Solitaire Win Rate: Are All Solitaire Games Winnable?
Short answer: no. Solitaire win rate depends on the variant: some deals are impossible from the moment they are dealt, and the proportion varies enormously between games - from more than 99% in FreeCell to roughly one in eight in Scorpion. Here is how those numbers are measured and what they mean for the hands you actually play.
Winnable versus won
A deal is called winnable when a solver - a program that searches through every legal line - can find a sequence of moves that clears the board. That is very different from a deal you personally win. Solitaire research separates the two ideas: the winnable rate is a property of the deal, the win rate is a property of the player. Most of the famous numbers you see quoted are winnable rates under perfect play, not what an average player achieves on a Sunday afternoon.
The numbers, variant by variant
| Game | Winnable with perfect play | What a typical player wins |
|---|---|---|
| FreeCell | About 99.97% of deals | 85-95% for skilled players who know the strategy |
| Klondike Draw 1 | About 82% of deals | 30-40% for casual players, 40-55% with experience |
| Klondike Draw 3 | 75-82% for solvers | 15-25% for human players |
| Spider 1-suit | About 99% of deals | 92-98% for players who have learned the rules |
| Spider 2-suits | 50-60% of deals | 35-50% for careful players |
| Spider 4-suits | Most deals are solvable in theory | 5-15% for skilled players, 1-5% for casual play |
| TriPeaks | About 80-90% of deals | 70-80% with modest planning |
| Golf | About 70-75% under standard rules | 60-70% for careful players |
| Pyramid | About 1 deal in 7 (12-16%) under standard rules | 8-12% for careful players - dead layouts are common |
| Yukon | High for solvers, punishing for casual play | Low for casual play - there is no stock to fall back on |
| Scorpion | About 1 deal in 8 (12%) | Low - this is one of the hardest variants |
Why Klondike loses so often
Two reasons. First, 21 of the 52 cards start face down, so you are making decisions without information. Second, the stock only gives you one card at a time in Draw 1 - three at a time with only the top one playable in Draw 3 - and the recycle order is fixed. Together, those constraints mean a large fraction of deals have no solution at all, no matter how well you play.
Why FreeCell almost always wins
FreeCell removes the two things that make Klondike unfair: every card is visible, and there is no stock to fight. The only real resource is four free cells and the empty columns, and solvers have shown that almost every random deal can be solved with them. The single famous exception, deal number 11982 in the original Microsoft set, is famous precisely because it is so rare.
What this means for how you play
- Do not read a Klondike loss as a personal failure - a large share of those deals were never winnable.
- Do read a FreeCell loss as a learning opportunity - it almost certainly had a solution.
- If you want wins that feel earned, play FreeCell or TriPeaks. If you enjoy the gamble, play Klondike Draw 3, Yukon or Scorpion.
- Use undo to search. Every solver technique you use by hand - try a line, step back, try another - moves you closer to perfect play.
Is Google Solitaire always winnable?
No. The solitaire that opens when you search for it is Klondike, and Klondike is the clearest example of a game that deals unwinnable hands: about 82% of Draw 1 deals can be solved with perfect play, which leaves roughly one deal in five with no solution at all, however well you play it. Switch to Draw 3 and the human win rate falls to around 15-25%, because you can only reach every third card in the stock on a single pass. If you have lost the same hand several times running, it may simply have been one of the impossible ones.
How our games deal
Every game on Solitaire Grove shuffles with a fresh random deal each time you press New Game, so the difficulty you get is a fair sample rather than a fixed sequence. If you lose a hand you suspect was impossible, press New Game and try the next one - that is exactly what the statistics above predict you should do.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is every game of FreeCell solvable?
Not literally every one, but more than 99% are. Deal 11982 from the original Microsoft FreeCell set is the best-known unsolvable deal, and only a handful of others have ever been documented.
What percentage of Klondike games are winnable?
Solver studies put Klondike Draw 1 at about 82% of deals winnable with perfect play. Draw 3 is considerably lower. Real player win rates are well below the solver numbers.
If a deal is winnable, does that mean I should have won it?
No. Winnable means a solution exists, not that it is easy to find. Humans rarely play perfectly, so losing winnable deals is completely normal.
Can I get a deal I have played before?
Every new game uses a fresh random shuffle, so repeats are possible in principle but you will not see the same sequence of deals twice in a session.
What are the odds of winning Klondike Solitaire?
The odds of winning Klondike Solitaire depend on which draw you play. With Draw 1, roughly 82% of deals can be solved with perfect play and a casual player wins 30-40% of them. Draw 3 is much harsher: solvers still clear 75-82% of deals, but human players land around 15-25%, because you can only reach every third card in the stock on a pass.
Are some solitaire games unwinnable?
Yes, and in most variants it is common rather than exceptional. About 18% of Klondike Draw 1 deals have no solution even with perfect play, only 12-16% of Pyramid deals can be cleared, and roughly one Scorpion deal in eight is solvable. FreeCell is the outlier at more than 99.9%. A deal is unwinnable when the cards are arranged so that no legal sequence of moves can ever clear the board, and that is decided the moment the cards are dealt - not by anything you do.
What percentage of solitaire games are winnable?
It depends entirely on the variant. FreeCell sits above 99.9%, Klondike Draw 1 around 82%, Spider at one suit about 99% and at two suits 50-60%, TriPeaks 80-90%, Golf 70-75%, Pyramid only 12-16%, and Scorpion about one deal in eight. Those are solver figures - what a perfect player could achieve. Human win rates are always lower and sometimes dramatically so: the Klondike Draw 3 deals that solvers clear at 75-82% produce a 15-25% win rate for real players.
Can you win at solitaire every time?
Not in Klondike or any game with hidden information - a fixed share of those deals has no solution at all. FreeCell is the one game here where winning nearly every time is realistic, because all 52 cards are visible from the start and more than 99.9% of deals are solvable; the famous exception is deal 11982. If winning consistently is what you enjoy, play FreeCell or TriPeaks. If you like the gamble, Klondike is the honest version of it.
What is the probability of winning solitaire?
It depends on the variant and on who is playing. Measured as solvable deals, the chances per game run roughly: FreeCell 99.97%, Klondike Draw 1 about 82%, Spider 99% at one suit and 50-60% at two, TriPeaks 80-90%, Golf 70-75%, Pyramid 12-16% and Scorpion roughly one in eight. For a real player rather than a solver, cut those figures down: a typical Klondike player wins 30-40% of Draw 1 hands, and Draw 3 falls to 15-25%.
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