and the other six get five, with only the top card face up, and the remaining 50 wait in the deck for five more deals of ten. Instead of foundations, you build full runs right on the table. A complete King to Ace run in one suit lifts off the table, and clearing eight runs wins the game.

• Any card can go on a card exactly one rank higher, whatever the suit. A 7 of hearts can go on an 8 of spades.
• Several cards move together only if they're all the same suit and in order. A mixed run has to come apart one card at a time.
• Any card or movable run can go into an empty column.
• When you're stuck, deal: one new card goes face up onto every column. Every column needs at least one card before you can deal.

Spider tips

• Build in suit whenever you have the choice. Same suit runs can move as one, mixed ones can't.
• Treat empty columns as gold. They let you untangle a mixed run or reach a buried card, so don't fill one just because you can.
• Before you deal, do every useful move and try to put something on every column, since a deal buries the top card of each one.
• Start on 1 Suit to learn how runs and empty columns work, then move up to 2 Suits.

Winnable deals, or the real gamble

Plain random Klondike deals are sometimes impossible however well you play. That's why Canyon Klondike deals by default from a thousand shuffles we've checked can be won for Draw 1 and another thousand for Draw 3. Yukon Trail does the same with a Winnable deals chip, and Moonlit Spider uses checked deals in all three modes, including 300 expert 4 Suit deals a solver could finish. Turn the chip off when you want the old-fashioned gamble of a fully random shuffle.

Daily Deals, ranks and card backs

Each game has a Daily Deal, one shuffle that every player gets that day, so you can compare times and scores on the leaderboard. Finish it on back-to-back days to grow your day streak. Wins also raise your rank at each table: in Canyon Klondike you climb from Greenhorn to Canyon Royalty at 70 wins, and Moonlit Spider runs from Seedling to Moonlit Legend.

Card backs you unlock in any of these games carry over to every card game on the site, including Hearts, Spades and Euchre. In Klondike, Spider and Yukon you can tap a card to send it to its best spot or drag it exactly where you want, and once everything is face up a Finish button wraps up the game for you.

Want to win more?

Every game here has a full guide with rules and tips, linked below. For Spider in particular, read how to win at Spider Solitaire, which goes through empty columns, dealing and clean runs step by step.

Questions