Best Solitaire Games — Which One to Play
Klondike, FreeCell, Spider, Pyramid and TriPeaks compared. Which one to open when you want luck out of the picture — or a round you can finish in minutes.
All five of these are patience games, and each one already has its own page of rules. So this is not another rulebook. It is the part the rules leave out: which of the five suits the mood you are actually in.
Which one to pick
You want the one everybody else plays
Klondike. Seven columns, four suits, and the shape most people picture when they hear the word solitaire. It is also the only one here whose pile can be cycled for free, so a card you cannot use right now is never gone for good.
You want luck taken out of it completely
FreeCell. Every card is face up from the first moment and there is no pile to draw from, so nothing is hidden from you. It does not get easier — it gets sharper: how many cards you can shift at once, and how many of the four cells you are willing to spend getting there.
You want the long one, not the quick one
Spider. Two full decks and ten columns make it much the longest of the five, and collecting eight complete runs is what that length is for. Colour does not matter when you stack, which sounds generous until you try to move a mixed run.
You want a game that can actually end
Pyramid or TriPeaks. These are the two that can run out on you: when no card on the board can be taken and nothing is left to turn over, the round stops whether you are finished or not. The other three only ever end when you win.
All of them
How they differ
Klondike Solitaire
Choose it when you want a deal you can grind back. Klondike is the only one of the five with a pile you can cycle again and again, and one of only two that hides cards face down, so there is real luck in the opening — and real repair work afterwards. It is also the one where a single card decides what an empty column is for, because only a king may start one.
FreeCell
Choose it when you would rather plan than hope. Nothing is hidden and there is no draw pile, so a round you lose is a round you can trace. The price is precision: an empty column and a holding cell are nothing alike in what they are worth, and spending the last free cell on the wrong card can sink a board that was never in trouble.
Spider Solitaire
Choose it when you want depth rather than speed. Ten columns and two decks make this the slowest of the five by some way, and the goal is eight finished runs rather than one. Its twist is that stacking ignores colour entirely — which feels like freedom until you discover that a mixed run will not travel as a block, and only one suit moves together.
Pyramid Solitaire
Choose it when you want a game of reading rather than building. There are no descending runs and no suits to respect: the whole thing is one piece of arithmetic, and a king is the only card in the game that goes on its own. It is also one of the two here that genuinely ends — when the pile is empty and nothing on the pyramid pairs, the round is over.
TriPeaks Solitaire
Choose it when you want chains. You clear cards one rank away from the single open card, the ace wraps round to the king, and much of the skill is deciding which clearing opens the most underneath it. Like Pyramid it can end before you are done: run out of cards and that is the round.
How to start
Open any of the five
Every one of them loads straight in the browser with nothing to install and no account. After the first visit they keep working with no connection at all.
Start with the one you half know
If you have ever played patience on a table, that was almost certainly Klondike. Its own page walks through the seven columns, the suit slots, and why the pile in the corner never runs out.
If a board stops moving, deal again
Deals are random, and neither FreeCell nor Spider promises you a winnable one. A board that will not move is not always something you did, so it is worth knowing when to stop.
Best Solitaire Games — Frequently Asked Questions
Which solitaire should a beginner start with?
Klondike, because it is the shape you have probably seen before and its pile can be cycled for free, which softens a bad opening. FreeCell is the better second step: with no hidden cards, you can always see afterwards what went wrong.
Which of these has no luck in it at all?
Only FreeCell. Every card is face up from the start and there is no pile to draw from, so the only unknown is your own planning. Klondike and Spider both keep cards face down, and Pyramid and TriPeaks depend on the order cards come off the pile.
Do any of them have a clock?
No. None of the five is timed and nothing counts down while you think. You can leave a game open, walk away, and come back to exactly the position you left.
Can I actually lose a game here?
Two of the five, yes. Pyramid and TriPeaks end the round when the cards run out and nothing on the board can be cleared. The other three only ever stop when you win, so if a Klondike, FreeCell or Spider board stops moving, nothing will tell you — deal a fresh one.
Is every deal winnable?
Not guaranteed. FreeCell and Spider are dealt fresh each time and neither promises a solution, and Pyramid and TriPeaks can simply run out of cards. Klondike's free recycling is what gives you more second chances than the rest.
Do I need to install anything or sign up?
No. All five run in the browser with no account, and they keep your records on your own device.