Types of Solitaire: different variations of solitaire games with cards

There are endless types of Solitaire games with cards. Many societies have developed theirs, and individual game developers have also developed their custom formats that have become popular. For example, Microsoft’s version of Spider Solitaire is the most popular digital Solitaire available.
We’ll list different types of Solitaire games and how they work below.

Classic Solitaire

Classic Solitaire is what most people think of whenever you mention Solitaire. It’s also known as Klondike and is very popular worldwide. It uses one deck of 52 cards, and the player’s objective is to arrange their cards in the foundation piles in the desired sequence, beginning with an Ace and ending with a King. There are four foundation piles, one for each suit.

Classic Solitaire Game Play

• Deal seven cards in a row on the table, or tableau as it’s called in Solitaire. The first card on the left should face up, while the rest face down. The seven cards form the basis of your columns.
• Deal six cards starting from the second column, five starting from the third column, four starting from the fourth column, and so on till you reach seven columns. Remember that the first card in each column should face up.
• The 24 cards remaining after dealing 28 on the tableau constitute your stockpile, which players can draw from when they run out of moves.
• Make space for the foundation piles above your columns.
• Move cards from the tableau to the foundation piles in ascending order and the proper suit.

FreeCell Solitaire

FreeCell Solitaire is relatively easy. It uses one deck of 52 cards, and the player’s objective remains to arrange the cards in the foundation piles from an Ace to a King. The main difference is that FreeCell Solitaire has eight columns in the tableau, and all cards face up. There are four foundation piles for the player will arrange their cards.

FreeCell Solitaire Game Play

• Deal eight cards in a row on the table, forming the basis of eight columns.
• Deal seven cards starting from the second column, six beginning from the third, five starting from the fourth, and so on until you reach one card on the last column. Remember that all cards face up in FreeCell Solitaire.
• Just like in Classic Solitaire, you can move cards from one column to another in descending order and if they have alternative colors.
• FreeCell Solitaire has four empty spaces, “Free Cells,” above the tableau to hold cards that players move out of the way to access other cards underneath.
• You win by arranging the cards in the required order.

Spider Solitaire

Spider Solitaire has eight foundation piles and 10 columns. The name comes from the number of foundation piles being compared to the eight legs of a spider. It uses two decks of cards and shares the common objective of arranging cards in the foundation piles in the desired sequence. This type of Solitaire is known for its difficulty, especially when using four suits.

Spider Solitaire Game Play

• The tableau contains 10 columns; The first four columns from the left contain six cards each, the final one facing up and the rest facing down. The other six columns have five cards each, with the final facing up and the rest facing down.
• Players need to build the foundation piles within the tableau. You need to build the desired sequence in the tableau before transferring the group of cards to the foundation.

Klondike Solitaire

Klondike is a very popular type of Solitaire. This version is what most people refer to when they mention the word “Solitaire.” It was popularized by Microsoft pre-installing a digital Klondike game in its Windows operating system beginning in the 1990s. Its origins aren’t certain, but it’s said to have first appeared in the 19th Century during the Gold Rush.

Klondike Solitaire Game Play

It uses a deck of 52 cards. The goal remains to arrange the cards in the right order, from an Ace to a King.

• Deal seven cards in a row, with the top one facing up and the rest facing down. Continue dealing from the second column, third, fourth, and so on until the final column with a single face-up card.
• Players can take cards from the stockpile when they run out of moves.

Pyramid Solitaire

This type of Solitaire uses a single card deck. The difference is that the cards are arranged in a pyramid shape. To create this shape, the player deals one card facing up at the top, two below, three, four, and so on until seven rows constitute a pyramid. The remaining cards constitute the stockpile for players to draw from during gameplay.

Pyramid Solitaire Game Play

The goal remains to arrange the cards in the foundation piles from Ace to King.

• You can play any card with no cards overlapping in the row beneath.
• The color of the cards doesn’t matter, unlike the typical Solitaire.
• You can pair two cards from the pyramid or one from the pyramid with another from the stockpile.
• Strive to empty all cards from the pyramid into the foundation.

Yukon Solitaire

Yukon is similar to the Classic version of Solitaire. The main difference is that there’s no stockpile. Instead, all the cards are placed on the tableau at the beginning, with most of them facing up. You need to arrange them on the foundation piles from an Ace to a King by suit to win. The rules for moving the cards are more difficult because of the lack of a stockpile to draw from.

Yukon Solitaire Game Play

You’ll deal 21 cards facing down on the tableau and 31 facing up. The tableau has seven columns, like in Classic Solitaire.

• Deal facedown cards beginning with one in the second column, two in the third, three in the fourth, and so on. Deal the ones facing up by placing one in the first column and five in each of the remaining columns.
• If the face-up card you want to move to the foundation has other cards on it, you can transfer the whole group at once.

Mahjong Solitaire

Mahjong Solitaire uses tiles instead of cards like other types of Solitaire. This game is also called “Shaghai Solitaire” because of its Chinese origins. It was created in the 1980s and got its name from the popular Chinese game called “Mahjong,” which also uses tiles. Yet, Mahjong Solitaire is very different from the preceding Mahjong.

Mahjong Solitaire Game Play

• This game uses 144 tiles laid out randomly. You can arrange the cards in different layouts, such as a pyramid, spider, or square shape.
• The player’s objective is to remove all paired tiles from the tableau. Two or more tiles must be identical to form a pair.
• If you run out of moves, you can shuffle the tiles and try again. However, each game is usually limited to five shuffles.

Golf Solitaire

Golf Solitaire uses the standard deck of 52 cards, with the tableau having seven columns with five cards each. All the cards in the columns face up, and another face-up card is placed in the foundation pile. The player’s objective is to remove as many cards as possible from the tableau and transfer them to the stockpile.

Golf Solitaire Game Play

• Deal cards into seven columns, with each column having five cards. Remember that all the cards face up.
• Place one card facing up in the foundation pile and the remaining cards in the stock pile.
• Players can draw cards from the stock pile if they run out of moves. They can now move cards from the foundation pile.
• Try to move all cards from the tableau to the foundation pile in the right sequence.

Forty Thieves

This version uses two standard card decks. It draws its name from the 40 cards the player arranges on the tableau; 10 columns with four cards each. The player’s objective is to arrange the cards in the foundation piles from Ace to King.
Forty Thieves is one of the most challenging types of Solitaire because it has two suits, and you must complete two sequences of each suit.

Forty Thieves Game Play

• Deal 10 columns on the tableau, each with four cards facing up.
• Keep the remaining cards in the stock pile, where players can draw from during gameplay.
• Forty Thieves uses two suits, so there are eight foundation piles.
• Players must move cards of the same suit in descending order, unlike Classic Solitaire where they can move cards of alternate colors.

Canfield Solitaire

Canfield Solitaire uses one deck of cards and four foundation piles. Each suit has its own foundation pile, starting with an Ace and ending with a King. The uniqueness is that the first card you play on the foundation pile becomes the basis for other foundation piles. For example, if you first move two diamonds to the foundation pile, you must begin the other three piles with two cards of the same suit (spades, clubs, and hearts)

Canfield Solitaire Game Play

• The game starts with four cards facing up on the tableau and a reserve of 13 cards on the left-hand side, the last facing up and the rest facing down.
• The remaining cards go to the stockpile, where you can draw three cards simultaneously.
• Build the foundation piles in the desired sequence in alternating colors.

This game is known for being difficult because the reserve cards are hidden, and the stock cards are drawn three at a time.

Other Popular Types Of Solitaire Games

You can find many other popular types of Solitaire around the world. The good thing about Solitaire is there are endless ways to customize it, and people don’t refrain from doing so. Many countries have developed their own custom versions of Solitaire. Similarly, many game developers have created unique versions that people enjoy. We’ll mention some of them below.

Baker’s Dozen

This type of Solitare uses a standard deck of 52 cards. The tableau has 13 columns, which the game draws its name from. To the uninitiated, 13 is called the “Baker’s Dozen” instead of 12; this originates from medieval times when bakers included a thirteenth bread loaf to meet up with bread weight laws.
Just like in typical Solitaire, the objective here is to arrange the cards in four foundation piles.

Scorpion

Scorpion Solitaire uses a 52-card deck like typical Solitaire. It got its name because the cards are shaped like a scorpion. The tableau has seven columns of seven cards each, totaling 49. The first four columns have four cards facing up and three cards underneath facing down. The cards in the remaining three columns all face up, and the remaining three cards are set aside for later use.

Addiction

Addiction Solitaire gets its name from being designed to be addictive and exciting. It used a standard deck of 52 cards. The cards are arranged on the tableau in 13 columns having four cards each. Four Aces are then removed, creating four empty spots. To win, you must move all 48 cards to their correct locations, which is when all the rows each have cards of the same suit.

Crescent

Crescent Solitaire uses two card decks mixed together. It got its name because the cards arranged in the tableau form a crescent shape. There are 16 tableau piles in a crescent shape; each pile starts with six cards, all facing up. The player’s objective is to move all the cards to the eight foundation piles in the right order, starting with an Ace and ending with a King.

Choosing a Solitaire

Solitaire is a fun and exciting game because there are many different formats. We’ve shown you many popular variations of this game and explained what makes each one unique. With this information, deciding the one you’ll likely enjoy most is easy. After you played different versions of Solitaire we advise you to join Solitaire Social, which adds a competitive and social aspect to the game.

Types Of Solitaire – FAQs