How to play Solitaire
Move all fifty-two cards to the four foundation piles, each built up from ace to king in a single suit.
How to play every game on Deckchair Games
Every game here has a rules page written in plain English: what you are trying to do, the steps to get there, a hand played out from start to finish, and the mistakes that cost beginners the most games. No jargon, and nothing assumed.
Each one is written to be read once and then not needed again. If you already know the basics, skip to the mistakes. That is where the improvement actually is, because the rules of these games are simple and the errors people make are predictable. Every page has the game one click away, so you can read a step and try it rather than memorise it.
Which solitaire should you play?
There are five here and they are less alike than the shared name suggests. The difference that matters is how much of the game is hidden from you at the start.
| Game | Cards in play | On the table to start | What you can see | What decides it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solitaire | 52, one deck | 28 in seven columns | The last card of each column | The deal, then how carefully you spend the stock |
| FreeCell | 52, one deck | All 52 in eight columns | Every card | Planning alone. Nothing is hidden and nearly every deal is winnable |
| Spider Solitaire | 104, two decks | 54 in ten columns | The last card of each column | Keeping a column empty, at one, two or four suits |
| Pyramid Solitaire | 52, one deck | 28 in a seven-row pyramid | Every card, but only uncovered ones can be taken | Pairing to thirteen, with two redeals to spend |
| Golf Solitaire | 52, one deck | 35 in seven columns | Every card | One rank up or down, and what the stock turns over |
If you want a game you can lose to bad luck, play Klondike or Spider. If you want one where a loss is yours, play FreeCell: every card is face up from the first move.
Play now
How to play Sudoku
Fill the nine-by-nine grid so every row, every column and every three-by-three box contains the digits one to nine exactly once.
How to play Minesweeper
Open every square that does not hide a mine, using the numbers to work out where the mines are.
How to play 2048
Slide numbered tiles together until one of them reaches 2048.
How to play Snake
Eat as much food as you can without hitting a wall or your own tail.
How to play Word of the Day
Work out the day's five-letter word in six guesses or fewer.
How to play Four in a Row
Be the first to get four of your discs in a line across, up and down, or diagonally, by dropping them into a seven-by-six grid where every disc falls to the lowest free space in its column.
How to play FreeCell
Move all fifty-two cards to the four foundations, each built up from ace to king in a single suit, using four single-card holding cells as working space.
How to play Crazy Eights
Be the first player with no cards left, by playing cards that match the suit or the number of the card on top of the pile, and by using your eights, which are wild, at the moment they are worth most.
How to play Whist
Take more than six of the thirteen tricks, counting your partner's tricks with your own. Follow the suit that was led whenever you can; the highest trump wins the trick, and when nobody trumps, the highest card of the suit led.
How to play Hearts
Finish the thirteen tricks with the fewest points: every heart taken is one against you and the queen of spades is thirteen, unless you take all twenty-six and land them on everyone else.
How to play Spades
Bid the number of tricks your side will take, then take at least that many. A made contract scores ten points a trick bid plus one a trick over; a missed one loses ten a trick bid, and the higher-scoring side wins the deal.
How to play Palace
Be the first to get rid of all nine of your cards: the hand, the face-up row, and the three face-down cards you have never seen. You do it by matching or beating the top of the pile, and picking the pile up when you cannot.
How to play Gin Rummy
Build your ten cards into sets and runs, and knock, which ends the deal, while your unmatched cards count ten or less. The lower count wins the difference; knocking with nothing unmatched at all is gin, and worth a bonus.
How to play Yatzy
Fill all fifteen rows of your scorecard for the highest total: each row scores a different dice combination, and sixty-three points or more across the upper six rows earns a fifty-point bonus.
How to play Word Search
Find every word from the list hidden in the grid of letters, in any of the eight directions.
How to play Five in a Row
Line up five of your own stones before your opponent does, in any direction, on a fifteen-by-fifteen board where a stone may go on any empty square.
How to play Reversi
Finish with more discs of your colour on the board than your opponent, on an eight-by-eight board where every move turns some of theirs into yours.
How to play Sea Battle
Sink all five of your opponent's ships by calling out squares on their grid, before they sink all five of yours.
How to play Ludo
Be the first to move all four of your tokens out of your corner, once round the shared track, and up your own home column to the middle of the board.
How to play Snakes & Ladders
Be the first to move your counter from the start to square one hundred, going up any ladder you land on and down any snake.
How to play Backgammon
Move all fifteen of your checkers round the board into your own home board, then bear them all off before your opponent does the same.
How to play Dominoes
Be the first to a hundred points, scored by going out, which means playing your last tile and taking whatever pips are left in your opponent's hand.
How to play Tic-tac-toe
Get three of your marks in a row — across, down or diagonally — on a three-by-three grid, before your opponent does.
How to play Nine Men's Morris
Reduce your opponent to two men, or leave them with no legal move. You do it by lining three of your men up on a marked line, over and over.
How to play Dots and Boxes
Own more of the twenty-five boxes than your opponent when every line has been drawn. A box is yours if you drew its fourth side.
How to play Draughts
Take all of your opponent's pieces, or leave them with no legal move. Play is on the dark squares only.
How to play Cribbage
Be the first to 121 points. Points come from the cards you lay during the play and from counting your hand and the crib afterwards.
How to play Anagrams
Score as many points as you can from one rack of six letters, by finding words of three letters or more that can be spelled from them.
How to play Cheat
Be the first player with no cards left, by getting rid of them under claims the other two players are willing to believe, and by catching them out when they do the same to you.
How to play Big Two
Be the first player to get rid of all thirteen cards, by answering the combination on the table with a higher one of the same size, and by spending as little as possible to do it.
How to play Spider Solitaire
Build eight sequences, each running king down to ace in one suit. A finished sequence leaves the table on its own, and clearing all eight wins the game.
How to play Pyramid Solitaire
Clear all twenty-eight cards out of the pyramid by taking them off in pairs that add up to thirteen. A king is thirteen on its own and goes by itself.
How to play Hangman
Find every letter in the hidden word before six wrong guesses run the tide in. The category is shown from the start, and a letter you have already tried never costs you anything.
How to play Word Grid
Trace as many words as you can in three minutes. Longer words are worth much more than short ones, so a single six-letter word beats seven three-letter ones.
How to play Brick Breaker
Break every brick before you lose three balls. Bricks higher up the wall are worth more, and each level you clear returns faster than the last.
How to play Bubble Pop
Clear every bubble off the board. Three touching bubbles of one colour pop, and anything left hanging from nothing falls with them.
How to play Golf Solitaire
Clear all thirty-five cards off the seven columns. Whatever is still in the stock when you finish does not count against you.
How to play Call Break
Call the number of tricks you will take, then take at least that many. A made call scores the call itself plus a tenth of a point a trick over; a missed call loses the call, and the highest score at the end of the deal wins.
How to play Yut Nori
Be the first to move all four of your pieces onto the board, round the track, and off again past the start corner, using the throws of four sticks and the shortcuts through the middle.
How to play Chess
Checkmate the opposing king: attack it so that it cannot escape, on an eight-by-eight board where each of six kinds of piece moves in its own way.