How to Play: Controls, Saving and Statistics

Every game on Card Lounge shares the same basic controls, so once you know them you can sit down at any table. This page covers moving cards, the buttons, saving and how rounds are counted. To pick a game, start from the game directory.

Moving cards

In the solitaire games there are two ways to move cards, and you can mix them as you like.

• Tap or click, then choose a destination. Select a card, then tap or click the pile you want it to go to. The move is only made if it is legal under that game's rules.
• Drag and drop. Pick up a card, carry it to the destination and let go.
• Double-click or double-tap a card to send it straight to a foundation, when that is a legal move.

Where the rules let several cards travel together, such as a run in Klondike or a same-suit run in Spider, you move the group the same way. Press Esc to cancel a selection.

Keyboard shortcuts

You can play the solitaire games from the keyboard as well:

• Tab moves between piles.
• Enter or Space selects a card, then places it.
• Esc cancels the current selection.
• H shows a hint.
• U undoes the last move.
• N starts a new deal.
• D draws from the stock, in games that have one.
• A makes one move for you (Auto move).

What the buttons do

• New deal shuffles and deals a fresh round. If the current round is unfinished, it counts as abandoned.
• Undo takes back your last move. Undo is unlimited, so you can step all the way back to the deal.
• Hint highlights one legal move without making it, so you stay in charge.
• Auto move plays the move the hint would show.
• Draw turns cards from the stock in games that have one.

What Draw does depends on the game. In Klondike it turns one card to the waste, and in Klondike Draw 3 it turns three (or the last one or two). When the Klondike stock is empty, Draw turns the waste back over into the stock, as often as you like. In Spider, Draw deals one face-up card onto each of the ten columns, and it is not allowed while any column is empty. In Pyramid, TriPeaks and Golf it turns one card onto the waste; Pyramid lets you go through the stock three times in total, while TriPeaks and Golf have no recycling. FreeCell and Yukon have no stock at all.

In Klondike, once every card is face up and the stock and waste are empty, the game offers Finish, which plays the remaining cards to the foundations for you.

The quick rounds have their own buttons. Blackjack uses Hit, Stand and Double, with a choice of bet and a Reset chips button. Higher or Lower uses Higher and Lower. In Memory Pairs you turn two cards at a time.

What counts as a move

A move is one completed action: a card move, a draw from the stock, or a recycle of the stock. A cancelled selection or a hint is not a move.

How a round ends

A round ends in one of three ways:

• Won: you reach the game's goal, such as getting all 52 cards to the foundations in Klondike, FreeCell or Yukon.
• Lost: the game detects that no legal move can change the position any more and shows "No moves left". Memory Pairs has no losing condition.
• Abandoned: you start a new deal before the round is finished.

In Blackjack a hand can also end as a "Push", which finishes the round without a winner. The comparison page sets out the win and loss conditions for every mode.

Saving and resuming

A round in progress is saved automatically. Close the tab, and when you come back the round carries on where you left off. There is no account and nothing to sign in to: your saved round, statistics and settings are kept only in your browser's local storage.

In practice:

• Progress does not follow you to another browser or device.
• Clearing your browser's site data for Card Lounge removes saved rounds and statistics.
• Private or incognito windows usually discard stored data when they are closed.

The privacy page explains exactly what is stored.

Statistics

Each of the 13 modes keeps its own statistics: rounds played, rounds won, and for your wins, the best time and the fewest moves. Klondike Draw 1 and Draw 3, and the three Spider modes, each keep separate records.

Deal numbers

Cards are shuffled with a seeded generator, and every deal shows its deal number so that it can be replayed. In FreeCell, deals are numbered 1 to 32000 and follow the classic Microsoft FreeCell numbering.

Choosing a game

• New to solitaire: start with Klondike.
• Want every card visible from the start: try FreeCell.
• Settling in for a longer session: Spider two suits or Spider four suits.
• Only have a few minutes: Golf, TriPeaks or Higher or Lower.

See also Compare the games, the strategy guide and the glossary.