Free Solitaire Games

The games below are free with no strings attached.

Tournament

• The key to winning Tournament is filling the reserve with cards which have a good chance of being sent to the foundations on subsequent deals and thus making a space in the reserve. These cards are one rank away from being able to be built on the foundations and are marked by dark blue colored squares as seen in the screenshot below.
  
  
• Sometimes it is helpful to fill every space in the reserve with a card. However if there are no spaces in the reserve and spaces are not quickly created on subsequent deals, the game can be lost. The probability of a space in the reserve being created on the next deal is displayed as seen in the upper right corner of the screenshot. This helps in deciding whether or not to completely fill the reserve with cards.
  
  
• The number of redeals left, the number of deals left in the present redeal, and the number of cards to be dealt in the next deal are displayed on the menu bar as seen in the screenshot. Thus the player is not left guessing how far along he is in the game.
  
  
• All cards that can go on the foundations are marked by light blue colored squares. This saves tedious searching of the wastepiles and helps the player to know from which wastepile columns it is best to remove cards.
  
  
• The cards on the foundations do not overlap completely thus allowing the player to move several foundation cards to a different foundation with one click.
  
  
• The table seen in the screenshot below indicates which cards have yet to be dealt as determined from the face-up cards is seen in the lower right corner of the screenshot.

Shenandoah

Shenandoah is an easier version of Virginia Reel also known as Cavalcade where wastepile cards can fill a space in the tableau.

• The key to winning Shenandoah is keep valuable cards from being buried in the wastepiles. This is done by creating spaces in the tableau where wastepile cards can be placed. Especially valuable are wastepile cards that when built on foundations can be used to pick up cards in the tableau and thereby create spaces. These wastepile cards are marked by a dark blue colored square as seen in the screenshot below.
  
  
• The probability of a space being made in the tableau on the next deal is shown in the upper right corner of the screenshot. This probability could be calculated by the player based on the cards already dealt. If this probability is low the game could be lost. The probability could help to decide which cards should go on an empty tableau space.
  
  
• The number of spaces which can be made in the tableau is displayed as the tableau to foundations number seen in the upper right corner of the screenshot. It is important to keep this number as high as possible. If when a wastepile card is placed on the foundations this number decreases the player might want to reconsider the wastepile card placement.
  
  
• The foundation and tableau cards tend to be mixed together. The foundation cards of rank 2, 3, or 4 are marked with yellow to make spotting foundation cards easier. Furthermore cards that are built on foundations do not overlap completely. This enables the player to distinguish between tableau cards and cards built on foundations. Aces are marked with blue.
  
  
• All cards that can go on foundations are marked with a light blue colored square. This saves the player a lot of tedious scanning.
  
  
• If a wastepile column has a card which covers a card of the same suit and lower rank which could be used to build it on a foundation, that column is labeled as being blocked. These potential blocks should be removed as quickly as possible.
  
  
• The table seen in the screenshot below indicates which cards have yet to be dealt as determined from the face-up cards.

Queen of Italy

This version of Queen of Italy gives 4 cards instead of 3 for the initial choice of foundation and has only 8 tableau columns instead of 9. Queen of Italy has the following features:

• Cards in the reserve which cover a card lower in rank which could be used to move them to a foundation are marked with a yellow star as seen in the screenshot below. These cards need to be removed from the reserve as soon as possible. The game is lost if a yellow star card covers the only card of a given lower rank that could be used to move it to a foundation.
  
  
• Cards are marked with a light blue square if they can go on a foundation. Cards that can be built on or under a tableau card are marked with a dark blue square.
  
  
• The table seen in the screenshot below indicates which cards have yet to be dealt as determined from the face-up cards.

Solitaire Games of Skill Sampler

The Solitaire Games of Skill Sampler consists of fifteen games extracted from the Solitaire Games of Skill collection discussed on the home page of this website. The games are as follows:

• Spidey - a one deck version of Spider that is easier to win than Will O' the Wisp.
  
  
• Scorpion - easier to win than usual since some of the unwinnable games are thrown out.
  
  
• Free Space - a one deck blend of aspects of FreeCell and Miss Milligan.
  
  
• Beleaguered Castle - easier to win than usual since some of the unwinnable games are thrown out.
  
  
• Big FreeCell - a two deck version of FreeCell that is more challenging than many such games.
  
  
• Superfortress - a two deck version of Fortress with some of the unwinnable games thrown out.
  
  
• Alaska - the standard game but it can be won about half the time when using the orange strips on the cards.
  
  
• Double Yukon - a two deck version of Yukon that is more challenging than many such games.
  
  
• Pyramid Cell - a combination of the Pyramid and FreeCell games. See the screen shot above.
  
  
• Canadian Patience - a version of Australian Patience with alternate color building.
  
  
• Chameleon - easier to win than usual since some of the unwinnable games are thrown out.
  
  
• Storeroom - a Canfield type game where every game is winnable.
  
  
• Putt Putt - a version of Golf where orange strips on cards make the game more winnable.
  
  
• Pendulum - the standard game not often seen in software collections.
  
  
• Free Parking - a version of Gaps where cards may be moved into gaps if they are one rank above the card which is above the gap or one rank below the card which is below the gap.

Click on one of the boxes below to download Tournament, Shenandoah, Queen of Italy or the Solitaire Games of Skill Sampler

System Requirements

• Windows 98 or later
• Internet Explorer 5.01 or later