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Types of Solitaire Games
Solitaire is a family of games, not one game. This guide tells them apart and helps you pick one.
People say “solitaire” and mean very different things: a quick game against the clock, a long puzzle with every card on show, or a relaxed game of chance. All of these are solitaire. They share one idea, which is moving cards between piles until you have sorted the deck, but the rules and the feel are quite different.
The types, side by side
| Game | Decks | Feel | Luck or skill | Play it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klondike | 1 | Classic, relaxed. Draw 1 is easy, draw 3 is tough | Both | Draw 1 · Draw 3 |
| Spider | 2 | Long and absorbing. One suit is gentle, four suits is a real fight | More skill as suits go up | 1 suit · 2 · 4 |
| FreeCell | 1 | Pure thinking. Everything is face up | Almost all skill | Play FreeCell |
| Yukon | 1 | Bold. You can move any face-up card with everything on top of it | Both | Play Yukon |
| Russian | 1 | Yukon with a catch: runs must be in one suit | More skill | Play Russian |
| Spiderette | 1 | Spider on a seven-column table. Quick, and not easy | More skill | Play Spiderette |
| Eight Off | 1 | FreeCell with eight cells. Build down in suit | Almost all skill | Play Eight Off |
| Double Klondike | 2 | Klondike with two decks and nine columns. Long and forgiving | Both | Draw 1 · Draw 3 |
| Triple Klondike | 3 | Klondike with three decks and thirteen columns. A very long game | Both | Draw 1 · Draw 3 |
A few well-known games are not on this site. They are here so you know what the names mean.
- Pyramid. 28 cards laid out in a pyramid of seven rows. You remove pairs that add up to 13.
- TriPeaks. Three overlapping peaks of cards. You clear them by playing cards one rank higher or lower than the one in your hand.
- Golf. Seven columns of five cards. The same up-or-down idea as TriPeaks, with a short, quick game.
Which one should you play?
You want something relaxing
Start with Klondike drawing one card, or Spider with one suit. You can play with half your attention, and a lot of deals come out.
You want a puzzle
Try FreeCell. Every card is face up, so there is no luck in what you see. The skill is in planning five or six moves ahead and not filling your free cells too soon. The FreeCell rules explain how many cards you can move at once.
You want a challenge
Play Klondike with three-card draw or Spider with four suits. You will lose a lot, and a win feels earned.
You want a faster, more aggressive game
Try Yukon. Moving whole stacks makes the board open up quickly. If you like it, Russian solitaire is the harder cousin.
You want to race the clock
Every game here has a leaderboard, and the daily challenge gives everyone the same deal.
The names, explained
Solitaire is the American name for card games played by one person. Patience is the British name for the same thing. Klondike is the specific game with seven columns, a stock and four foundations, and it is the one that shipped with Windows, which is why a lot of people believe it is the only one.
Learn the rules
The full rules for each game are on one page at solitaire rules. For Klondike, start with how to play solitaire. If you want to know how many cards go where, how many rows are in solitaire has a table for every game.
Frequently asked questions
What are the most popular types of solitaire?
Klondike, Spider and FreeCell are the three most played. Klondike is the one people mean when they just say solitaire, and it is the game that came with Windows. Pyramid, TriPeaks and Golf are also well known.
Which type of solitaire is the easiest?
Spider with one suit and Klondike drawing one card at a time are the gentlest. In both you can undo ideas easily and most deals can be won with careful play.
Which type of solitaire is the hardest?
Spider with four suits is the hardest of the common ones, because runs only move in a single suit and most random deals cannot be won. Klondike drawing three cards is the hardest of the casual games.
Which solitaire game is all skill and no luck?
FreeCell comes closest. Every card is face up from the start and nearly all deals can be won, so a loss usually means a better plan existed.
What is the difference between solitaire and patience?
Nothing, apart from the name. Patience is the usual British name for the same family of card games, and Klondike is often called patience in the UK.
Can solitaire be played by two people?
Some versions can. Double solitaire and Nertz are races where each player works their own cards at the same time. The games on this site are one-player games.