Solitaire Lounge
A relaxing place to play your favorite card games. Pour a coffee, settle in, and shuffle through 14 hand-picked solitaire variants — no downloads, no signups, no ads cutting through your concentration. Just cards.
Pick a Game
Why Players Pick Solitaire Lounge
Most online solitaire sites bury the game under banners, modal popups, and tiny cards that feel cramped on a real monitor. We started Solitaire Lounge because we wanted somewhere quiet — a corner of the internet where the deal is fast, the cards are beautiful, and the only sound is a soft shuffle when you click "new game."
- Unlimited undos. Made a mistake six moves ago? Walk it back.
- Daily challenge. The same shuffle for everyone on the planet that day. Compare your time.
- Beautiful, accessible cards. Large pips, classic faces, and color-blind friendly options.
- Works everywhere. Phone, iPad, laptop, ten-year-old PC — it all just works.
- Your progress saves itself. Close the tab, come back tomorrow, finish the hand.
How to Play Solitaire
The classic game you grew up with is technically called Klondike solitaire, and it has four moving parts: the tableau (the seven columns of cards in the middle), the stock (the face-down pile you flip from), the waste (where flipped stock cards land), and the four foundationsin the upper right where you build up Ace-to-King by suit.
Your job is to expose the face-down cards in the tableau and rearrange the face-up cards into descending sequences of alternating colors — red on black, black on red. Kings can move to empty columns. When you uncover an Ace, send it to the foundation and start stacking that suit upward: A, 2, 3, 4… all the way to King. Win the game and all 52 cards end up neatly sorted in four foundation piles.
Solitaire Strategy: 8 Tips That Win More Games
- Uncover before you stack. Every face-down card you flip is one less obstacle. Prioritize moves that reveal new cards over moves that just look tidy.
- Don't rush the foundation. An Ace looks like a free point, but once it's gone you lose a useful low card in the tableau. Send Aces up; hold 2s and 3s a beat longer.
- Empty columns are gold. A free column lets you stage a King, park a problem stack, or fish out a buried card. Plan your moves to create one.
- Track the colors. If three black 7s are already on top of red 8s, the last red 8 has nowhere good to land. Hold it.
- Use the stock smartly in Turn 3. Cycle the deck once before committing — you need to know what's hiding before you spend moves.
- Move bigger stacks together. Most variants let you move a properly sequenced group as one. Use it to swap stacks and reveal new cards underneath.
- Some deals are unwinnable. About 18% of Turn 3 deals can't be solved no matter how well you play. Hit "new game" without guilt.
- Slow down at the end. The win is usually one move away from a deadlock. Look at every legal move before you tap the obvious one.
Solitaire Variants Compared
| Variant | Difficulty | Win Rate (Best Play) | Avg. Game | What's Different |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Klondike Turn 1 | Easy | ~33% | 5 min | Every stock card is reachable. |
| Klondike Turn 3 | Medium | ~11% | 7 min | Stock flips 3 cards; only top one plays. |
| FreeCell | Medium | ~99% | 8 min | All 52 cards face-up; four free cells. |
| Spider 1-Suit | Easy | ~80% | 10 min | Two decks, build descending sequences. |
| Spider 4-Suit | Very hard | ~5% | 15 min | The classic, brutal version. |
| Pyramid | Hard | ~14% | 4 min | Pair cards to a sum of 13. |
| TriPeaks | Easy-Medium | ~50% | 3 min | Clear three peaks one-by-one. |
| Yukon | Medium | ~80% | 10 min | No stock; move groups freely. |
| Forty Thieves | Very hard | ~10% | 15 min | Two decks, strict by-suit play. |
| Canfield | Hard | ~10% | 6 min | Foundation starts on a random rank. |
A Short History of Solitaire
Solitaire (called "patience" in much of Europe) shows up in books from the late 1700s and was popular among Napoleon-era French aristocrats, who reportedly played it during their famous exiles. But the version most of the world knows today — Klondike — earned its global fame in 1990, when Microsoft bundled it with Windows 3.0 to teach a generation of office workers how to use a mouse. By the late 1990s, Klondike was the single most-played computer game on Earth. FreeCell, also bundled with Windows, picked up a cult following because of a remarkable mathematical property: of the 32,000 deals in the original Microsoft set, exactly one was unsolvable, deal #11982.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Solitaire Lounge free to play?
Yes. Every game on this site is free. No signup, no download, no subscription. Open the page and play.
Do I need to create an account?
No. Your progress is saved locally in your browser, so you can come back later and pick up where you left off without an account.
Can I play on my phone?
Yes. All games work on phones, tablets, and desktops. Touch and drag works exactly like a mouse.
Which solitaire variant is easiest?
FreeCell has the highest win rate among popular variants — nearly every deal is solvable. Klondike Turn 1 is the easiest of the Klondike family at about a 33% win rate with optimal play.
What is the difference between Klondike Turn 1 and Turn 3?
In Turn 1, the stock pile reveals one card at a time, so every card is reachable. In Turn 3 it flips three at a time, exposing only the top card — much harder to plan.
How do I increase my win rate?
Always uncover face-down tableau cards first, do not rush Aces to the foundation, and prefer moves that unlock multiple options. The strategy blog has detailed tips for every variant.