Rules
Montana Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use one standard 52-card deck.
- Deal all cards face up into four rows of thirteen.
- Remove the four aces; the spaces they leave are the gaps used for movement.
- A first-column gap can be filled by any 2.
- A later gap can be filled only by the next higher card of the same suit as the card on its left.
- Gaps after kings and gaps after other gaps are dead until another move changes the row.
- When no legal move remains, you may redeal the unlocked cards up to two times.
- A redeal preserves correct left-side suit runs and places one gap after each preserved run.
- Win by arranging all four suits from 2 through king, with a final gap at the end of each row.
How to play
How to play Montana Solitaire
Montana Solitaire is a face-up sorting puzzle. At the start, all 52 cards are dealt into a four-by-thirteen grid. The aces are then removed, leaving four empty spaces. Those spaces are the only places cards can move, so every decision begins by asking what a particular gap is allowed to accept.
A gap at the far left of a row wants a 2. Once a row starts with a 2, the next useful gap in that row wants the 3 of the same suit. A gap after the 8 of diamonds wants the 9 of diamonds. The pattern continues until the king, and the row is finished when the final space sits after a clean 2-through-king run.
You are not building foundations or drawing from a stock. The whole deck is visible from the start, but visibility does not make the game loose. Movement is exact, and a single gap after a king can shut down a row until a redeal resets the unlocked area.
Version
The Montana Solitaire version on this page
Solitaire names in this family overlap, so the rule version matters. This page plays a Montana-style gaps game with two redeals. A redeal is allowed only when no normal gap move remains. It keeps each correct row prefix in place, shuffles the remaining loose cards, and puts a gap immediately after each preserved run.
That last detail is important. If a row already begins 2, 3, 4, 5 of hearts, those four cards stay locked. The redeal leaves the next space open after the 5 of hearts, giving the row a direct chance to find the 6 of hearts. Rows with no correct 2-led prefix get their gap at the far left, so they can start fresh with any available 2.
- The board has four rows and thirteen positions per row.
- All cards are face up; there are no hidden cards.
- There is no stock, waste, reserve, or foundation area.
- The status bar tracks ordered cards, gaps, redeals, and moves.
- Every card or gap on the board can be inspected from the start of the deal.
Sequence
The row you are trying to build
A finished row contains twelve cards, not thirteen, because the ace has been removed. The target sequence is always 2 through king in one suit, followed by an empty space.
2345678910JQKgap
The suits are not assigned to rows at the beginning. A row becomes spades if the 2 of spades reaches its first position and the row keeps extending in spades. Another row can become hearts, clubs, or diamonds depending on which 2 claims it.
Moves
Legal and illegal moves
Read the empty space before you move a card. If the space is first in the row, only a 2 is legal. If the space has a card on its left, only the next rank of that same suit is legal. A gap after the queen of clubs accepts the king of clubs. A gap after the queen of clubs does not accept the king of spades.
Legal2 of spades into the first space of any row
Legal9 of hearts into a gap after the 8 of hearts
Illegal9 of hearts after the 8 of diamonds
IllegalAny card into a gap after a king
Dead gapA gap immediately after another gap
RedealAllowed only when no legal gap move remains
A gap after a king is dead because nothing comes after a king in Montana. A gap after another gap is also dead because there is no left-hand card to define the next card. Dead gaps are not mistakes by themselves, but too many of them can end the current phase of a deal.
Redeals
How the two redeals work
A redeal is not a full reset. The game first checks each row from the left. Any connected sequence that starts with a 2 and continues upward by suit is preserved. Everything after that sequence is considered unlocked.
The unlocked cards are shuffled and redealt into the unlocked spaces, leaving one gap after each preserved run. Since you have only two redeals, they are best treated as turning points: use every productive gap move first, then redeal when the board truly has no legal move.
Progress
How progress is counted here
Ordered cards count only when they belong to a correct run connected from the left side of a row. A loose 10 of hearts after a 9 of hearts in the middle of the board may look organized, but it does not count until the row is connected all the way from the 2.
Moves include card slides and redeals. Undo restores the previous board state. Restart returns the same deal to its opening layout, while New game creates a fresh shuffle.
Strategy
Montana Solitaire strategy that actually helps
Start rows whenever a 2 can reach a first-column gap. A row without a 2 is not yet a real suit run, so first-column spaces are valuable. If you can choose between starting a row and making a random middle move, starting the row usually gives future moves a clearer purpose.
Extend connected runs before decorating the middle of the board. A correct 2-3-4 of clubs at the left side of a row survives a redeal. A neat 9-10-J of clubs floating elsewhere may be scattered as soon as you redeal. Montana rewards structure that is anchored from the left edge.
Be careful with kings. Moving a king can be legal if a gap asks for it, but the new gap it leaves behind may be more useful than the gap it fills. A space after a king cannot take any card, so think twice before creating one while another live gap can extend a low run.
Before each move, ask what new gap you are creating. Good moves often do two things: place a card where it belongs and open a space beside a card that can continue a chain. Weak moves place one card correctly but leave the next gap dead.
Mistakes
Common Montana Solitaire mistakes
- Filling the first-column gap with anything in mind except a useful 2-led row.
- Chasing middle sequences that a redeal will not preserve.
- Creating a dead king gap while a live low-card gap is available.
- Forgetting that suits must match after the first card in a row.
- Assuming a visible board means every deal can be solved.
- Redealing mentally too early instead of exhausting the legal gap moves first.
Winnability
Is Montana Solitaire winnable?
Montana Solitaire is not always winnable. It gives you full information, but it gives you very little freedom. Cards move only into exact gaps, and a board can run out of live spaces before the missing connectors land where they need to be.
This page does not quote a fixed win rate because a fair number should be measured from this exact implementation: two redeals, gaps placed after preserved runs, and redeal only when no move remains. Other Montana, Gaps, or Addiction versions can produce different results.
Variants
Montana, Gaps, Spaces, and Addiction variants
Montana belongs to the wider gaps family of solitaire games. The names Gaps, Spaces, Vacancies, Paganini, and Addiction often describe nearby games, and sometimes the same name is used for slightly different rules. The shared mechanism is simple: remove the aces, move cards into spaces, and sort the remaining cards by suit.
The rule differences are where the personality changes. Some versions allow two redeals, some allow three, and some let the player shuffle more freely. Some redeals scatter gaps randomly, while this Montana version deliberately places one gap after each preserved correct run. If a rule source seems to disagree with another, check the redeal rule first.
Nearby games
How Montana compares with Addiction, FreeCell, and Golf
Montana and Addiction are the closest relatives on this site. Both are open, ace-removed gap games where rows build from 2 to king by suit. Addiction is a little looser here because it gives three preserving shuffles. Montana is stricter: two redeals, and only when the board has no legal move.
FreeCell is also open-information, but its empty spaces are storage tools. Montana spaces are instructions. A FreeCell empty column asks what you can temporarily park there; a Montana gap asks for one exact card. Golf is different again: it is a quick removal game where rank adjacency matters but suits do not.