Solitaire and card games

Three classic solitaires and six Italian card games, free in your browser, built to feel as good under a finger on a phone as they do with a mouse. In the solitaires, drag a card or a whole run, or tap a card and it goes where it can, and undo is always there when a line does not work out. In the Italian games, you tap the card you want to play.

Three solitaires, three different games

They share a pack of cards and very little else.

• Klondike is the solitaire most people simply call solitaire: seven columns, four foundations, and cards hidden until you uncover them. Luck decides the deal, and your choices decide the rest.
• Spider uses two packs and ten columns. Any card can go on one a rank higher, but only a run of a single suit moves together, and a complete run from King to Ace leaves the table.
• FreeCell deals every card face up. With nothing hidden and four free cells to park cards in, it is closer to a chess problem than a game of chance.

And six to play against somebody

• Briscola is the Italian trick-taking game, played with a 40-card Italian pack against the computer, at three levels and with Neapolitan or Piacentine cards. Three cards in your hand, a trump suit turned up under the deck, and 61 of the 120 points to win. There is no need to follow suit, which is why it is quick to learn and slow to master.
• Scopa is the game of capturing by sums: a card takes its match, or the cards that add up to its value, and clearing the table is a scopa. Two players, first to 11, counting cards, coins, the settebello and the primiera, with napola if you want it.
• Scopone Scientifico is Scopa for four, in pairs: you and your partner against two opponents, ten cards each and an empty table to start. It is the game where counting cards counts most.
• Tressette is the thinking player's game: follow suit, no trumps, the 3 beats everything and an Ace is worth a point. Here for two with the stock, to 21, with accusi if you want them.
• Rubamazzo, also called rubamazzetto, is the first card game Italian children learn: a card takes its match, and a card that matches the top of your opponent's pile steals the whole pile. When the deck runs out, the most cards wins.
• Scala 40 is the Italian rummy, played with two French packs and four jokers: lay down sets and runs, open with at least 40 points, add to the combinations on the table and be the first to go out. Here for two, against the computer, and whoever reaches 101 loses.

Which one to pick

Pick Klondike for something familiar and relaxed. Pick FreeCell when you want every loss to be your own fault, because the whole deal is in front of you from the first move. Pick Spider when you have a little longer and want a game whose difficulty comes from keeping suits apart rather than from hidden cards. Pick Briscola when you would rather have an opponent than a puzzle, Scopa when you like doing sums, Scopone when you want a partner, Tressette when you want to count cards, and Rubamazzo when you want a quick game, perhaps one to play with a child, and Scala 40 when you have time for a long game built hand by hand.

Why solitaire lasts

Solitaire card games are far older than computers, and they have spread under names like patience and solitaire for well over a century. They came to personal computers when a single-player game needed nothing more than a mouse, and they have never left. The appeal has not changed: a deal takes a few minutes, every move is visible, and there is always one more deal.

Each game page explains the full rules, how the score is counted, and the strategies that actually improve your results.