12 Best Card Games for Single Player

A deck of cards is full of limitless possibilities when it comes to entertaining yourself with games that are both fun and challenging. Add variation to your single-player card games by learning a variety of games that can be played alone.

How to play cards if you’re alone

A standard deck of cards is often the center of a social gathering. However, a deck of cards is all you need to play a variety of entertaining games even if you are alone. All you need to do is pull up a comfortable chair at your preferred card table, grab your standard deck of cards, pour yourself your favorite beverage, and play a new or favorite single-player card game.

Devil’s Grip

Devil’s Grip is a grid version of Solitaire and one of the best card games for single players. The objective is to position all the cards in the grid, with jacks in the top row, queens in the middle row, and kings in the bottom row. This version doesn’t use Aces.

Devil’s Grip needs two standard decks of 52 cards, making 96 cards after removing the 8 Aces. After shuffling the deck, you place 24 cards in three rows of 8 cards each, forming the grid. The remaining cards go to the stockpile. 

The initial arrangement looks like this:

Source: YouTube

Your aim is to arrange the grid in the desired order, with 2, 5, 8, and Jack of the same suit in the top row; 3, 6, 9, and Queen of the same suit in the middle row; and 4, 7, 10, and King in the bottom row. 

If you move any card in the grid, the top card of the stock fills in the gap.

Accordion

Accordion is a unique type of Solitaire and one of the best card games to play by yourself. This version gets its name because its card layout resembles accordion pleats that are ironed out during gameplay. You aim to arrange all 52 cards in a single pile that looks like an accordion.

To set it up, you lay out all 52 cards in a single row. You may also cut it into three rows to utilize your table space better. This game has two main variants; in the first, you settle your cards down one by one and play anyone immediately; in the second, you spread all the cards out in one line. 

The two main versions have the same rules; you can place a card or group of cards onto another card if the top card matches by suit or value. Your cards will look like this at the end:

Source: Solitaire Laboratory

Pyramid

Pyramid Solitaire is one of the most popular solo games to play with cards. It gets its name because the cards are shaped like a pyramid on the tableau.

This game uses a standard deck of 52 cards. 28 cards are dealt on the tableau in a pyramid shape; 1 at the top row, two on the next row, three on the next, four, five, six, and seven. The remaining 24 cards go to the stockpile. The tableau will look like the picture below;

Source

The rules are simple. You aim to remove all the cards from the pyramid and move them to the foundation pile. You remove cards by pairing them with a combined value of 13 points. The Ace is 1 point, King is 13 points, Queen is 12, and Jack is 11. The remaining cards retain the number of points written on them.

Yukon

Yukon is a famous type of Solitaire and one of the best card games for one person. This game uses 52 cards, and all of them are placed on the tableau; there’s no stockpile.

To start, you need seven rows of cards. The first row has only one card. The second row has six, the third row has seven cards, the fourth row has eight cards, and so on, until you get to the seventh row with 11 cards, totaling 52 on the tableau.

The first row has no facedown card. Each successive row from 2 to 7 contains 1+ facedown card; the second row has 1 facedown card, the third row has 2, the fourth row has 3, and so on.

The arrangement should look like this:

Your aim is to move all cards from the tableau to the foundation pile in the correct sequence, starting with an Ace and ending with a King.

Klondike

Klondike is one of the most popular types of Solitaire for one person. It gets its name from the Klondike gold rush of the 19th century, during which it became popular. It’s popular because of its simple rules and easy access. It’s considered the most popular single player card game.

Klondike uses a standard deck of 52 cards. To set it up yourself, lay out seven cards in a row, with all facing down except the top card; the first row has one card, the second row has two cards, the third row has three cards, and so on until you reach the seventh row with seven cards, totaling 28. Place the remaining 24 cards in the stockpile.

The aim is to move all cards from the tableau to the foundation pile in the desired sequence, starting from an Ace and ending with a King. You can move cards facing up in alternate colors.

Clock Solitaire

Clock is a popular version of Solitaire to play by yourself. It gets its name because the cards are arranged like a clock. This game is a mechanical process that heavily depends on luck. The chances of winning are an exact 1 in 13. 

This game uses one deck of cards. To set it up, shuffle the deck and deal twelve piles of four cards, each in a circular shape. Place the remaining four cards in the center of the circle.

The twelve piles represent the 12-hour clock, and the middle pile represents the clock hands. When you reveal a card, place it under the pile of the corresponding number. The aim is to reveal all the cards, ending with the fourth King.

Sevens

Sevens is a single-player card game that is similar to a traditional game of dominoes. All you need to play is a standard deck of cards and enough table space to lay out separate rows of cards.
Start by shuffling the deck. You will then flip through the deck laying cards face up in a discard pile until you come across the first seven of the deck. That seven can then be played onto the playing field. You will continue to flip until you find the six or eight in the suit of the first seven played or until you find another seven.
Cards can be played in ascending or descending order by suit after the initial seven are laid. For example, let’s say the seven of hearts is the first card played. The player will then look for the six or eight of hearts or another seven. Let’s say the next playable card to come up is the eight of hearts. The player will then lay that card above the seven. Now, the player can play the six of hearts or the nine of hearts on that pile.
The goal of the game is to lay down all the cards in ascending or descending order in the fewest moves. The fewer times the player must go through the deck to use all of the cards the better. Play multiple rounds to beat your previous record.

Concentration

Concentration is a memory game that is both fun and a great way to train your brain. All you need to play is a standard deck of cards and a large enough surface to lay all of your cards out in rows face down. The goal of the game is to flip over cards one by one to find two numbers with the same color.
Start by shuffling the cards thoroughly. Then lay down cards one by one face down in rows and columns. The best way to lay the cards out is to put down four rows of 13 cards each. Now that the cards are all face-down and laid out on the table, you will begin the game by flipping over one card of your choice. You will then flip over another card of your choice to find the first card’s match. If both cards are the same number and the same color, remove both from the table of play. If they are not the same color, flip them back face down and try again. The game ends when all pairs are matched and removed from the table.

Poker patience

Poker patience is a single-player card game that uses the rules of poker to create a unique and exciting game. To begin, players should shuffle their standard 52-card deck thoroughly. The player will then lay out 25 cards face up in a five-by-five grid. Once a card is laid, the player should not move it. Once all 25 cards are laid, the player will then count points by the winning poker hands that appear in each of the vertical and horizontal rows of five.
A royal flush is worth 100 points, a straight flush is 75, four of a kind is 50, a full house is 25, a flush is 20, a straight is 15, three of a kind is 10, two pairs is 5, and one pair is 2. The game is played with 25 cards at a time until a player reaches 200 points.

Wish

Wish is a challenging single-player card game that uses a reduced deck of 32 cards so you will need to remove all of the cards valued 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
After those cards are removed, shuffle the deck and deal the cards into eight piles of four cards each. Then turn the top card of each pile face up. Look for pairs of any value regardless of suit. If a pair is present, remove the pair from the piles and flip over the face-down card underneath. The game is over when all cards are cleared from the table, or there are no pairs available to play.

Napoleon at St. Helena

Napoleon at St. Helena is a variation of traditional solitaire that the French leader most likely played during his exile. The game requires two standard card decks to be combined. Shuffle the cards and begin by placing ten rows of four cards each on the table face up. These cards need to overlap so that the bottommost card is the only one accessible. The rest of the cards are placed in the draw pile.
The game is then played like traditional solitaire. The player will draw the first card and attempt to play it. If it cannot be played on a foundation pile it goes to the waste pile underneath the ten piles. The topmost card of the waste pile can be played, but the ones underneath it are unavailable until the topmost card is played. The game is over when the player builds 8 foundation piles going in ascending order from ace to king for each suit of the double deck or until no more legal moves are available.