Best patience games
Games for one: famous screen classics, patiences you can solve by thinking ahead, and two solo adventures that turn a deck into a dungeon.
- #1 FreeCell Every card face up, four little parking spaces – almost every deal can be won, if you think far enough ahead. Every card face up and four parking spaces – almost every deal can be won if you think far enough ahead.
- #2 Klondike Seven columns, four Aces and one deck – the classic solitaire that millions played on their computers, now back on the kitchen table. The classic with seven columns – the patience everyone knows, just as satisfying with a real deck.
- #3 Scoundrel Fight your way through a dungeon of monsters, weapons and potions – four cards at a time, with 20 health and no way back. A dungeon crawl with one deck: monsters, weapons and potions, four cards at a time, 20 health and no way back.
- #4 Spider Two decks, ten columns and eight long runs from King to Ace – the big patience that rewards patience, with an easy mode for beginners. Two decks, ten columns and long runs from King to Ace – with an easy mode for beginners.
- #5 Regicide Storm the castle together and defeat twelve corrupted Jacks, Queens and Kings – with nothing but a deck of cards and each suit's power. Fight twelve Jacks, Queens and Kings using each suit's power – a boss battle that also works solo.
- #6 Calculation Count in ones, twos, threes and fours – a patience with no luck in the layout and all the skill in where you put the next card. No luck in the layout – all the skill lies in which waste pile the next card goes on.
- #7 Golf Solitaire Seven open columns, one pile to play on – one up or one down, and every card left over is a stroke on your scorecard. One up or one down from seven open columns – five minutes, and every leftover card is a stroke.
- #8 Forty Thieves Two decks, forty open cards and one pass through the stock – the tough patience said to have whiled away Napoleon's exile on St Helena. Two decks, forty open cards and a single pass through the stock – tough and rewarding.
- #9 La Belle Lucie Eighteen fans of cards, every one of them face up – and still the lovely Lucie only rarely lets you win. Eighteen fans, all face up – and still the lovely Lucie rarely lets you win.
- #10 Poker Squares Twenty-five cards, one at a time, into a five-by-five grid – every row and column is a poker hand, and no card ever moves again. Twenty-five cards into a five-by-five grid, each row and column a poker hand – chase your high score.