Solitaire, in its original form, emerged in the 1700s in northern Europe and was widely known as “Patience”. The game didn't make its way across the Atlantic to the USA until 1870 where it became known as “Klondike Solitaire”, then just “Solitaire”. A variation of the game was released by Microsoft called Tut's Tomb. The cards were arranged as a pyramid, differing from Classic Solitaire where they are laid out in rows and columns. The game is now more widely known as Pyramid Solitaire.
I grew up playing Solitaire game, I first encounter it during college on our programming class wherein we get to experience playing it much like the classic Microsoft Solitaire collection. While a lot has changed since those desktop days back then, the gameplay for solitaire itself has not.
As we approach the 2nd year of pandemic for being locked in, inside our homes with our family we get to enjoy playing it since we all have our own mobile phones. But there are also other Free Online Classic Games that you can play online which are very much recommendable to enjoy solo or with the whole family other than binge watching movies. Here are some of the
suggestive games You can play and enjoy.
Klondike Solitaire is a challenging card game that can be played alone.
“American Patience”? “Klondike”? “Solitaire”?
In the U.S. and Canada, Klondike is the best-known version of the Solitaire card game. When someone refers to “Klondike Solitaire” or “Patience”, it is just another way of saying “Solitaire”. Klondike Solitaire may have been named after the Canadian region of the same name after the game arrived in the region from Europe during the 19th century.
Over the years, “Klondike” has mostly been dropped.
The most famous version of Klondike Solitaire is the Microsoft Windows version that came bundled with the operating system up until Windows Version 10.
How To Play Klondike Solitaire
The goal of the game is to stack cards into sequences. These sequences are based on suits and rank. For example, the cards will be stacked K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A with no mixed suits.
You move cards around the gamespace following a set of rules. It's possible to follow all the rules and still get blocked if you lack strategy and some luck. Blocking yourself in means you lose the game.
Starting Your Game
Click the red and white play button inside of the above game to start a game. This will bring up the game type select mode. Turning 3 cards at a time from the stock pile is normal and turning 1 card at a time is easy. The cards will then be automatically dealt. The game is timed and the time starts as soon as the deal is done.
Game Controls
The game offers four control buttons in the upper right corner: restart game, how to play, turn sound on, and close game.
The game does not have a pause button, but if you click open the how to play menu (as indicated by [?]) it will pause the game until you exit out of the menu.
Some solitaire games allow you to double click a card to automatically lay it in another position. This game requires you to manually click and drag the card to place it where you want to.
This game also does not have an undo button, so be careful when moving cards.
Scoring
Scoring is as follows:
- lay a card on the foundation for the first time +15 points
- add a new card to the tableau or turn one over +5 points
- every 30 seconds -8 points
If you've played traditional Classic Solitaire, and looking to play one of the fun variations, you might want to take a look at Pyramid Solitaire.
Pyramid Solitaire differs from Classic Solitaire in that the cards are arranged in a pyramid layout. The object of the game is to remove pairs of cards that add up to a total of thirteen from a pyramid arrangement of twenty eight cards.
How To Play
The defining feature of this version of the game is the pyramid layout.
Deal cards to form a pyramid, starting with a row of one card, followed by a row of two cards, and so on, down to a final row of seven cards. The pyramid will consist of twenty eight cards in total shown face-up. Each row should overlap the previous one.
The remaining cards are set down at the bottom of the pyramid. This is the draw pile. These cards are arranged face-down. There is also a waste pile for cards that are passed from the draw pile.
Pyramid Solitaire is “open” in that the cards are dealt face up at the start of the game.
The object of the game is to remove all cards from the pyramid. Cards are removed in pairs and these pairs must add up to thirteen. For example, a ten and a three can be removed together, as they add up to a total of thirteen.
The rules of Pyramid Solitaire are:
- The game is played with one 52 card deck.
- Deal cards to form a pyramid, starting with a row of one card, followed by a row of two cards, and so on, down to a final row of seven cards.
- The pyramid will consist of twenty eight cards in total shown face-up.
- Pair cards to total thirteen. These pairs are moved from play.
- Kings can be removed without pairing, as Kings are worth thirteen points.
- Only open cards can be paired.
- When you can't make another move, from the pyramid or from the draw and waste pile, and you have no more deals left, the game is lost.
- The game is won when all cards are removed from the pyramid.
If you've played traditional Classic Solitaire, and looking for more of a challenge, you might want to take a look at some of the variations. One difficult and challenging variation, Spider Solitaire, is a very popular two-deck version of the game.
After the game has loaded click on the green and white button in the bottom center of the game's welcome screen to start playing. This will bring up the game mode select, where you can choose:
Easy: 1 suit
Medium: 2 suits
Hard: 4 suits
Game Features
After you choose your suit count our Spider Solitaire game automatically deals your cards to the Tableau. If you do not like a deal, or you are stuck on a game, you can click the new deal button near the top center of the screen. This game allows you to shuffle through the reserve pile an unlimited number of times.
Your current score and number of moves is shown at the top left of the screen. This game has a control menu on the top right. Replay hand, help, turn sound on or off and re-start game.
Game Design
The playing field is organized with ten columns on the Tableau. Fifty four cards are dealt, with 4 columns having 6 cards each and 6 columns having 5 cards each.
The remaining 50 cards are in the Reserve, which is dealt atop the columns in the Tableau across 5 deals.
Game Scoring
- You start with 500 points.
- Every move is -1 points.
- You get 100 points for each Royal Flush
Suits
Playing in four suits mode is significantly harder than playing in one suit mode. Practice in one suit mode and work your way up. Four suit Spider Solitaire is arguably the hardest Solitaire version for a player to master.
How To Play Spider Solitaire
Assemble thirteen cards of a suit, in descending sequence from King to Ace.
Once a full suit of thirteen cards is assembled, it is discarded.
The goal of the game is to stack cards into sequences. These sequences are based on suits and rank. For example, the cards will be stacked K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A with no mixed suits.
You move cards around the gamespace following a set of rules. It's possible to follow all the rules and still get blocked if you lack strategy and some luck. Blocking yourself in means you lose the game.
How Do You Deal?
Ten piles of five cards each are dealt, then an additional four on the first four columns. All top cards are then turned face up.
How Do You Move Cards?
The top card in a pile can be moved. It can be moved onto another card if it is in sequence. You can also move a sequence of cards all at once - provided they are suited.
If moving a sequence of cards, they may be placed either in a space or on a card of the next-higher rank to the bottom card of the unit. You must maintain suits. A King can only be moved onto a space.
In the online game, if you try to make an illegal move, the computer won't allow you to place the card.
Mahjong Solitaire became very successful with over 10 million copies being sold in the 80s, on a variety of platforms.
If you've played traditional Classic Solitaire, and looking to play one of the fun variations, you might want to take a look at Mahjong Solitaire.
Mahjong Solitaire differs from Classic Solitaire in that Mahjong Solitaire uses a set of Mahjong tiles rather than cards.
Mahjong Solitaire Rules
The rules of Mahjong Solitaire are:
- The game is played with 144 tiles. These are all laid out before the start of play.
- The aim is to match patterns into pairs and remove them from play.
- You can't remove a tile that is beneath another tile.
- You can't move a tile if it is locked. A tile is locked if there is another tile right next to it on both sides.
- The game is lost if no more moves are possible. Hint: hit the redo to retrace your steps!
- The game is won when all tiles are removed from play.
Mahjong Solitaire Strategy
Is Mahjong Solitaire an easy game to play?
At first glance, it looks simple. Just match free tiles. However, if you remove matched pairs without thinking a few moves ahead, you will soon run out of options and lose the game.
Here are a few strategy tips you can use.
Always think a few moves ahead. An obvious match may not be the best option to play. It depends what other tiles are available to you.
For example, look for four tiles that can be played at the same time. Remove these tiles. As there are no other matching tiles in the layout, removing them won't leave other tiles unplayable.
Remove the two non-blocking tiles. You will get more tiles unblocked by removing the matching tiles from the top line. There is also no way a bottom tiles can be blocking another tile. It's possible the top tiles might be blocking another matching tile, in which case you'll uncover it.
Players should always pair the tiles that unlock the most possibilities. Stacks and rows are problematic areas in Mahjong Solitaire because your visibility and moves are limited. Look to break up these areas as soon as you can.
At the very least, try and unlock a tile with every move you make. This reduces the chances that you'll be left with no options later on.
Game Scoring
Try to complete the game as fast as possible to obtain the highest score.
Some games are coded to provide bonuses for making multiple moves in rapid succession. If you are playing one of those & your bonus time runs down to zero it can make sense to plan out multiple moves in a row before making your next move to ensure you capture bonus points.
5. Tripeaks Solitaire
If you've played traditional Classic Solitaire, and looking to play one of the fun variations, you might want to take a look at Tripeaks Solitaire.
The object of the game is to clear all the cards from the three peaks. The game is played with one standard deck.
The Tripeaks variation was created by Robert Hogue in 1989. The game became widely popular after it was included in the Microsoft Solitaire Collection.
Tripeaks is also known as Three Peaks, Tri Towers and Triple Peaks.
How To Play
The defining feature of this version of the game is the three peaks layout. Eighteen cards are dealt face-down to form three “pyramids”. Each pyramid has six cards each with a row of ten cards beneath connecting the three pyramids at the base.
To create the pyramids, deal three cards face down. Next, deal two cards face-down onto each card, offset, so they form a pyramid. Next, deal three cards on top of the two cards, offset by the same degree. Finally, lay ten cards face up in a row across the bottom, each card overlapping the previous face-down card. The stock is made up of the remaining twenty-four cards.
Place the first card from the stock in the waste pile.
To move a card from the Table (also known as the Tableau, meaning the game space) to the waste pile, it must be a rank higher or lower sequentially, though suit does not matter. This card then becomes the new top card. This process is repeated until the sequence ends.
An Ace can be placed on a King, and a King can be played on an Ace.
Any face-down cards that are no longer overlapped by cards can be turned up. If no further card can be played onto the waste pile, a card is placed on the waste pile from the stock.
The game is won when all three peaks are cleared into the waste pile. The game is lost if there are still cards that cannot be placed on the waste pile after the stock has run out.
Tripeaks Solitaire Game Rules
The rules of Tripeaks Solitaire are:
- The game is played with one 52 card deck.
- Deal cards, face-down, to form three pyramids, starting with a row of three cards, followed by a row of two cards covering each “peak” card to form a pyramid shape. The final row of ten cards which connects the 3 peaks is placed face-up.
- Pair cards, one at a time, to remove them from play and place them on top of the discard pile.
- Only open cards can be paired.
- When you can't make another move, the top card of the deck is flipped onto the waste pile. When there are no more cards that can be flipped from the deck and no matches from the Table, the game is lost.
- The game is won when all cards are removed from the three pyramids.
- Over 90% of Tripeaks games are winnable. This was determined by computer models worked out by the games inventor, Robert Hogue.
Tripeaks Solitaire Strategy
This doesn't apply to the online version, but you can use a scoring system in Tripeaks Solitaire. You get points for clearing each peak and by forming long sequences.
The first way to score is to clear peaks. You get fifteen points for clearing the first peak, fifteen points for clearing the second peak and thirty points for clearing the last peak.
The second way to score is to form long sequences. A sequence is formed when you don't need to deal another card from the waste pile.
The first card you move earns one point, the next card earns two points, the next card earns three points and so on. The sequence ends when you deal from the waste pile at which point the sequence starts again. Due to the way the points keep adding, a long sequence is worth considerably more than a shorter sequence. For example, adding two cards extra on a twelve card sequence almost results in as many points as two six card sequences!
Game Scoring
- Most matches are worth five points. When you clear a row you get the row bonus score instead of the 5 points.
- Clearing fourth row: 100 points.
- Clearing third row: 150 points.
- Clearing second row: 250 points.
- Clearing top row: 500 points.
Players earn a time bonus for completing the game quickly. The time bonus starts off at 1,000 points and counts down a point each second. If you finished the game in a minute and 18 seconds then it would be 922 bonus points.
The time bonus is added to your row bonus and card removal score to create your total score.
The theoretical maximum score is 2,120, which is comprised of:
- card removal: 120 points
- row bonus: 1,000 points
- time bonus: 1,000 points
It is hard to score more than 2,060 points as doing so requires you clearing 28 cards off the board in under a minute, with 5 seconds used up by the initial deal.
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