Games Information - Board Games - Card Games - Casino Games - RPGs - Blog - Sitemap

Popular Solitaire Games

Favorite Solitaire Games

Most popular solitaire games are going to have some things in common. Generally, solitaire consists of building from tableaux of cards (usually alternating colors) on a foundation card, while shuffling through the deck and using a wastepile of unplayed cards.

In Solitaire, you try to get rid of your stock of unplayed cards, while uncovering all face down cards on the table. How the cards are stacked in tableaux, foundations or cascades are where the variations come in. As you’ll see later, there are a lot of variations of solitaire, though we want to discuss the most popular games and give a brief descriptions of the favorite solitaire games being played in the world.

Klondike Solitaire

Many people consider Klondike to be the standard solitaire game. When building for the tableau piles, there will be seven columns. The righthand column will have six face down cards and one up card, while the second-to-righthand column will have 5 face down cards and one up card, then 4 face down and so on from right to left. The fare lefthand tableau will include only one card set face up.

Variations include Agnes, Thumb and Pouch, Whitehead, Westcliff, Easthaven and Nine Across.

Shanghai Solitaire – Mahjong Solitaire

Shanghai Solitaire uses “mahjong” tiles instead of cards to play solitaire and has the more widely used name “Mahjong solitaire”. Was invented in 1981 by a computer designer and released for free.

FreeCell

FreeCell is a solitaire game that looks similar to conventional solitaire, but in which most deals are solvable. The big difference is the appearance of “cells”, which allow one-card to be moved to them to give relief. Standard freecell solitaire has 4 cells, along with 4 foundations and 8 tableaux.

Bisley

Bisley requires the four aces to be put down as foundation cards before play, then four 3-card tableaus are laid down next to 9 potential columns of cards. The choices of where to start ones foundation is greater in Bisley than in most solitaire games.

Captive Queens

A 52-card game of solitaire with a distinct look: the four queens are laid out in a circle pattern facing out in four directions from the center of the table, while the other cards are put down in a larger circle, surrounding the queens. As you encounter them in the game, the 5s and 6s are placed down in 8 piles around the Queens, while you play down from the 5’s and up from the 6’s.

Forty Thieves

One of the most difficult solitaire games to win, it has variously been named Big Forty, “Napoleon at Saint Helena”, “Roosevelt at San Juan” and Le Cadran over the years. There are several variations of Forty Thieves, including 3-decks and 4-decks versions.

Pyramid

The cards are stacked in a pyramid, with the top card in the pyramid covered by those below it and so on. The purpose of the game is to get all the cards onto the bottom level of the pyramid. Several variations.

Spider Solitaire

Played with 2 decks. 50 cards are dealt on 10 tableau, with four cards face down and 1 card apiece dealt face up. 54 cards remain in the hand. This has been a popular game included on many computers as a free game for years now.

Trefoil

Also known as Le Belle Lucie, Alexander the Great, Midnight Oil, Clover Leaves, the Fan or Three Shuffles and a Draw. Though all the cards are dealt face up in Trefoil, this game is considered one of the hardest to win, even with strategy.

Solitaire Variants

Solitaire could be any game of cards played as a one player game. Most of the following games are true variants of solitaire or patience or fall into the category of the one-player card game. A few you might have issue with, but I wanted our readers to see the possibilities out there when one is looking at potential new solitaire game variants to play.

As you might have noticed from the above descriptions, some of the below names are alternate names that refer to the same game.

  • Accordion
  • Aces Up
  • Agnes I and Agnes II
  • Alhambra
  • Alternation
  • Amazon
  • Auld Lang Syne
  • Babette
  • Backer’s Dozen
  • Beleagured Castle
  • Betsy Ross
  • Big Harp
  • Black Hole
  • Black Widow
  • Blockade
  • Braid
  • Bristol
  • British Constitution
  • British Square
  • Calculation
  • Canfield
  • Capricieuse
  • Captive Queens
  • Carpet
  • The Castle of Indolence
  • Castles in Spain
  • Chameleon
  • Chessboard
  • Citadel
  • Clock Solitaire
  • Clown Solitaire
  • Colorado
  • Colours
  • Concentration
  • Congress
  • Contradance
  • Corners
  • Courtyard
  • Crazy Quilt
  • Crescent
  • Cribbage Solitaire
  • Cruel
  • Curds and Whey
  • Czarina
  • Decade
  • Deuces
  • Diplomat
  • Double or Quits
  • Doublets
  • Duchess
  • Duchess de Luynes
  • Eagle Wing
  • Easthaven
  • Eight Off
  • Elevens
  • Emperor
  • Fan
  • Flower Garden
  • Fly
  • Following
  • Fortress
  • Fortune’s Favor
  • Forty Thieves
  • Four Corners Solitaire
  • Four Seasons
  • Fourteen Out
  • Frog
  • Gaps
  • Gargantua
  • Gate
  • Gavotte
  • Gay Gordons
  • German Patience
  • Glencoa
  • Golf
  • Good Measure
  • Grand Duchess
  • Grandfather
  • Haden
  • Harp
  • Heads and Tails
  • Hit or Miss
  • House in the Woods
  • House on the Hill
  • Idiot’s Delight
  • Imaginary Thirteen
  • Indian
  • Intelligence
  • Interregnum
  • Intrigue
  • Joker Solitaire
  • Jubilee
  • King Albert
  • King’s Audience
  • Knaves
  • La Bell Lucie
  • La Crois d’Honneur
  • Labyrinth
  • Laggard Lady
  • Leoni’s Own
  • Les Quatre Coins
  • Limited
  • Little Spider
  • Long Braid
  • Loser Solitaire
  • Louis
  • Lucas
  • Maria
  • Martha
  • Matrimony
  • Maze
  • Miss Milligan
  • Montana
  • Monta Carlo
  • Moojub
  • Mount Olympus
  • Mrs. Mop
  • Napoleon’s Square
  • Nertz
  • Nestor
  • Ninety-One
  • Nivernaise
  • Number Ten
  • Octave
  • Odd and Even
  • Osmosis
  • Parellels
  • Parisienne
  • Pas de Deux
  • Patriarchs
  • Peek
  • Penguin
  • Perpetual Motion
  • Perseverance
  • Persian Patience
  • Pharaoh’s Grave
  • Picture Patience
  • Poker Solitaire
  • Portuguese Solitare
  • Pounce
  • Precedence
  • Puss in the Corner
  • Pyramid
  • Queen of Italy
  • Racing Demon
  • Rainbow
  • Rank and File
  • Red and Black
  • Rouge et Noir
  • Royal Cotillion
  • Royal Flush
  • Royal Marriage
  • Royal Parade
  • Royal Rendezvous
  • Russian Bank
  • Russian Solitaire
  • Salic Law
  • Seahaven Towers
  • Serpent Poker Solitaire
  • Seven Devils
  • Seven Up
  • Shamrocks
  • Simple Simon
  • Simplicity
  • Sir Tommy
  • Sixes and Sevens
  • Sly Fox
  • Solitaire Showdown
  • Spaces
  • Spider Solitaire
  • Spiderette
  • Square
  • St. Helena
  • Stalactites
  • Stonewall
  • Storehouse
  • Strategy
  • Streets
  • Streets and Alleys
  • Sultan
  • Superior Canfield
  • Tabby Cat
  • Tableau
  • Terrace
  • The Herring-Bone
  • The Block
  • The Flea
  • The Plot
  • The Republic
  • Thirteens
  • Three Blind Mice
  • Thumb and Pouch
  • Tournament
  • Tower of Hanoi
  • Travellers
  • Tri Peak
  • Twenty-Five
  • Vanishing Cross
  • Video Poker
  • Virginia Reel
  • Wasp
  • Westcliff
  • Whitehead
  • Will o’the Wisp
  • Windmill
  • Yukon
  • Zodiac

More Popular Solitaire Games

There are probably dozens, if not hundreds, of card games that would qualify as solitaire games, depending on your perspective. If you want to learn how to play all the available variants of Solitaire, though, these should keep you busy for a while. I would imagine I have covered the most popular Solitaire games on this list.

Related Posts

How To Play Checkers
How To Play Chinese Checkers
Most Popular Online Games
Popular Party Games
Popular Kids Games

3 Responses to “Popular Solitaire Games”

  1. [...] Popular Solitaire Games How To Play Checkers How To Play Chinese Checkers Most Popular Online Games Popular Party Games [...]

  2. [...] Checkers Rules Popular Solitaire Games How To Play Checkers How To Play Chinese Checkers Most Popular Online [...]

  3. [...] Games for Women How To Win at Monopoly School Carnival Games Chinese Checkers Rules Popular Solitaire Games How To Play [...]

Leave a Reply

Blog Topics:
Board Game Topics:
Checkers
PayDay
Chess
Stratego
Clue
13 Dead End Drive
Life
Vintage Boardgames
Monopoly
Collections
Card Game Topics:
Bridge
Rummy 500
Canasta
Solitaire
Euchre
Spades
Gin Rummy
Whist
Pinochle
History
RPG Topics:
Dogs in the Vineyard
Savage Worlds
Dungeons & Dragons
Spirit of the Century
Exalted
Unknown Armies
Mutants & Masterminds Nobilis
World of Darkness
Casino Game Topics:  
Slot Machines        

Search Games Information Depot 

Contact Us - Privacy Policy - Other Sites - Yahoo Games - BOTW Games