Rules
Circle Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use one standard 52-card deck with no jokers.
- Deal twelve piles of four cards face down in a circle, like the hours on a clock.
- Deal the last four cards face down in the center.
- Start by turning over the top card of the center pile.
- Move the turned card to the pile that matches its rank.
- Aces go to 1 o'clock, jacks to 11 o'clock, queens to 12 o'clock, and kings to the center.
- After placing a card, turn over the next card from that destination pile.
- Win by placing all 52 cards.
- Lose if the fourth king appears while any card is still face down.
How to play
How to play Circle Solitaire
Circle Solitaire is the clock-face patience game many players learn as Clock Solitaire or Clock Patience. The layout is easy to remember: twelve piles sit where the hours would be, and the thirteenth pile sits in the center for kings.
The game begins in the center. The top center card turns over. If it is a 6, place it at the 6 o'clock pile and the next hidden card from 6 o'clock turns over. If that card is a queen, place it at 12 o'clock and turn over from 12 o'clock. Each card tells you where the next card comes from, so the deal plays like a chain moving around the dial.
There is no building by suit, no choice of foundations, and no tableau move to plan. The suspense comes from the center pile. Every king sends play back to the middle. The first three kings are harmless; the fourth king decides whether the whole clock was completed in time.
Name
Is Circle Solitaire the same as Clock Solitaire?
On this page, yes. "Circle Solitaire" is used for the familiar clock layout where ranks map to positions around a circle. Many rule books and card-game references call the same game Clock, Clock Patience, or sometimes Sundial. The important part is not the name but the rule version: this is the simple rank-following game, not the separate foundation-building game sometimes called German Clock.
Because the names overlap, this page states the rule set plainly. There are thirteen piles, each pile begins with four face-down cards, kings go to the center, and the fourth king ends the game unless all other cards have already been revealed.
Ranks
Where each card goes
- Ace: 1 o'clock
- 2: 2 o'clock
- 3: 3 o'clock
- 4: 4 o'clock
- 5: 5 o'clock
- 6: 6 o'clock
- 7: 7 o'clock
- 8: 8 o'clock
- 9: 9 o'clock
- 10: 10 o'clock
- Jack: 11 o'clock
- Queen: 12 o'clock
- King: Center pile
Examples
Circle Solitaire move examples
A move in Circle Solitaire is a placement plus a turn. You do not choose among several legal destinations. The face-up card goes to the pile named by its rank, and that pile becomes the source of the next turned-up card.
KingPut it in the center, then turn over the next center card.
AcePut it at 1 o'clock, then turn over from the 1 o'clock pile.
QueenPut it at 12 o'clock, then turn over from the 12 o'clock pile.
SevenPut it at 7 o'clock, then turn over from the 7 o'clock pile.
Clicking the wrong pile is not a legal move in this version. The highlighted pile shows where the face-up card belongs, and the Place on panel names it in words for smaller screens.
Kings
Why the fourth king matters
The center pile starts with four hidden cards. Every king sends play back to that center. After the first king, there are still center cards to turn over. After the second and third, the same is true. After the fourth king, the center pile has no hidden card left to continue the chain.
If all 52 cards have been placed at that exact moment, the clock is complete and you win. If even one card remains face down in an outer pile, the deal is lost. That is the whole drama of the game in one rule.
Luck
Is Circle Solitaire winnable?
Some deals win, many do not, and the player has very little control over which kind of deal this is. Circle Solitaire is mostly a ritual of discovery: you are watching whether the hidden sequence closes cleanly or returns to the fourth king too soon.
This site does not publish a win percentage here because any number should be measured against the exact implementation and shuffle used. The useful truth for players is simpler: unlike FreeCell or many builder games, Circle Solitaire is not a planning puzzle.
Strategy
Circle Solitaire strategy and what you can actually control
Classic Circle Solitaire has almost no move strategy because the next pile is forced. That does not make the game pointless. It makes it a quick luck test with a clean visual pattern. The best way to play is to keep the rank map clear in your head and watch the center pile.
Undo is included here for learning and for checking the last placement, not because undo can rescue a random deal. Restarting the same deal will follow the same chain. A new shuffle is the only way to get a different outcome.
The one practical habit is to slow down when kings appear. Count them. If the fourth king is close and many face-down cards remain, the deal is probably about to stop. If the clock is nearly complete, the last few turns are the moment of suspense.
Mistakes
Common Circle Solitaire mistakes
- Putting aces at the center instead of 1 o'clock.
- Treating jacks, queens, and kings as 11, 12, and 13 around the outside; kings belong in the center.
- Clicking the pile the card came from instead of the pile matching the card's rank.
- Thinking suits matter. Only rank controls the next pile in this version.
- Assuming a fourth king is always a loss. It is a win if every card has already been revealed.
Difficulty
How difficult is Circle Solitaire?
The rules are among the easiest in solitaire, but the game is unforgiving because there are no alternate lines to explore. A child can learn the rank map quickly, and an adult can finish a deal in a minute or two. The result still has tension because every king changes the clock's remaining time.
If you want decisions, play Aces Up, Pyramid, Accordion, or FreeCell instead. If you want a quick reveal game that feels like turning a key in a lock, Circle Solitaire fits.
Variants
Circle Solitaire variants and house rules
The best-known variant is Watch. In Watch, the fourth king does not immediately end the game. Instead, that king can be replaced with a remaining face-down card, letting play continue until the king appears again. That turns the ending from a hard stop into a second chance.
Other clock-themed solitaire names can refer to very different games. German Clock, for example, is a foundation-building patience game with stock and waste rules. This page does not use those rules. It uses the straightforward hidden-card circle where each revealed rank points to the next pile.
Nearby games
How Circle compares with Aces Up, Pyramid, and Accordion
Circle Solitaire is more mechanical than Aces Up. Aces Up asks which exposed lower card can be removed and when an empty pile should be used. Circle simply follows the rank chain.
Pyramid and Circle both care about kings, but in opposite ways. Pyramid kings are good news because they clear alone. Circle kings are dangerous because the fourth one can close the center pile. Accordion is also compact and one-deck, but it is far more tactical: every pile move changes the shape of the remaining row.