Rules
Baker's Dozen Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use one standard 52-card deck.
- Deal thirteen tableau columns of four face-up cards each.
- Before play, move any kings in each column to the bottom of that column.
- There is no stock, waste, reserve, redeal, or draw pile.
- Only the top card of each tableau column is available.
- Foundations build upward by suit from ace to king.
- Tableau cards build downward by one rank regardless of suit.
- Once a tableau column is empty, it stays empty.
- Win by moving all 52 cards to the foundations.
How to play
How to play Baker's Dozen Solitaire
Baker's Dozen is an open one-deck patience game. The whole deck is visible from the first deal, so you are not waiting for hidden cards or a stock pile to rescue the board. The puzzle is to release the aces and low cards soon enough that each suit foundation can keep climbing from ace to king.
The tableau is split into thirteen columns, which is where the name comes from. Only the top card of each column can move. If that card is an ace, or the next needed card of its suit, you can move it to a foundation. If it is not ready for a foundation, you may move it onto another top tableau card that is exactly one rank higher.
Tableau suits do not matter in this version. A 6 can land on any 7, and a queen can land on any king. Empty columns are the exception that gives the game its bite: when a column is cleared, it becomes unusable. There is no spare workspace hiding in the layout.
Setup
The thirteen-column layout
A new deal creates thirteen columns with four cards in each column. All cards are face up. Four empty foundations sit above the tableau, one foundation for each suit. There is no stock, waste, reserve, draw button, or redeal counter because every card starts on the table.
Before play begins, kings are shifted to the bottom of their own columns. If a column contains two kings, those kings keep their order while moving below the non-kings in that same column. This adjustment matters because a king cannot be placed on a higher rank in the tableau. Without the shift, a starting king could sit on top of useful lower cards and make the deal feel stuck before it has really started.
Available cards
Top cards are the only movable cards
Baker's Dozen is not a sequence-moving game. A neat run such as 8-7-6 does not lift as a group. Only the exposed top card of a column can move, and every successful move reveals at most one card underneath. That makes each top card a gate, not just a card.
The best moves are often the ones that expose a low foundation card. Before moving a 9 onto a 10, look at what sits below the 9. If it uncovers an ace, a two, or a card that continues a foundation already in motion, the move is probably useful. If it merely tidies the surface while burying important landing ranks, it may cost more than it gives.
Examples
Legal and illegal Baker's Dozen moves
The tableau uses exact descending rank. Foundations use exact ascending rank by suit. Empty columns are never legal destinations in this classic rule set.
Legal6 of hearts onto any 7
LegalAce of clubs to an empty clubs foundation
Legal10 of spades onto a jack of diamonds
IllegalQueen into an empty column
Illegal8 of hearts onto a 7
Illegal3 of clubs to the diamond foundation
The difference between a legal move and a good move is important. Moving a 4 onto a 5 might be legal, but if that 5 is the only landing place for another exposed 4 that frees an ace, patience is better than neatness.
Foundations
When to build foundations
Aces should usually go up as soon as they appear. Twos and threes are also often safe, because they rarely serve as long-term landing cards. Middle cards deserve a second look. A 7 may be the only place to move an exposed 6, and losing that landing place too soon can freeze a whole section of the tableau.
Because tableau building ignores suits, you do not need to preserve same-suit stacks below the foundations. What you do need is rank flexibility: enough exposed high and middle cards to move blockers while the foundations catch up.
Empty columns
Why closed spaces change the game
In many solitaire games, an empty column is valuable workspace. In Baker's Dozen, it is a door that has shut. Clearing a column can still be good because it means those cards have reached the foundations or helped unlock other cards, but the column itself will not help you rearrange the rest of the board.
That is why careless clearing can be surprisingly awkward. If you empty a column while leaving low cards buried elsewhere, you have fewer exposed cards available as landing ranks. The goal is not to make holes. The goal is to make foundation progress.
Strategy
Baker's Dozen Solitaire strategy
Start by locating the aces and the cards on top of them. Every foundation needs its ace before that suit can move, so a buried ace is a clear early target. If an ace is near the top of a column, look for one or two rank moves that free it without damaging your landing options elsewhere.
Keep a few high ranks exposed. Kings are tucked at the bottom during setup, but exposed queens, jacks, tens, and nines are useful because they receive many lower cards. If you move too many landing cards to the foundations too early, the tableau can lose the ability to shuffle blockers out of the way.
Build foundations steadily, not blindly. Low cards often belong on foundations right away, but middle cards sometimes do useful work in the tableau first. Before sending a card up, ask whether it is currently the only legal landing card for something that exposes a more urgent foundation card.
Avoid cosmetic runs. Since packets do not move, a tidy column is only useful if its top card keeps moving or if it uncovers the next foundation card. Baker's Dozen rewards practical exposure over pretty descending stacks.
Mistakes
Common Baker's Dozen mistakes
- Trying to use an empty column as a free space.
- Moving middle cards to foundations before checking whether they are needed as landing ranks.
- Assuming a visible deal is automatically solvable.
- Building tidy descending stacks that do not uncover useful cards.
- Ignoring buried aces while making easy surface moves.
- Forgetting that only the top card of each column can move.
Difficulty
Is Baker's Dozen hard?
Baker's Dozen is easy to learn because every card is visible and there is no stock rule to memorize. The difficulty comes from restricted movement. You get thirteen small columns, but no reusable empty spaces and no packet moves.
The game is calmer than Klondike because there are no hidden cards, but it is less forgiving than Spanish Patience because a cleared column does not become a work area. It is a good choice when you want a short, readable game that still punishes casual moves.
Winnability
Is Baker's Dozen Solitaire winnable?
Baker's Dozen is not guaranteed from every shuffle. Open information improves your decision-making because you can inspect the whole board before you move, but visibility is not the same as freedom. A low card can still sit under a chain of top cards that have nowhere useful to go.
This page does not invent a win-rate number. A meaningful rate would need to be measured against this exact implementation: kings shifted before play, foundations built by suit, tableau packed down regardless of suit, single-card moves only, and empty columns that cannot be refilled.
Variants
Baker's Dozen variants and house rules
The most important nearby variation is Spanish Patience. It keeps the thirteen-column, all-visible Baker's Dozen feel, but it lets any available top card fill an empty column. That single rule makes the game more flexible and usually friendlier.
Portuguese Solitaire sits between the two in many rule traditions by allowing empty columns but restricting them to kings. Good Measure changes the opening by starting with some aces already on the foundations and dealing the rest into a different column shape. Castles in Spain is another relative, but it is often described with different tableau building rules and packet movement, so it should not be treated as just another name for this exact game.
This site uses the classic closed-space Baker's Dozen rule because it gives the game a crisp identity: all information is visible, but your movement budget stays tight.
Nearby games
How Baker's Dozen compares with other solitaire games
Compared with Klondike, Baker's Dozen removes hidden cards and stock management. Compared with FreeCell, it removes temporary cells and empty-column freedom. Compared with La Belle Lucie, it uses columns instead of fans and lets tableau cards pack down regardless of suit.
If you like the layout but want more room to maneuver, Spanish Patience is the natural next game. If you want stricter suit building with longer play, try Forty Thieves. If you want a quicker open puzzle with fans and reshuffles, La Belle Lucie is nearby in spirit without feeling like the same game in a different coat.