Solitaire Strategy: Principles That Work Across the Games

Each solitaire on Card Lounge has its own rules, but a handful of principles carry over from one table to the next. None guarantees a win, but together they help you win more often and see why a round went wrong. Compare the games summarises the rules of each one.

Reveal face-down cards

In Klondike, Spider and Yukon, hidden cards are the real obstacle. Any face-down card might be the one you need, and you cannot plan around what you cannot see.

• When you have a choice of moves, prefer the one that turns over a face-down card.
• If several moves do that, start with the column holding the most face-down cards, because it takes longest to dig out.
• Be wary of moves that only shift face-up cards from one column to another, unless they set up a reveal or free a card you need.

Value empty columns

An empty column is the most flexible space on the table, but what it can hold depends on the game.

• In Klondike and Yukon, only a King (with any cards on top of it) may fill an empty column. Emptying a column when no King is ready to move gives you a space you cannot yet use, so think about which King will go there.
• In Spider, any card or valid run may fill an empty column, which makes the space very powerful for rearranging. You cannot deal from the stock while any column is empty, so make good use of the space and fill it before you deal.
• In FreeCell, each empty column (other than the one you are moving to) doubles the number of cards you can move at once, so keep columns empty for as long as you can.

Do not rush to the foundations in Klondike

Moving cards up feels like progress, but in Klondike a card on a foundation is no longer there to hold cards in the tableau. A red 6, for example, may be the only place for a black 5 that is sitting on a face-down card.

• Aces can always go straight up, and a Two is safe once its Ace is there.
• For higher cards, ask whether a card one rank lower and of the opposite colour still needs a home.
• If you sent a card up too early, Card Lounge lets you move a card from a foundation back to the tableau, as long as the colour and rank rules allow it.

Spend free cells carefully

In FreeCell the four free cells are your working space, and every card parked in one narrows your options. The game moves a run in one go when you would have room to move it card by card: the limit is (empty free cells + 1) × 2 to the power of the number of empty columns, and an empty destination column does not count.

• With four empty free cells and no empty column, you can move 5 cards.
• With two empty free cells and one empty column, you can move 6 cards.
• Fill a free cell only when it leads somewhere, such as releasing an Ace or emptying a column.
• Clear the cells again as soon as their cards can go back to the tableau or foundations.

Keep Spider runs in one suit

In Spider any card can go on the next rank up, but only a same-suit run moves as a group, and only a complete King-to-Ace run of one suit is removed. When you have a choice, place a card on one of the same suit. Mixed-suit stacks are sometimes unavoidable, but they lock cards in place. In two suits and four suits, this becomes the heart of the game.

Plan chains in TriPeaks and Golf

TriPeaks and Golf both ask you to play cards one rank above or below the waste card, so the key skill is looking ahead.

• Trace the longest sequence you can make from the current waste card. A sequence such as 6, 7, 6, 5 can take cards from different parts of the layout.
• In TriPeaks, King and Ace are neighbours, and peak cards turn face up once nothing covers them. When two plays are possible, favour the one that uncovers a face-down card.
• In Golf there is no wrap, and nothing can be played on a King, so a King on the waste means you must draw. Where you can, save a King for the end of a chain.
• Neither game recycles the stock, so treat every draw as precious.

Pair with purpose in Pyramid

In Pyramid, look for the pair that frees the most cards. If two different cards could pair with the same partner, choose the one that uncovers more of the pyramid. Remember that the top waste card can pair with an available pyramid card, and that you have three passes through the stock in total.

Learn from each deal

Undo is unlimited, so use it to test a line of play and step back if it fails. Hint shows one legal move when you are stuck, but try to find your own first. For more ideas, browse the Card Lounge blog.