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BestSolitaireGames

Difficulty level

Hard solitaire games

Demanding games that reward reading the whole layout before making a move.

21 games at this level.

  • Agnes

    A triangular tableau packed by matching colour, with the twenty-ninth card deciding where every foundation starts.

    • One deck
    • 16 min
    • Hard

  • Bisley

    The Aces build up and the Kings build down, meeting somewhere in the middle across thirteen open columns.

    • One deck
    • 15 min
    • Hard

  • Bristol

    Eight fans of three with every King sunk to the bottom, built freely up and down with suit ignored entirely.

    • One deck
    • 8 min
    • Hard

  • Canfield

    Foundations start on a random rank instead of Aces, and a 13-card reserve pile adds real strategic pressure.

    • One deck
    • 15 min
    • Hard

  • Crazy Quilt

    A woven 8x8 quilt where only cards with a short edge free can be played, to Aces building up and Kings building down.

    • 2 decks
    • 18 min
    • Hard

  • Flower Garden

    Six overlapping "garden beds" of cards sit around a central reserve you must unpack in the right order.

    • One deck
    • 15 min
    • Hard

  • Fortress

    A Castle-family game with ten short rows you may build up or down by suit — but never round the corner.

    • One deck
    • 12 min
    • Hard

  • Forty Thieves

    Build strict same-suit sequences across ten columns dealt from two decks — one of the toughest classic patience games.

    • 2 decks
    • 25 min
    • Hard

  • Four Corners

    Only the cornerstone piles may feed any foundation — every other pile is tied to the one in its own row.

    • 2 decks
    • 18 min
    • Hard

  • Gaps

    Remove all four Aces, then fill the gaps they leave with the next-higher card of the same suit.

    • One deck
    • 12 min
    • Hard

  • La Belle Lucie

    The entire deck is dealt into fans of three cards, with up to two redeals allowed to untangle what's left.

    • One deck
    • 10 min
    • Hard

  • Maze

    Pull the Kings out and slide the remaining 48 cards around six gaps until every suit runs Ace to Queen.

    • One deck
    • 14 min
    • Hard

  • Odessa

    Russian Solitaire dealt differently: seven piles of six, half of them face down, built strictly down in suit.

    • One deck
    • 15 min
    • Hard

  • Penguin

    A seven-cell FreeCell relative where the first card dealt sets the starting rank for every foundation.

    • One deck
    • 15 min
    • Hard

  • Royal Cotillion

    Eight foundations built up by suit in twos, so each one skips every other rank on its way round.

    • 2 decks
    • 20 min
    • Hard

  • Salic Law

    Queens are discarded and the eight Kings become column bases, with Aces building up to Jacks in the middle.

    • 2 decks
    • 12 min
    • Hard

  • Scorpion

    Move any card onto any other regardless of sequence, then untangle same-suit runs across seven columns.

    • One deck
    • 15 min
    • Hard

  • Shamrocks

    Eighteen fans capped at three cards each, built up or down with suit ignored — and no redeal to save you.

    • One deck
    • 10 min
    • Hard

  • Streets and Alleys

    Beleaguered Castle without the head start — the four Aces are buried in the tableau and you have to dig them out.

    • One deck
    • 12 min
    • Hard

  • Sultan

    Also called Emperor of Germany — an ornate two-deck game built around eight Queen and King foundations.

    • 2 decks
    • 20 min
    • Hard

  • Usk

    Ten open piles built down in alternating colours, with a single redeal that restacks them in a fixed order.

    • One deck
    • 15 min
    • Hard

Frequently asked questions

What does "Hard" difficulty mean?
Demanding games that reward reading the whole layout before making a move.

Hard games

  • Agnes

    A triangular tableau packed by matching colour, with the twenty-ninth card deciding where every foundation starts.

  • Bisley

    The Aces build up and the Kings build down, meeting somewhere in the middle across thirteen open columns.

  • Bristol

    Eight fans of three with every King sunk to the bottom, built freely up and down with suit ignored entirely.

  • Canfield

    Foundations start on a random rank instead of Aces, and a 13-card reserve pile adds real strategic pressure.

  • Crazy Quilt

    A woven 8x8 quilt where only cards with a short edge free can be played, to Aces building up and Kings building down.

  • Flower Garden

    Six overlapping "garden beds" of cards sit around a central reserve you must unpack in the right order.

  • Fortress

    A Castle-family game with ten short rows you may build up or down by suit — but never round the corner.

  • Forty Thieves

    Build strict same-suit sequences across ten columns dealt from two decks — one of the toughest classic patience games.

Other difficulty levels