Good solitaire strategy is usually about preserving options. The strongest players do not just take the first legal move they see — they choose the move that opens the most useful paths two or three steps later.
All 214 games have a help destination. The 160 published guides are organized by family below; a variant may share its family guide when its differences fit there.
Ask yourself which move reveals information, creates space, or protects future sequence movement. If a move does none of those things, it may be legal without being useful.
How each family works is the rules-side version of this page.
Start with a family guide where one is available. Other articles focus on a game’s distinct rules; the playable game page remains the quickest place to check its rules.
Klondike familyFreeCell & open packersCastle gamesSpider & ScorpionCanfield familyFans (La Belle Lucie)Pyramid & peaksPairing & removalForty Thieves & two-deck buildersMiss Milligan & row dealersReserve buildersCourt gamesLayout, cross & clock-face gamesGrid & sequence puzzlesWaste-pile buildersGolf & adjacencyMechanical & puzzle gamesBlockade gamesRank shuttles
Seven or so columns with most cards face-down, a stock you turn over into a waste, and four foundations built from Ace to King.
The whole deck is dealt face-up and there is no stock. Your only slack is a few holding cells or an empty column.
A face-up deck split among two wings of rows around four or eight foundations, with no stock.
There are no foundations at the start. You assemble descending same-suit runs inside the tableau, and a complete King-to-Ace run is removed as a unit.
A face-down reserve pile beside a small tableau, and foundations that start on whatever rank was dealt first and wrap around from King to Ace.
The deck is dealt into many small fans of three or so cards. Only the top card of each fan moves, and there is no stock.
La Belle Lucie family strategy
Cruel and Perseverance strategy
House in the Woods family strategy
Cards laid in an overlapping triangle. Only uncovered cards are in play, and you remove them in pairs that add to thirteen.
A small open layout of cards that you clear by discarding pairs — cards that add to a target number, or that match in rank.
Two decks dealt as a block of eight to ten columns, eight foundations, and a stock you get through once or twice.
Congress and Parliament family strategy
Eight or so columns receive a card from the stock at the same time; ordered groups move between the deals.
A large reserve, grid or arch of cards that has to be unlocked, with foundations that matter more than the tableau.
Osmosis and Peek family strategy
Kings or Queens are set out as column bases, and the foundations start on odd ranks and build regardless of suit.
The cards form a distinctive shape — a windmill, a clock face, a braid, a square — and where a card sits decides what it can do.
Braid and Long Braid family strategy
Crazy Quilt and Indian Carpet family strategy
St. Helena, Louis, and Box Kite family strategy
Cards occupy fixed grid cells or ordered piles, and moving one changes which gaps or patterns can be completed.
Gaps, Addition, and Double Montana family strategy
No tableau to build on. Each card off the stock goes to a foundation or to one of a few waste piles you control, and only the top of each pile is available.
Calculation and Musical family strategy
Sir Tommy waste placement guide
Strategy Solitaire and Last Chance guide
A single waste pile, and you play any exposed card that is one rank above or below its top card.
Golf and Putt Putt family strategy
The rules force nearly every move, so the game either resolves or stalls; or there is no chance at all and it is a pure puzzle.
Fresh rows cover earlier cards, while gaps in the lower rows reopen access to the cards above.
Cards travel from one numbered pile to the pile matching their rank, often until a King ends the chain.
Travellers and rank-shuttle family guide
Every figure below is read straight out of the game engines that run this site, not typed in by hand — so the table says what the games actually do, and stays correct when they change.
These are not win rates. Solitaire.City records nothing about how your games end; your statistics live in your own browser and are never sent anywhere. We could publish figures from a bot instead, but a bot’s win rate measures the bot, not the game — a simple one loses every deal of Klondike, while a strong solver wins about four in five, and neither number tells you what a person should expect. So this compares the shape of the deal, which is a fact, rather than difficulty, which would be a guess.
Free cells and redeals are left out on purpose: only three variants have cells at all, and redeal rules are modelled six different ways with different meanings, so a single column would invite exactly the false comparison this table is meant to avoid. Both are covered on each game’s own page.
| Game | Family | Cards | Columns | Foundations | Stock | Deal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Abandon Hope | Mechanical & puzzle games | 52 | 3 | 0 | Yes | Hidden |
| Aces and Kings | Reserve builders | 104 | 4 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Addition | Grid & sequence puzzles | 48 | — | — | No | Open |
| Agnes | Klondike family | 52 | 7 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| American Toad | Canfield family | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Apophis | Pyramid & peaks | 52 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Archway | Reserve builders | 104 | 4 | 8 | No | Open |
| Australian Patience | Klondike family | 52 | 7 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Babette | Blockade games | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Backbone | Reserve builders | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Baker’s Dozen | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | 13 | 4 | No | Open |
| Baroness | Pairing & removal | 52 | 5 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Beetle | Spider & Scorpion | 104 | 10 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Beleaguered Castle | Castle games | 52 | 8 | 4 | No | Open |
| Big Ben | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | 12 | 12 | Yes | Hidden |
| Birthday | Waste-pile builders | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Bisley | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | 13 | 8 | No | Open |
| Black Hole | Golf & adjacency | 52 | 17 | — | No | Open |
| Blondes and Brunettes | Canfield family | 104 | 9 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Box Kite | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | 12 | 8 | No | Open |
| Braid | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Bristol | Fans (La Belle Lucie) | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| British Blockade | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | 10 | 8 | Yes | Open |
| British Square | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | 4 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Calculation | Waste-pile builders | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Canfield | Canfield family | 52 | 4 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Canister | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 52 | 8 | 4 | No | Open |
| Captive Queens | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 52 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Carpet | Reserve builders | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Casket | Reserve builders | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Castle of Indolence | Castle games | 104 | 8 | 8 | No | Open |
| Castles in Spain | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | 13 | 4 | No | Hidden |
| Chameleon | Canfield family | 52 | 3 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Cicely | Blockade games | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Citadel | Castle games | 52 | 8 | 4 | No | Open |
| Clock | Mechanical & puzzle games | 52 | — | — | No | Hidden |
| Colonel | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 36 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Colorado | Waste-pile builders | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Colours | Waste-pile builders | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Congress | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 8 | 4 | Yes | Open |
| Crazy Quilt | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Crescent | Fans (La Belle Lucie) | 104 | 16 | 8 | No | Hidden |
| Cruel | Fans (La Belle Lucie) | 52 | 12 | 4 | No | Open |
| Czarina | Canfield family | 52 | 5 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Deauville | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 10 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Decade | Pairing & removal | 52 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Devil’s Grip | Waste-pile builders | 96 | 8 | 24 | Yes | Hidden |
| Diplomat | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Double Montana | Grid & sequence puzzles | 104 | 104 | 0 | No | Open |
| Dress Parade | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 10 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Duchess of Luynes | Reserve builders | 104 | 4 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Eagle’s Wing | Canfield family | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Easthaven | Klondike family | 52 | 7 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Eight Cards | Pairing & removal | 52 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Elevens | Pairing & removal | 52 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Emperor | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 10 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Falling Star | Canfield family | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Fortress | Castle games | 52 | 10 | 4 | No | Open |
| Four of a Kind | Rank shuttles | 52 | 13 | 0 | No | Hidden |
| Fourteen Out | Pairing & removal | 52 | 12 | — | No | Open |
| FreeCell | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | 8 | 4 | No | Open |
| Gaps | Grid & sequence puzzles | 48 | — | — | No | Open |
| Gargantua | Klondike family | 104 | 9 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Gay Gordons | Pairing & removal | 52 | 10 | — | No | Open |
| General's Patience | Canfield family | 104 | 9 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Giant | Miss Milligan & row dealers | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Giza | Pyramid & peaks | 52 | — | — | No | Open |
| Glencoe | Court games | 104 | 8 | 16 | No | Open |
| Golf | Golf & adjacency | 52 | 7 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Good Measure | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | 10 | 4 | No | Open |
| Good Thirteen | Pairing & removal | 52 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Grampus | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | 8 | 4 | No | Open |
| Hidden Cards | Rank shuttles | 52 | 13 | 0 | No | Hidden |
| Hide and Seek | Rank shuttles | 52 | 13 | 0 | No | Hidden |
| Hit or Miss | Mechanical & puzzle games | 52 | 0 | 0 | Yes | Hidden |
| Hope Deferred | Mechanical & puzzle games | 32 | 3 | 0 | Yes | Hidden |
| House in the Woods | Fans (La Belle Lucie) | 104 | 35 | 8 | No | Open |
| House on the Hill | Fans (La Belle Lucie) | 104 | 35 | 8 | No | Open |
| Imaginary Thirteen | Waste-pile builders | 104 | 0 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Imperial Guards | Miss Milligan & row dealers | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Indian Carpet | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Interregnum | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Intrigue | Court games | 104 | 8 | 16 | No | Open |
| Josephine | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 10 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Jubilee (No. 2) | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | 6 | 28 | Yes | Hidden |
| King Albert | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | 9 | 4 | No | Open |
| Kings Corners | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 52 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Klondike | Klondike family | 52 | 7 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Kuiper | Klondike family | 52 | 8 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| La Belle Lucie | Fans (La Belle Lucie) | 52 | 18 | 4 | No | Open |
| La Croix d'Honneur | Pairing & removal | 52 | 8 | 0 | Yes | Hidden |
| Labyrinth | Blockade games | 52 | 8 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Lady Betty | Waste-pile builders | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Lady of the Manor | Reserve builders | 104 | 4 | 8 | No | Open |
| Laggard Lady | Court games | 104 | 8 | 16 | No | Open |
| Las Vegas Solitaire | Klondike family | 52 | 7 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Last Chance | Waste-pile builders | 52 | 7 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Leoni’s Own | Reserve builders | 104 | — | 8 | No | Hidden |
| Little Milligan | Miss Milligan & row dealers | 52 | 7 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Little Spider | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 52 | 8 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Long Braid | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Louis | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | 12 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Lucas | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 13 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Maria | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 9 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Martha | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 52 | 12 | 4 | No | Hidden |
| Matrimony | Reserve builders | 104 | 16 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Maze | Grid & sequence puzzles | 52 | 54 | 0 | No | Open |
| Midshipman | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 9 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Millie | Miss Milligan & row dealers | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Milligan Cell | Miss Milligan & row dealers | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Milligan Harp | Miss Milligan & row dealers | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Milligan Yukon | Miss Milligan & row dealers | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Miss Milligan | Miss Milligan & row dealers | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Monte Carlo | Pairing & removal | 52 | 25 | 0 | Yes | Hidden |
| Moojub | Reserve builders | 52 | 0 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Mount Olympus | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | 9 | 16 | Yes | Hidden |
| Mrs. Mop | Spider & Scorpion | 104 | 13 | — | No | Open |
| Musical | Waste-pile builders | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Napoleon at St Helena | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 10 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Napoleon's Shoulder | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 12 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Napoleon's Square | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 12 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Nestor | Pairing & removal | 52 | 8 | — | No | Open |
| Nestor Doublets | Pairing & removal | 52 | 12 | — | No | Open |
| Nestor Vertical | Pairing & removal | 52 | 7 | — | No | Open |
| Nine Across | Klondike family | 52 | 9 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Ninety-One | Grid & sequence puzzles | 52 | 13 | 0 | No | Open |
| Octave | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Odd and Even | Reserve builders | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Osmosis | Reserve builders | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Päckchen | Spider & Scorpion | 52 | 12 | 4 | No | Open |
| Parisienne | Reserve builders | 104 | 4 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Parliament | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 8 | 4 | Yes | Open |
| Pas de Deux | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | 52 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Patriarchs | Reserve builders | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Peek | Reserve builders | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Penguin | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | 7 | 4 | No | Open |
| Perpetual Motion | Mechanical & puzzle games | 52 | 4 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Perseverance | Fans (La Belle Lucie) | 52 | 12 | 4 | No | Open |
| Persian Patience | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 64 | 8 | 8 | No | Open |
| Persian Rug | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | — | 8 | No | Open |
| Pharaoh’s Grave | FreeCell & open packers | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Picture Patience | Reserve builders | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Poker Squares | Grid & sequence puzzles | 52 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Portuguese Solitaire | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | 13 | 4 | No | Open |
| Precedence | Waste-pile builders | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Puss in the Corner | Waste-pile builders | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Putt Putt | Golf & adjacency | 52 | 7 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Pyramid | Pyramid & peaks | 52 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Pyramid Golf | Golf & adjacency | 52 | 28 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Pyramide | Klondike family | 104 | 10 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Quadrille | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 52 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Queen of Italy | Canfield family | 104 | 9 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Queen's Audience | Reserve builders | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Raglan | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | 9 | 4 | No | Open |
| Rainbow | Canfield family | 52 | 4 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Red and Black | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Redheads | Canfield family | 104 | 8 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Relaxed Pyramid | Pyramid & peaks | 52 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Relaxed Spider | Spider & Scorpion | 104 | 10 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Rosamund's Bower | Waste-pile builders | 52 | — | 1 | Yes | Hidden |
| Rouge et Noir | Spider & Scorpion | 104 | 10 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Royal Cotillion | Reserve builders | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Royal Flush | Mechanical & puzzle games | 52 | 5 | — | No | Hidden |
| Royal Marriage | Pairing & removal | 52 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Royal Parade | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | 24 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Royal Rendezvous | Reserve builders | 104 | — | 12 | Yes | Hidden |
| Salic Law | Court games | 96 | 8 | 8 | No | Open |
| Scorpion | Spider & Scorpion | 52 | 7 | 4 | No | Hidden |
| Seahaven Towers | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | 10 | 4 | No | Open |
| Selective Canfield | Canfield family | 52 | 4 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Seven Devils | Reserve builders | 104 | 7 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Shamrocks | Fans (La Belle Lucie) | 52 | 18 | 4 | No | Open |
| Simple Simon | Spider & Scorpion | 52 | 10 | — | No | Open |
| Simplicity | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 52 | 12 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Sir Tommy | Waste-pile builders | 52 | — | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Six by Six | Klondike family | 52 | 6 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Sixty Thieves | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 156 | 12 | 12 | Yes | Hidden |
| Somerset | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | 10 | 4 | No | Hidden |
| Spider | Spider & Scorpion | 104 | 10 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Spiderette | Spider & Scorpion | 52 | 7 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Spoilt | Rank shuttles | 32 | 28 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| St. Helena | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | 12 | 8 | No | Open |
| Strategy | Waste-pile builders | 52 | 8 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Streets | Forty Thieves & two-deck builders | 104 | 10 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Streets and Alleys | Castle games | 52 | 8 | 4 | No | Open |
| Sultan | Reserve builders | 104 | — | 9 | Yes | Hidden |
| Superior Canfield | Canfield family | 52 | 4 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Switch-a-roo Poker Solitaire | Grid & sequence puzzles | 52 | — | — | No | Hidden |
| Tableau Solitaire | Castle games | 104 | 8 | 8 | No | Open |
| The Clock | Rank shuttles | 52 | 13 | 0 | No | Hidden |
| The Fan | Fans (La Belle Lucie) | 52 | 18 | 4 | No | Open |
| The Plot | Reserve builders | 104 | 12 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Thirteen Up | Canfield family | 52 | 4 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Three Blind Mice | Spider & Scorpion | 52 | 10 | 4 | No | Hidden |
| Three Shuffles and a Draw | Fans (La Belle Lucie) | 52 | 18 | 4 | No | Open |
| Thumb and Pouch | Klondike family | 52 | 7 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Tournament | Reserve builders | 104 | 6 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Tower of Pisa | Mechanical & puzzle games | 9 | — | — | No | Open |
| Travellers | Rank shuttles | 52 | 12 | 0 | Yes | Hidden |
| Trefoil | Fans (La Belle Lucie) | 52 | 16 | 4 | No | Open |
| Tri Peaks | Golf & adjacency | 52 | 28 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Triangle | Pyramid & peaks | 52 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Tut’s Tomb | Pyramid & peaks | 52 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Variegated Demon | Canfield family | 104 | 5 | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
| Virginia Reel | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | 24 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Wasp | Spider & Scorpion | 52 | 7 | 4 | No | Hidden |
| Weavers | Reserve builders | 104 | — | 8 | No | Hidden |
| Westcliff | Klondike family | 52 | 10 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Whitehead | Klondike family | 52 | 7 | 4 | Yes | Hidden |
| Wildflower | FreeCell & open packers | 52 | — | 4 | No | Open |
| Will O’ the Wisp | Spider & Scorpion | 52 | 7 | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Windmill | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | — | — | Yes | Hidden |
| Yukon | Klondike family | 52 | 7 | 4 | No | Hidden |
| Zodiac | Layout, cross & clock-face games | 104 | — | 8 | Yes | Hidden |
Strategy only helps once the rules are clear. If you are still learning foundations, tableau movement, or stock usage, start with the rules guide and then come back here.
The glossary defines every term the guides use and links each one to games where you can see it.
The game finder filters by family, pace and difficulty; the families page explains how each family plays.