Home / Card / Adelaide Solitaire
Adelaide Solitaire is the easy-going member of the Australian Patience family, free to play online in your browser with no download and no sign-up. Two packs are shuffled together and eight columns of seven are dealt with every card face up, so nothing on the table is hidden. Build down in suit, the 6 of hearts on the 7 of hearts, and pick up any card together with every card lying on it, whatever order those are in, as long as the card you pick goes on the next-higher card of its suit. Only a King, or a pile headed by a King, may fill an empty column. The other 48 cards wait in the stock: turn them one at a time onto the waste, and when the stock runs out turn the waste over for a second and last pass. Send all 104 cards to eight foundations, Ace to King in suit. We measured the first 2,400 deals: our solver, which knows the order of the stock, wins 2,252 of them, more than nine in ten, and a careful player who never peeks at the stock wins 1,010, about two in five. Tap or drag to move, undo every move, ask for a hint, or switch to Winnable deals.
How to play Adelaide Solitaire
- Adelaide uses two full packs shuffled together, 104 cards. Eight columns of seven are dealt with every card face up — 56 cards on the table — and the other 48 wait face down in the stock. Your goal is to move all 104 cards onto the eight foundations at the top.
- In the columns, build down in suit: the 6 of hearts goes on the 7 of hearts, the Jack of clubs on the Queen of clubs.
- Any card in a column can be picked up together with every card lying on it, in whatever order those cards are. The only test is the card you pick up: it must go on the next-higher card of its own suit. That is the move Yukon Solitaire made famous, and it is how you dig down to a buried card.
- An empty column takes only a King, or a pile with a King at its foot. Plan for it: a space is only useful once a King is free to go there.
- Tap the stock to turn one card onto the waste. The waste’s top card can go to a foundation or onto a column. When the stock runs out, tap it again to turn the waste over for a second pass — the cards come round in the same order. After the second pass the stock is spent.
- Any Ace starts an empty foundation, which then builds up in its suit from Ace to King. Each suit gets two foundations, and cards go home one at a time. The game sends Aces and Twos home by itself, and any card once both foundations of its suit already hold the rank below it — nothing left out could need it then.
Tips
- Everything on the table is face up, so look before you turn. Find where each Ace and each low card is buried and work out which pile has to move to free it.
- A pile can be lifted from any card, not only a sequence. Use that to dig: lift the pile above a buried card onto that card’s neighbour of the same suit, then the buried card is on top.
- Free a King before you empty a column. A space only takes a King, so emptying one with no King ready to go there wastes it.
- Remember the second pass. The cards come round again in exactly the same order, so a card you could not use on the first pass is worth noting for the second.
- Do not rush a card home if its twin of the rank below is still out in the columns. That twin may need it as a place to sit, and Adelaide never lets a card come back off a foundation.
- Stuck mid-deal? Ask for a hint. It looks for a whole winning line from the position in front of you, and tapping the card it lights follows that line.
FAQ
Is Adelaide Solitaire free to play?
Yes. Adelaide Solitaire is free in your browser with no download, no account and nothing to buy. Your wins, streak and best score are kept in your own browser, and a game in progress is saved if you leave the page.
Does Adelaide Solitaire work on a phone?
Yes. Tap a card to send it where it goes, or drag it. Held upright, the table shows two rows of four columns under the foundations; held sideways, the eight columns run the full height with the foundations, stock and waste beside them.
How do you play Adelaide solitaire?
Deal eight columns of seven, all face up, from two shuffled packs, with 48 cards left in the stock. Build the columns down in suit. Any card can be moved together with every card on top of it, as long as it goes on the next-higher card of its suit; only a King or a pile headed by a King may fill an empty column. Turn the stock one card at a time onto the waste, with one redeal, and move all 104 cards to the eight foundations, Ace to King in suit.
How often can you win Adelaide Solitaire?
Most deals. We measured the first 2,400 deals: our solver, which knows the order of the stock, wins 2,252 of them — more than nine in ten — and the hint finds its winning line within its own time on 2,169. None of the other 148 was proved lost; the solver simply found no win in time. A player who never peeks at the stock and plays a careful plan between turns wins 1,010, about two in five — the difference is knowing the order the stock comes in.
Can you move more than one card at a time?
Yes, and that is the heart of the game. Pick up any card in a column and every card lying on it comes too, whatever order they are in. The only rule is that the card you picked up must go on the next-higher card of its suit, or into an empty column if it is a King.
How is Adelaide different from Outback and Australian Patience?
They are one family. Australian Patience uses one pack, seven columns of four and no redeal. Outback is its two-pack version with eight columns of seven and no redeal. Adelaide is Outback with one redeal — Pretty Good Solitaire rates Outback hard and Adelaide easy, and the second pass through the stock is the whole difference.
How is Adelaide different from Yukon Solitaire?
Both let you move a card with everything on it in any order. Yukon uses one pack, buries cards face down, builds in alternating colours and has no stock. Adelaide uses two packs, deals every card face up, builds in suit, takes only Kings into spaces, and has a 48-card stock you go through twice.
Which rules does this Adelaide follow?
Pretty Good Solitaire’s rules for Adelaide, which call it an easy variation of Outback: two decks, eight foundations built up in suit, eight columns of seven built down in suit, groups moved regardless of sequence, spaces filled by Kings or King-headed groups, and a stock turned one card at a time with one redeal. Cards never come back off a foundation.
Can I undo, get a hint, or replay a deal?
Yes. Undo takes back every move to the deal. Hint searches for a winning line from where you are and lights the move to make. Replay deal restarts the same cards, New deal draws another of 999,999, and Winnable deals only deals hands our solver has already won. Keys: arrows move, Enter plays, T turns a card, U undoes, H hints, N deals anew.