Loving Classic Solitaire? 5 Different Ways to Play Solitaire for Card Game Lovers

There are countless different ways to play Solitaire. Your options range from new rulesets alterations for the classic experience to Solitaire variations that feel like entirely new games. If you’re in the mood to attempt a new challenge, here are five unique and different ways to play Solitaire - the world’s most popular card-sorting game.

5 Different Ways to Play Solitaire

The game has spread across the world and every step has resulted in new and different versions of Solitaire being developed. We can’t list all of them, so here are five most famous variations of Solitaire to spice up your gameplay!

3 Card Klondike Solitaire

One of the first variations of Solitaire that newcomers are likely to experience after building their skills up is 3 Card Klondike. It’s quite a simple alternative to the most widely played variety, getting its name from your new stockpile draw technique – which consists of three cards instead of the traditional one.

As a quick refresher, this game follows the classic Solitaire rules. This means you’ll be playing with seven tableau piles and four foundational piles, which must be built in descending order according to their suit. Cards drawn from the stockpile must be played and, if they cannot, are sent to the waste where they are unretrievable until the entire stockpile is gone through.

3 Card Klondike requires every draw from the stockpile to be carefully timed and prepared to make the most of your cards. This can be more difficult to handle than you might imagine, as per the rules you must play each card drawn before the next. This means if you can’t play the top card of the three drawn, the remaining two cards are also going to waste along with it. If you can only play the first, but not the second, the third is going to waste whether you could have played it or not. Klondike is a game which will inevitably have you cycling through all of the cards in your stockpile multiple times; from stock, to waste, and reset. It can actually be quite easy and satisfying to learn the sequence of cards in your stock rotation this way! 3 Card Klondike is a challenging, but educational, presentation of the classic game you love.

Freecell Solitaire

Freecell Solitaire, in contrast to Klondike, offers much more freedom and versatility to the player.

The goal of Freecell should be familiar from the classic game: to stack your foundations with 4 suits by arranging your tableau cards in descending stacks. To do this, you will have 8 tableau spaces to use right at the beginning of the game. However, unlike classic Solitaire, there are no hidden cards in Freecell – and there is no stock.

All cards are immediately available and at your disposal and, as the name of this Solitaire variation suggests, you are given four “free cells” which can be used as handy spaces to store single cards while organizing your tableau. While you cannot store builds of more than one card inside a free cell, the possibility of four completely open spaces to facilitate complicated arrangements drastically opens up your gameplay possibilities. Solving Freecell Solitaire is a matter of dedication and efficient arrangement more than anything.

Freecell is novel among other variations for being almost always guaranteed to be winnable, so it’s one of the best games to practice your Solitaire skills.

Spider Solitaire

Utilizing two full decks of cards and ten whole tableau spaces, Spider Solitaire is a complex and challenging variation of the classic game.

The gameplay is generally the same as classic Solitaire, with a few notable exceptions to the standard rules. Eight foundations, descending numerically according to their suit, are required to complete the game. These eight “legs” of cards give this game its signature title, akin to a spider’s body.

Mastering Spider Solitaire requires patience, intelligence play, and favorable luck in equal measure. Arranging cards is made a bit easier by eliminating the need to alternate colors but, in turn, is made more difficult by only allowing the player to move stacks of the same suit. Your stockpile is drastically increased, dishing out ten cards every time you draw from it, which can be helpful in its own right when you run out of moves.

All of this creates a game where the player must think carefully about each single play of the dozens of moves they’ll make throughout the game.

Wasp Solitaire

Of all the different ways to play Solitaire, Wasp Solitaire is one of the more unique Solitaire games you can try especially if you consider how it requires you to handle the tableau. In this Solitaire variation there are four tableau spaces and three foundational piles to create. Like many games of Solitaire, these foundational piles must be arranged in descending order according to their suit.

The catch of Wasp is that any card across the board, from the tableau to the foundation, is always interactable. This means that cards “covered” by other cards are still very much in play. Your builds or assorted stacks of cards can always be moved, regardless of the cards within or whether they’re the same suit or not. The first card of your build that you are placing must only be one less than the card you’re placing it on top of.

Arrange the board and bring your sorted stacks of suits to the three foundational slots on the right. Eliminate your tableau, and you’ve won the game!

Scorpion Solitaire

Scorpion Solitaire is one of the more difficult variations of the game available. It plays almost identically to Wasp, with four tableau spaces and three foundational decks, and only three cards are stored in your stockpile. The caveat is that empty tableau spaces can only be played beginning with a king.

Additionally, the foundations do not have to be arranged according to their suit. Simply sort every card into the foundations in descending order to eliminate the tableau board of cards, and the game will be yours! Scorpion is a great resource to learn the importance of naturally building cards according to their suit, a technique which many expert Solitaire variations are built around the player’s ability to do.

Playing Scorpion Solitaire can be difficult, and your moves will have far-reaching consequences, which means that a single misplay can drastically change the course of your game.

Scorpion and all of the aforementioned Solitaire variations are fully playable physically with decks of cards, but if you’re looking to practice your skills, consider playing online.

Expand your skills by trying different variations of Solitaire

There you have it! If you’re a Solitaire pro, these five new unique variations are sure to test your skills and give you a new love for the game.

If you’re playing online, be sure to take advantage of all the amenities of virtual Solitaire, like being able to undo your moves, track your score, and auto-play when you’re stuck. If you’d like to play these Solitaire games and even more, consider visiting us at 247 Solitaire!

Find out the fastest Solitaire game recorded and learn to increase your speed in playing.

DISCLAIMER: The games on this website are using PLAY (fake) money. No payouts will be awarded, there are no "winnings", as all games represented by 247 Games LLC are free to play. Play strictly for fun.