How to Create the Best Solitaire Strategy for Each Game

Is there a grand strategy for Solitaire?

It’s a complex game with endless replayability, but if you’re a newcomer to the Solitaire genre it can feel like games are entirely decided by luck. The truth is that there are many tips you can keep in mind to make your games last longer – and to win more Solitaire games overall. Keep reading to discover ten of the best Solitaire game tips for 2024!

Top 10 Solitaire strategies for a winning game

If you’re looking to improve your Solitaire gameplay, these ten strategies are a great place to start. Give these Solitaire tips and tricks a try in your next game!

Strategy 1: Play online!

There are few feelings worse than spending fifteen minutes setting up a game of Solitaire... only to immediately get stuck. From shuffling your cards and clearing junk off your biggest table to arranging your tableau, setting up Solitaire manually can be a time-consuming process.

Thankfully, you can skip the set-up and reset time by playing Solitaire online. With features such as undo and auto-play, and a wide variety of game variations, there’s never been a better way to experience the joy and challenge of Solitaire! Check out an amazing collection of games and features at 247 Solitaire to get started.

Strategy 2: Reveal hidden cards

One of the biggest stumbling points for newer Solitaire players is that they fail to reveal the hidden cards on their board as soon as possible. Without knowing the entirety of your tableau, the game simply becomes too much of an unknown to consistently plan a winning strategy for.

Because of this, make sure to take extra care to reveal hidden cards before utilizing your stockpile if possible. Start with your larger columns as there’s a higher chance that one of those hidden possibilities will be a card you need. Aim to save revealing your stockpile until you’ve revealed as many hidden cards as possible.

Strategy 3: Clear free spaces

Free spaces are invaluable to successfully navigating a complicated game of Solitaire. Opening them can quickly turn the tide of a game which may feel, at times, uncontrollable. With free spaces, you can start a whole new tableau build with a king card, which ties this tip into the next in our list.

Using free spaces effectively can enable you to take control of your game and is the best option for storing high-value cards. Speaking of which...

Strategy 4: Hunt for kings

Kings are some of the trickiest cards to work around as they are the highest-value card in the deck. Having free spaces available in your tableau allows you to play them and other high-value cards much easier.

So make sure while you’re uncovering the hidden cards in your tableau you keep an eye out for kings. If they’re closer to the front of the deck they were slotted in, try and clear a free space for that king to begin a new build.

Strategy 5: Mind card suits

Even in your tableau, you should mind the positioning of the suits you’re playing together. Some gamers opt to create “natural builds" which is keeping alike suits together in a deck if the rules allow it. Standard Klondike Solitaire rules that cards must be stacked in opposite colors if you move one in your tableau, but some variations such as Spider Solitaire don’t have this restriction. Depending on the Solitaire variation you’re playing, this tip may be more or less relevant – adapt accordingly.

Strategy 6: Move aces up

In contrast to kings, aces can be too low to usefully play around at times. Thankfully, they’re the first card you can move to the foundations. If you spot them immediately in your game, all the better!

Move any ace up to the foundations to give yourself a quick start on completing the game, and your tableau will become just a little bit easier to manage in turn.

Strategy 7: Consider each move

Solitaire can be difficult because even the most seasoned players may struggle to accurately predict the deck. With so many possible permutations, Solitaire can always catch you off guard! Even so, it’s a good practice to never just blindly move cards around, especially if you feel stuck. Stepping back and taking stock of the bigger picture may reveal avenues you hadn’t considered before.

It’s great if you’ve moved up aces to the foundations! With that in mind, any further foundational building should be treated a little more carefully. Take care not to build your foundations unevenly as you might run into a situation where a crucial card you didn’t realize you’d need is now buried inside the foundations, lost forever. Think each move through, and prioritize strategy over speed, especially to begin with.

Strategy 8: Draw stock strategically

Avoid drawing from the stock if cards are still hidden in your tableau. Once you have sorted the board effectively and given yourself a full tableau to play around, you can worry about slotting in the additional stockpile cards.

The stockpile is a crucial part of the game that you’ll have to interact with eventually, but nothing is saying that you need to flood the tableau with cards and overwhelm yourself unnecessarily.

Strategy 9: Explore new Solitaire variations

If you feel up for the challenge, it might be beneficial to explore the many different variations of Solitaire available!

If you’re interested in a relaxing Solitaire variation great for newer players, check out Freecell Solitaire.

Or, if you’re more in the mood for an extended challenge to test your skills, try taking on Spider Solitaire. You can play all of these games and more at 247 Solitaire.

Strategy 10: Practice!

Some games of Solitaire are simply unwinnable no matter how hard you try. Don’t let an uncompleted game discourage you to practice and learn with repeated play. The best way to improve any skill is to practice, learn, and put your education into practice.

At the end of the day, Solitaire is just a game, and games are meant to be fun. If you’re not having fun with a game, there’s no shame in putting the game down and coming back to it another time.

Put your Solitaire strategy into action at 247 Solitaire!

Hopefully these strategies have you feeling more confident in your Solitaire gameplay. If you’d like to test out what you’ve learned today, turn strategy into action at 247 Solitaire today!

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.