How to Play Solitaire: Free Guides, Rules and Strategy

How to play solitaire, one question at a time: that is what these free guides are for. Each one covers a single thing properly - what a word means, how two variants differ, how often a game can actually be won - and each can be read in about five minutes.

How to use these guides

Start with the glossary if the vocabulary is getting in the way: terms like tableau, foundation, stock and waste mean slightly different things in different variants, and the glossary flags those differences. If you are trying to pick a game, the comparison guides - Klondike vs Spider, FreeCell vs Klondike, Pyramid vs TriPeaks - lay the two rule sets side by side so you can see which one matches how you like to think.

If you are trying to win more often, read the strategy guide before anything else. It covers the habits that matter in every variant: uncovering face-down cards first, holding low cards back instead of rushing them to the foundations, and keeping an empty column available. The win-rate guide sits alongside it and explains why some losses were never yours to prevent - Klondike is about 82% winnable with perfect play, FreeCell roughly 99.97%, Pyramid only 12-16%.

Every guide links back to the games it talks about, so you can read a paragraph and try the idea on a real board immediately.