Rules
Casket Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use two standard 52-card decks, for 104 cards total.
- Deal thirteen cards to the jewels reserve, with the top jewel visible.
- Deal five face-up single-card spaces above the casket; these are the lid.
- Deal eight face-up casket tableau piles below the lid.
- Foundations start empty and build upward by suit from ace to king.
- Casket tableau piles build downward by suit, one card at a time.
- Lid cards can move to foundations or casket tableau piles, but the lid itself is not built on.
- When a lid space opens, it is filled by the next jewel until the jewels are gone.
- Draw one stock card at a time and place it before drawing again.
- Use three waste piles for stock cards that cannot be placed profitably. There is no redeal.
How to play
How to play Casket Solitaire
Casket Solitaire is a two-deck foundation builder with a memorable layout. The five cards at the top are the lid. The thirteen-card reserve in the middle is the jewels. The eight working piles are the casket. Your job is to move all 104 cards onto eight foundations, each building upward by suit from ace through king.
Start by looking for aces and early foundation moves. The lid is the urgent part of the opening, because the jewels cannot become useful until lid spaces open. A lid card can move to a foundation, or it can move onto a matching casket pile if it is one rank lower and the same suit. When that lid space empties, the next jewel immediately fills it.
After the available table cards slow down, use the stock. This site turns one stock card face up and asks you to place it before drawing again. If it fits a foundation, casket pile, or eligible open lid space, use it. If not, choose one of the three waste piles. Only the top card of each waste pile remains playable, and there is no second pass through the stock.
Layout
The Casket layout on this page
The opening deal uses 26 table cards and leaves 78 cards in the stock. The first thirteen cards form the jewels reserve. The next five cards form the lid. The next eight cards start the casket tableau piles. The foundations begin empty, with two ace-up foundation slots for each suit because the game uses two decks.
This version keeps the old terms visible because they explain the game better than generic labels. The lid is a row of single-card spaces. The jewels are a reserve that feeds the lid. The casket piles are the only place where descending same-suit building happens. The waste piles are waiting lanes for stock cards, not tableau piles.
Foundations
How foundations build
Every foundation builds upward by suit. An empty club foundation needs an ace of clubs. Once that ace is placed, the 2 of clubs follows, then the 3 of clubs, and so on up to the king. Suits never mix, and ranks do not wrap after king.
Because there are two decks, each suit has two foundation slots. Either copy of a suited card can continue either matching foundation. What matters is suit and next rank, not the physical deck copy.
Casket piles
How tableau building works
The eight casket piles build down by suit. A 9 of diamonds can take the 8 of diamonds, but not the 8 of hearts and not the 7 of diamonds. Only the top card of a casket pile can move, and only one card moves at a time.
Empty casket piles are valuable because they accept any available single card in this version. Use them to rescue lid cards, unblock a same-suit run, or give a waste card a place to wait without covering a more flexible waste pile.
Examples
Legal and illegal Casket Solitaire moves
Legal moves usually do one of three things: advance a foundation, build a same-suit casket pile downward, or place a newly drawn stock card somewhere useful. A 6 of spades can go on the 7 of spades in a casket pile. An ace can start a matching foundation. A stock card can go to any of the three waste piles if it has no better home.
Illegal moves are just as important to recognize. You cannot put a red 6 on a black 7 unless they are the same suit. You cannot build on top of a lid card. You cannot draw again while a stock card is waiting to be placed. You also cannot recycle the waste when the stock is empty.
FoundationAce of hearts to an empty heart foundation
Foundation7 of clubs onto the 6 of clubs foundation
Casket pile5 of spades onto the 6 of spades
Empty casket pileAny available single card into an empty casket pile
Lid refillAn empty lid space is filled by a jewel until the jewels are gone
WasteOnly the newly drawn stock card may be sent straight to a waste pile
Lid
Why the lid matters so much
The lid is not a row of tableau piles. It is five single-card spaces sitting over the jewels. A lid card can leave for a foundation or a casket pile, but you cannot stack another card on top of it. That makes every early lid move especially important.
While jewels remain, an empty lid space is filled automatically by the next jewel. This means a strong lid move does two things at once: it improves the visible table and turns one hidden reserve card into a card you can actually use.
Stock
How the stock and waste piles work
The stock is a one-pass clock. Draw a card, place that card, then draw again. If the card goes to a waste pile, it covers the previous top card of that waste pile. With three waste piles, you have room to separate suits, ranks, or short-term and long-term cards.
Once the stock is empty, there is no redeal in this version. The top cards of the waste piles can still move to foundations, casket piles, or open lid spaces, but buried waste cards stay buried until the cards above them are moved.
Strategy
Casket Solitaire strategy that improves the position
Clear lid cards before you spend flexible moves elsewhere. A foundation move from the lid is excellent because it releases a jewel and starts a suit path. A lid-to-casket move is also strong when it continues a same-suit pile and reveals another jewel. Leaving the lid frozen too long turns the jewels into dead weight.
Treat the three waste piles as lanes with different jobs. One pile can hold near-foundation cards, another can hold same-suit builders for the casket, and a third can absorb awkward cards. If you dump every stock card onto the same pile, you will cover playable cards and lose the advantage of having three waste options.
Do not send every card to the foundations automatically. In Casket, a 5 or 6 may be more useful for a few turns as a same-suit landing card in the casket. Foundation moves are the goal, but timing still matters because the table needs working structure.
Mistakes
Common Casket Solitaire mistakes
- Forgetting that casket piles build by suit, not by color.
- Treating lid spaces like tableau piles and expecting to build on them.
- Drawing stock cards before checking whether a lid move releases a jewel.
- Using one waste pile as a dump pile and burying useful top cards.
- Missing ace moves because foundations start empty.
- Expecting a redeal after the stock runs out.
Difficulty
Is Casket Solitaire winnable?
Casket Solitaire is not guaranteed from a random shuffle. It is friendlier than many long two-deck games because you have eight working piles and three waste piles, but the no-redeal stock gives every waste choice consequences.
This page does not invent a win percentage. A meaningful number would need to be measured against this exact version, including one-card stock placement, three waste piles, no redeal, automatic jewel refills, and the empty-casket-pile behavior used above.
Variants
Casket variants and rule notes
Casket is usually described with the same central idea: two decks, a five-card lid, a thirteen-card jewels reserve, eight casket tableau piles, three waste piles, and ace-up foundations. The main differences between digital versions are how strictly stock cards are placed, how empty casket piles are handled, and whether the interface automates some refills.
This site keeps the version explicit. The drawn stock card is shown as a pending card so you decide where it goes. Empty lid spaces are filled from jewels until the jewels are gone. After that, empty lid spaces can hold a single available card. Casket tableau spaces accept any available single card, and there is no redeal.
Nearby games
How Casket compares with Canfield, Alhambra, and Crazy Quilt
Casket and Canfield both revolve around a reserve, but the reserve behaves differently. Canfield has one pressure pile whose top card is directly playable. Casket hides its jewels behind the lid, so you must open lid spaces before the reserve can help.
Alhambra and Crazy Quilt are closer in size because they also use two decks and unusual reserve structures. Alhambra is more about paired foundation directions and reserve timing. Crazy Quilt is a spatial edge puzzle. Casket sits between them: less geometric than Crazy Quilt, less symmetrical than Alhambra, and very focused on stock placement and lid tempo.