Is Every Game of Solitaire Winnable?
No. Not every game of Solitaire can be won, however well you play. In Klondike, the classic game, most deals have a solution on paper but some are dead from the first card, and because most of the cards are hidden a typical player wins only a third to a half of them. FreeCell is the near-exception, with over 99.99% of deals winnable, and in Spider the answer depends on how many suits you play.
Play Solitaire NowThe odds at a glance
| Game | A solution exists | What players actually win |
|---|---|---|
| Klondike, draw one | Most deals: roughly four in five, higher in some analyses | Typical players a third to a half; skilled players about 80% or more with unlimited passes |
| Klondike, draw three | No higher than draw one; estimates vary | Roughly 35–45% for skilled players with unlimited passes |
| FreeCell | Over 99.99% of deals | Nearly the same, with planning; a loss is almost always a wrong move |
| Spider, 1 suit | Nearly all deals | Nearly all, with care |
| Spider, 2 suits | Nearly all deals | Most, with careful play and undo |
| Spider, 4 suits | A small share cannot be completed; estimates vary | A majority with careful play and undo |
| Pyramid, three passes | Roughly one deal in four or five | Fewer still without undo |
These are estimates for the rules as played on CardCouch. Apart from FreeCell, nobody has an exact figure, and published numbers shift with the draw rule and the number of passes allowed.
"Winnable" means two different things
The two meanings give very different numbers.
- A solution exists. If you could see every face-down card and the whole stock, is there some sequence of moves that finishes the game? This is what computer analyses measure, and it is the ceiling: nobody can do better.
- You will win it. At the table you cannot see those cards. You choose between two moves that look identical, one of which buries the card you needed, and you only find out ten moves later. With real cards there is no undo, so that one guess decides the game.
The gap between the two is the hidden information. It is large in Klondike and Spider, where many cards start face down, and close to zero in FreeCell, where none do.
Klondike: most deals, but far from all
Klondike deals 28 cards into seven columns, 21 of them face down, and keeps 24 in the stock. Analyses that look at every card put the solvable share of draw-one deals at around 80%, and some put it in the low 90s; the figure moves with the rules, so treat any single percentage with caution. Either way a real fraction of deals is unwinnable no matter what, because the cards needed to open a column are stacked in the wrong order from the start.
What players achieve is lower. A typical player wins somewhere between a third and a half of deals. Skilled players who plan and have unlimited passes win about 80% or more at draw one, but only roughly 35 to 45% at draw three, where just every third stock card is reachable on a pass. Limit the passes to three, the traditional rule, and it drops again. The draw one vs draw three guide explains why the gap is so wide.
The habits that lose winnable deals, such as emptying a column with no King to put in it or rushing cards to the foundations, are covered in the Solitaire strategy guide.
FreeCell: almost always
FreeCell deals all 52 cards face up, so nothing depends on luck after the shuffle. Of the 32,000 deals in the original Windows game exactly one, #11982, is impossible, and of the first million Windows-numbered deals only eight cannot be won. That is over 99.99%. If you lose at FreeCell, a move went wrong, not the shuffle.
FreeCell on CardCouch uses its own numbered deals from 1 to 1,000,000, not the Windows numbering, so its game #11982 is an ordinary deal; the odds are the same. See the unsolvable FreeCell deals for the full story and the FreeCell strategy guide for the planning.
Spider: it depends on the suits
Spider uses two decks, with 44 cards face down at the start and 50 more in the stock, so there is plenty you cannot see. How much that matters depends on the suit count. With one suit every run you build can be moved as a unit, and nearly every deal can be finished. With two suits most deals are still won with careful play. With four suits only same-suit runs move together, and a small share of deals cannot be completed at all.
There is no exact, agreed solvability figure for Spider the way there is for FreeCell, and estimates vary, so be wary of any precise percentage you see quoted. The practical advice is in the Spider strategy guide: earn an empty column early, build in suit, and deal from the stock as late as you can.
Pyramid and TriPeaks
Pyramid is hard to win by design: under the three-pass rule roughly one deal in four or five can be cleared. In TriPeaks most deals could be cleared if every card were visible, but 18 cards start face down and the stock goes round only once, so you will clear the board less often than that. The solitaire games comparison sets all five side by side.
How to tell a dead deal, and how to improve your odds
A Klondike deal is finished when a full pass through the stock gives you nothing to play and no move in the columns turns a card or changes what fits. Before you deal again, check that you are not just stuck on one line of play.
- Play draw one with unlimited passes. It is the most winnable standard form of Klondike and the default on CardCouch; draw three is an option for a harder game.
- Use undo to look under cards. Every solitaire on CardCouch has unlimited undo. When two moves look equal, try one, see what turns up, and take it back if the other was better. That is the information a real deck denies you.
- Go back to the last real choice, then let it go. Most lost games were lost several moves before they looked lost. If the other branch fails too, the deal may simply be one of the impossible ones, and a new game is one tap away.
Frequently asked questions
Is every game of Solitaire winnable?
No. In Klondike, the classic Solitaire, some deals are impossible from the first card: roughly four deals in five have a solution when every card is known, and the rest cannot be won by anyone. FreeCell comes closest to always winnable, with over 99.99% of deals solvable. In Spider it depends on the number of suits.
What percentage of Solitaire games can you actually win?
Fewer than the share that is solvable, because most cards are hidden. A typical Klondike player wins somewhere between a third and a half of deals. Skilled players win about 80% or more at draw one with unlimited passes, and roughly 35 to 45% at draw three. Estimates vary with the exact rules.
Which Solitaire game is always winnable?
None is guaranteed, but FreeCell is the nearest: of the first million numbered Windows deals only eight are impossible. One-suit Spider is close behind, since nearly every one-suit deal can be finished with care.
How do I know if my Solitaire game is unwinnable?
In Klondike, a deal is dead when a full pass through the stock produces no playable card and there is no move left in the columns that turns a card or changes what fits. Before giving up, use Undo to go back to your last real choice and try the other branch; many lost games were winnable a few moves earlier.
Are the deals on CardCouch guaranteed to be winnable?
No. Klondike and Spider deals are ordinary random shuffles, and FreeCell deals come from a numbered shuffle, so the usual odds apply and some deals cannot be won. What CardCouch adds is unlimited undo in every solitaire, plus draw one and unlimited passes in Klondike, which lets you find the solution when one exists.