Objective
Build and clear 8 complete same-suit sequences from King down to Ace. When you clear all 8 sequences, you win.
Our full guide covers the 1, 2 and 4-suit versions, strategy for each, where the name comes from, and a real 4-suit deal played move by move.
Cards and setup
- This mode uses 104 cards: two standard 52-card decks (all four suits).
- 10 tableau columns are dealt at the start: Columns 1–4 have 6 cards each, Columns 5–10 have 5 cards each.
- Only the top card of each tableau column starts face-up.
- The remaining 50 cards form the Stock. There is no Waste pile.
Piles (what each area is)
- Tableau: 10 columns where you build descending runs.
- Stock: the remaining cards used to deal new rows to the tableau.
- Completed: cleared King→Ace same-suit sequences (0/8 to 8/8).
Tableau rules and allowed moves
- Build down by rank: you can place a card (or a stack) onto a card that is one rank higher (example: 8 on 9). Suit does not matter for placing.
- Empty columns accept any card or stack.
- You can move any face-up descending run as one stack, even if it mixes suits. Standard rules only let a run move as a unit when it is all one suit; Solitarium uses a more permissive rule.
- After you move cards away from a column, if the new top card is face-down it flips face-up automatically.
Completing sequences (important)
- A sequence clears only when the top of a column holds a complete King→Ace run in a single suit (all Spades, all Hearts, all Diamonds, or all Clubs). It is cleared automatically and added to Completed.
- In other words: suit does not matter for moving cards, but it decides whether a run ever clears. A mixed-suit run can be moved around freely but will never clear.
Dealing from Stock
- Click Stock to deal one new row: 10 cards, one face-up card added to each tableau column. A deal can complete runs, which then clear as usual.
- You can only deal a row when all 10 tableau columns are non-empty.
Playing your cards
- Drag and drop: drag a face-up card, or the descending run it starts, onto another column. On a touchscreen, drag with your finger.
- Stock: click or tap it to deal the next row. With the keyboard, focus it and press Enter or Space.
- Undo: unlimited, from the Undo button, and it takes back stock deals too. Redo has no button; use the keyboard.
- Keyboard: H asks for a hint, U undoes and R redoes, with no modifier key. Cmd/Ctrl+Z and Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Z (or Ctrl+Y on Windows) work too.
- Hint: highlights the most useful move it finds, preferring one that turns over a face-down card or joins cards of the same suit. When nothing on the board helps, it points at the Stock.
Saving and sharing
- Your progress auto-saves locally in the browser and restores if you refresh or reopen the tab.
- Use Share to get a short link that recreates the same starting deal (seed-based). Where your device has a share sheet it opens that; otherwise the link is copied to your clipboard.
- New Game opens a menu: Random shuffle deals a fresh game, and Restart current game starts the same deal over after you confirm.
More card games on Solitarium
Too hard today? Spider 1 Suit uses the same layout with every card a spade. For a different same-suit challenge, try Scorpion, or switch to the open-information planning of FreeCell.
Sources and further reading
These references informed the rules on this page.