Solitaire Strategy

1. Uncover face-down cards before anything else

Every face-down card is information you don't have. When you have a choice of moves, pick the one that flips a new card — and when two moves both flip a card, prefer the column with more face-down cards underneath, since that's the column most likely to be hiding what you need. Moving face-up cards between columns without uncovering anything is usually wasted motion.

2. Don't rush cards to the foundation

Aces and Twos should go up immediately — they never help on the tableau. But from the Three upward, hold cards back until both opposite-colour cards one rank below are already on their foundations, because until then the card may still be needed as a place to build. A red Five on the foundation can't hold the black Four you may need to move to free a column. A common rule of thumb is to keep the foundations within a couple of ranks of each other. This matters most with real cards; on CardCouch, Undo lets you bring a card back down if you sent it up too soon.

3. Treat empty columns as gold

An empty column is the most powerful space on the table — but only if you have a King to put in it. Don't break up other columns just to make a space; wait until a useful King (ideally one with a long run behind it, or one whose colour lets you build the cards you're stuck on) is available. Before you fill it, ask which King unlocks the most cards, and prefer a King whose move turns over a face-down card to one from the waste. Don't drop a King into a space just because you can: a King you can't build on simply closes the column again.

4. Know the stock, and plan it in draw three

On your first pass, draw through the whole stock once before making optional tableau moves. Knowing what is in it lets you plan moves that free the cards you actually need, rather than the ones that happen to be on top. Play from the waste when it gains something — a card turned over, a column opened, a build you need — not for tidiness.

In draw one with unlimited passes, CardCouch's default, that is all there is to it: every stock card comes round every pass, so nothing is ever out of reach. In draw three the stock is a puzzle of its own, because only every third card lands on top of a fan and each card you play from the waste shifts which ones do on the next pass. The draw one vs draw three guide shows how to count the cycle.

5. Choose your colours deliberately

When you can place either of two same-rank cards (say a red Seven from column three or a red Seven from the waste), pick the one that uncovers a card or frees a column. And when choosing which King to move into an empty column, consider the colour: a black King lets you build a red Queen and black Jack beneath it, so pick the King whose colour matches the run you are trying to release. Think one move ahead about what each choice lets you build next — and use Undo when you get it wrong.

6. Use Undo to look, and know when a deal is dead

With real cards a guess between two equal-looking moves decides the game. On CardCouch you can try one, see which face-down card turns up, and take it back — a legitimate way to play the deal rather than the odds. Some deals still cannot be won: when a full pass through the stock gives you nothing and no column move turns a card, go back to your last real choice, try the other branch, and if that fails too, deal again. The winnable-deals guide explains how often that happens.