Ranked list · Updated April 2026
You only need yourself and a deck of cards for a good game. These ten solitaire and patience games range from the Klondike everyone knows to lesser-known challenges like Forty Thieves and Scorpion. Most can be played on a table, a plane tray, or even on your lap in bed.
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The game most people mean when they say 'Solitaire.' Seven cascading columns, four foundation piles, and a deck full of attempts.
Nearly every deal is solvable, which makes every loss feel personal. The thinking-player's solitaire.
Two decks, ten columns, and eight sequences to build. Longer, harder, and the solitaire variant that wins your whole afternoon.
Clear a pyramid of cards by pairing ranks that sum to thirteen. Short, strictly mathematical, and brutally unforgiving.
Three overlapping peaks of cards; remove them in runs. Closer to a puzzle than classic patience, with a cleaner rhythm.
Like Klondike but every face-up card is movable and you get no stock pile. Harder because nothing is hidden.
Empty a seven-column tableau by running sequences into a waste pile. Short, addictive, and scored like a round of golf.
The game that killed a whole generation of 1890s resort tourists. Harder than Klondike with a tighter stock mechanic.
Two decks, ten columns, every card face up. Infamously hard; winning feels like cracking a safe.
A single row where you collapse cards into stacks based on suit or rank. The whole game fits on a train-seat tray.
If you learned Solitaire on an old Windows PC, you were playing Klondike. Work your way down the list for variants that keep the same basic rhythm but add fresh twists.
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