How to play solitaire
Three games share one family tree: sort a shuffled deck into order under a movement rule. The rule is what changes — and it changes everything.
Klondike — the one you know
Seven tableau columns, top card face up. Build foundations up by suit from the aces; on the tableau, build down alternating colors. Draw from the stock when stuck. Only kings fill empty columns. The skill: don’t play every move you can. Flipping face-down cards is worth more than tidy stacks, and an early foundation card you later need on the tableau can cost the game. Play Klondike →
Spider — the long campaign
Two decks, ten columns. Any descending stack is legal, but only same-suit runs move together, and the game is won by assembling eight complete king-to-ace suit runs. Deal a new row from the stock when stuck — but never onto an empty column; the game makes you fill it first. The skill: keep at least one column short so you always have somewhere to work, and prefer moves that extend same-suit runs even when a mixed move looks prettier. Play Spider →
FreeCell — the pure puzzle
Everything face up, four spare cells, nearly every deal winnable — which means every loss was preventable, and that’s the appeal. Runs move only if they could have moved one card at a time through your free space. The skill: empty cells are movement capacity, not storage. Empty a cascade early, park reluctantly, and plan the aces’ exit before touching anything. Play FreeCell →
Beyond the big three
The matching family trades building for removing: Pyramid pairs cards that sum to thirteen, while Golf and TriPeaks chain one-up-one-down plays onto a waste pile — Golf across seven columns, TriPeaks down three peaks with an ace-king corner turn. On the building side, Yukon is Klondike with no stock and whole messy piles on the move, Scorpion is Spider's single-deck cousin where runs assemble in place, Forty Thieves is the two-deck expert's gauntlet — single-card moves, one pass through the stock — and Canfield is the old casino game with a thirteen-card reserve and foundations that start wherever the deal says.
Which should you play?
Ten minutes and a coffee: Klondike draw-1 or a quick Golf round. A half-hour campaign: Spider two-suit or Forty Thieves. A puzzle you can’t blame on the shuffle: FreeCell. All ten deal unlimited rounds here, with a shared Daily in each. And when the cards go cold, our Word Game Library runs on the same no-limits terms — words instead of suits.