Play Solitaire Free, No Download
The game above is Klondike, the solitaire most people mean by the word. It is free in any browser, on a computer or a phone, with no download and no sign-up. Click or drag a card to play, or open Klondike Turn 3 to turn the stock three cards at a time.
Solitaire covers a whole family of games. Below are all 11 solitaire games on this site, each with its deck, its difficulty, and a link to its own page for the full rules, strategy, and a daily deal. Klondike's rules, scoring, and winning odds are on the Klondike Solitaire page.
Types of Solitaire: 11 Games to Play Free
Eight of the 11 use one 52-card deck; Spider, Crescent, and Forty Thieves use 104 cards, the size of two decks. The difficulty label sums up what each game's own page reports: how many deals can be won, and how much of the deal you can see.
- 1 deckMedium
Klondike Solitaire
The game most people call solitaire: 28 cards in seven columns, a 24-card stock, and four suits to build from Ace to King.
Difficulty: Turning one card at a time shows every stock card on every pass; turning three is the harder game.
- 2 decksEasy to hard
Spider Solitaire
104 cards, 54 dealt into ten columns. Build King-to-Ace runs in one suit; each finished run leaves the table.
Difficulty: You pick the suits: one suit is where to learn, two is the middle level, four is the full game.
- 1 deckMedium
FreeCell
All 52 cards face up in eight columns, plus four free cells that each hold one card while you dig.
Difficulty: Nothing is hidden and nearly every deal can be won. The skill is in the order of your moves.
- 1 deckMedium
Pyramid Solitaire
Clear a pyramid of 28 face-up cards by removing pairs that add up to 13. A King goes alone.
Difficulty: Pyramid is won by counting pairs of ranks, and some deals are lost before the first move.
- 1 deckHard
Yukon Solitaire
All 52 cards dealt, no stock. Move any face-up card together with every card on top of it, in order or not.
Difficulty: With no stock to draw from, a blocked position stays blocked.
- 1 deckEasy
Tri-Peaks Solitaire
Clear three peaks of 28 cards by playing any uncovered card one rank above or below the waste card.
Difficulty: King and Ace connect, so neither one ends a streak.
- 1 deckHard
Golf Solitaire
Clear 35 face-up cards from seven columns onto one pile, a rank up or down at a time, ignoring suit.
Difficulty: Nothing plays on a King, and you get one pass through the stock.
- 2 decksNot rated
Crescent Solitaire
Two decks, 16 face-up piles of six, and eight foundations: four built up from Aces, four down from Kings.
Difficulty: Every card is face up and three reshuffles replace the stock. No published odds match our rules.
- 1 deckHard
Canfield Solitaire
A 13-card reserve, four columns, and foundations that start on whatever rank the deal turns up.
Difficulty: One of the hardest solitaires in common play. The stock turns three at a time.
- 2 decksHard
Forty Thieves
Two decks: 40 cards face up in ten columns, built down in suit and moved one card at a time.
Difficulty: Its 64-card stock goes through once, with no redeal.
- 1 deckHard
Scorpion Solitaire
Seven columns of seven. Build four King-to-Ace runs in suit, moving any face-up card with everything on top of it.
Difficulty: Hard but fair: 37 of the 49 cards start face up, so you can plan several moves deep.
How to Choose a Solitaire Game
Start with Klondike if you have played any solitaire before, then pick the next game by what you want more of.
- The classic. Klondike Turn One turns the stock one card at a time, so every stock card shows on every pass. Klondike Turn 3 shows only every third card, which makes it the harder game.
- Skill over luck. FreeCell deals all 52 cards face up, so a lost game nearly always contains a wrong move somewhere. Crescent hides nothing either: all 104 cards start face up, with three reshuffles in place of a stock.
- A difficulty dial. Spider lets you choose the suits. One suit is where to learn, two suits is the middle level, and four suits is the full game. The Klondike vs Spider comparison sets the two side by side.
- A quick game. A deal of Golf usually takes two or three minutes. Tri-Peaks and Pyramid also clear a single layout rather than build four suits.
- Any card, any pile. Yukon and Scorpion let you move a face-up card with everything on top of it, in order or not. Yukon sends cards to four foundations; Scorpion builds its runs in the columns, as Spider does.
- A long fight. Forty Thieves spreads two decks over ten columns and gives you one pass through its 64-card stock. Canfield locks 13 cards in a reserve and starts its foundations on a random rank.
- A deal you know can be won. The New Game menu on the game above offers six levels from Super Easy to Insane, and our solver or computer test player has already won every graded deal. Graded deals play in turn 1, and picking one opens it on the Klondike page.
What Is Solitaire?
Solitaire is the family name for card games played alone; in Britain they are called patience. Said on its own, solitaire usually means Klondike, the game Microsoft shipped as Solitaire with Windows 3.0 in May 1990.
In most solitaire games you win by moving every card onto the foundations, piles that each hold one suit in order, usually from Ace up to King. Klondike, FreeCell, Yukon, Canfield, Forty Thieves, and Crescent work this way. Spider and Scorpion build their King-to-Ace runs inside the columns instead, and Pyramid, Tri-Peaks, and Golf are won by clearing a layout.
The parts of a solitaire layout
- Tableau:
- the columns in the middle, where cards move from pile to pile. Klondike deals 28 cards into seven columns; FreeCell deals all 52 into eight.
- Stock:
- face-down cards you draw from during play. Klondike's holds 24; FreeCell, Yukon, and Crescent have none.
- Waste:
- where cards turned from the stock land. In Klondike only its top card can be played.
- Foundations:
- the piles you build up by suit to win. Klondike has four; Forty Thieves and Crescent, with two decks, have eight.
- Reserve:
- cards held back for later, such as Canfield's 13-card reserve and the three cards Scorpion deals onto its first three columns when you are stuck.
- Free cells:
- FreeCell's four storage spaces, one card each.
The rules change from game to game, so each game's page carries its own. For the classic, read how to play Klondike Solitaire, the complete Klondike rules, and Klondike strategy.
Windows did much to make four of these games the best known. Besides Klondike, Tri-Peaks came with Microsoft Entertainment Pack 3 in 1991, FreeCell with every version from Windows 95 to Windows 7, and Spider with Microsoft Plus! 98 before Windows Me built it in. Since Windows 8 in 2012, all four have lived in the Microsoft Solitaire Collection app.
Solitaire FAQ
What are the different types of solitaire?
Most fall into three groups. Klondike, FreeCell, Yukon, Canfield, Forty Thieves, and Crescent build suits onto foundations. Spider and Scorpion build King-to-Ace runs inside the columns. Pyramid, Tri-Peaks, and Golf clear a layout instead, Pyramid by pairs that add up to 13 and the other two by playing cards one rank up or down.
Is every game of solitaire winnable?
No. Even a player who could see every face-down card would lose about 9.8% of turn 1 Klondike deals and 18.5% of turn 3 deals under our rules, according to a solver study of a million deals each. FreeCell comes closest: a complete computer check of more than 8.5 billion deals found one impossible deal in about 84,000.
What is the hardest solitaire game?
Of the 11 here, Golf, Forty Thieves, and Scorpion have the lowest published win rates. Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith put the rate at about 5 percent for traditional Golf, around 10 percent for Forty Thieves with careful play, and about one in ten for Scorpion. Canfield is also one of the hardest solitaires in common play.
What is the easiest solitaire game?
Tri-Peaks, or Spider with one suit. In Tri-Peaks any uncovered card one rank above or below the waste card plays, and our solver, which sees every face-down card, won 9,714 of 10,000 deals under our rules. In one-suit Spider all 104 cards are Spades, so any descending pile moves as a unit.
Can I play solitaire free with no download?
Yes. All 11 solitaire games here are free in any web browser, on a computer or a phone, with no download and no sign-up. The Klondike game at the top of this page deals as soon as it loads. Free play allows three undos per Klondike game, and SuitedGames+ makes undo unlimited.
For a deal everyone plays today, try Daily Klondike; ten more daily deals wait on the other game pages. The site's other hubs list its card games, board games, and dice games.