Rules
Monte Carlo Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use one standard 52-card deck.
- Deal 25 cards face up in a 5 by 5 grid.
- The remaining 27 cards form a face-down stock.
- Remove two cards when they have the same rank and are touching.
- Touching includes horizontal, vertical, and diagonal adjacency.
- Suits and colors do not matter for pairing.
- After every removed pair, the tableau compacts left to right and top to bottom.
- Stock cards refill the open tail spaces until the grid is full or the stock is empty.
- Win by removing all 52 cards. Lose when no adjacent same-rank pair remains.
How to play
How to play Monte Carlo Solitaire
Monte Carlo Solitaire is a pairing game played on a small grid. Start by scanning the board for two cards of the same rank that touch. A pair of 10s can be side by side, one above the other, or touching at the corner. Select the first card, then select its matching neighbor to remove the pair.
The board does not leave holes in the middle. As soon as a pair is removed on this page, every remaining tableau card slides forward in reading order. After the slide, the stock deals new cards into the open spaces at the end of the grid. That compacting step is the whole character of Monte Carlo: one pair can turn distant cards into new neighbors, while another pair can pull a useful card away from the rank it needed.
You continue removing adjacent same-rank pairs until the deck is gone or the board has no legal pair. If the stock is not empty but the grid has no removable pair, the deal is still stuck because stock cards enter only after a pair makes space.
Version
The exact Monte Carlo version on this site
This implementation uses the common 5x5 version often associated with Monte Carlo or Weddings. It allows diagonal pairs, ignores suit and color, and compacts automatically after every successful pair. There is no redeal, no manual shuffling, no stock tap, and no option to move a single card into a chosen space.
Automatic compaction is a deliberate screen-friendly choice. Some players learn Monte Carlo as "remove several pairs, then gather and redeal." Here the gather happens after each pair so the board stays clean and touch play stays quick. The underlying order is the same: cards keep their left-to-right, top-to-bottom order, then the stock fills behind them.
Setup
Monte Carlo layout, stock, and win condition
The opening layout is always 25 face-up cards arranged in five rows. The stock begins with 27 cards. You never build foundations and you never sort suits. The only way cards leave is as same-rank pairs, so a full win means 26 pair removals.
Deck52 cardsOne standard deck, no jokers
Tableau25 cardsFive rows of five face-up cards
Stock27 cardsFills spaces after pairs are removed
Pair ruleSame rankTouching horizontally, vertically, or diagonally
GoalClear all cardsRemove every pair before the board runs out of moves
Near the end, the stock may be empty and the board may have fewer than 25 cards. Empty spaces then collect at the bottom-right end of the grid because there are no new cards to fill them. Those spaces are not playable piles; they simply show how much of the deck has already been removed.
Examples
Legal and illegal Monte Carlo pairs
Rank is the only match condition. A black 8 and a red 8 can pair if they touch. Two clubs cannot pair unless they are the same rank. Adjacency is equally strict: a pair that looks close but has another card or a gap between it is not legal until the grid changes.
Legal8 next to 8 in the same row
Legalqueen directly above queen
Legal4 diagonally touching 4
Illegal9 beside jack
Illegaltwo 6s separated by a space
Illegaltwo hearts with different ranks
Diagonal pairs are easy to miss on a phone because your eye may scan rows first. When a deal looks stuck, check the four corner-touching directions around every repeated rank before giving up or using a hint.
Compaction
Why the grid changes after every pair
Imagine reading the tableau like a paragraph: row one from left to right, then row two, and so on. When a pair disappears, all remaining cards keep that reading order and slide forward to close the blank spaces. New stock cards are then appended at the end.
This means the position of a card is temporary. A queen in the fourth row may become a neighbor of another queen after a pair above it is removed. The best move is often the one that creates the next pair, not simply the first pair you notice.
Stock
How the stock affects the deal
The stock is not a draw pile you can use whenever you want. It is a refill supply. It waits until a pair leaves, then supplies up to two cards at the tail of the grid. If the stock has one card left, only one space refills. If the stock is empty, spaces stay empty.
Because stock cards enter at the end, early pairs near the front can change the entire board order before the new cards appear. Late pairs often matter because they decide which stock cards become neighbors in the bottom rows.
Strategy
Monte Carlo Solitaire strategy
Start by finding every legal pair, not just the obvious one. Monte Carlo is small enough that you can scan all five rows, then scan diagonals. If one card has two possible partners, pause before removing it. Choosing one partner may keep the other card available for a future match after the grid compacts.
Prefer moves that bring repeated ranks closer together. If removing a pair high in the grid pulls a nearby rank into contact with another copy, that move has extra value. A pair at the end of the grid may be harmless, but it may also only reveal stock cards without improving the existing tableau.
Watch ranks with three or four visible copies. Removing the wrong two copies can strand the remaining cards far apart. When several cards of the same rank are on the board, think of them as a small cluster problem: which removal leaves the best chance for the next copy to touch another one?
Use undo to compare routes through the same deal. Monte Carlo has a lot of luck, but many stuck boards are created by the order of removals. If a deal suddenly dies with several repeated ranks visible but separated, undo a few pairs and try a removal that compacts a different part of the grid first.
Mistakes
Common Monte Carlo mistakes
- Forgetting that diagonal pairs are legal in this version.
- Matching by suit or color instead of rank.
- Taking the first visible pair without checking whether another pair creates a better compact.
- Ignoring a rank that appears three or four times on the board.
- Expecting the stock to deal when the board has no pair.
- Thinking empty tail spaces can be used like free cells. They cannot.
Difficulty
Is Monte Carlo Solitaire winnable?
Monte Carlo Solitaire is not always winnable from a random shuffle. The game gives you complete information on the tableau, but the stock order and the compacting rule can create positions where no adjacent same-rank pair remains.
This page does not claim a win rate because a meaningful number should come from measured games under this exact rule set. In practical play, expect short deals, frequent restarts, and satisfying wins when a late compact turns separated ranks into one last chain of pairs.
Variants
Monte Carlo variants and house rules
The most important variant question is whether diagonals count. This page allows diagonal adjacency. A stricter house rule may allow only horizontal and vertical pairs, which makes the game much harder and produces more early dead ends.
Another difference is timing. Some versions let players remove all currently visible pairs before gathering the layout and dealing replacements. This site compacts after every pair, which makes each removal a complete decision. Some casual versions also permit a redeal when stuck; this one does not. If no adjacent same-rank pair remains, the deal is over unless you undo.
You may also see the name Weddings for a close relative of this game. The shared idea is simple: cards leave in equal-rank neighbors, and the tableau repeatedly closes up. The exact neighbor directions, grid size, and redeal habits are where local rules drift.
Nearby games
How Monte Carlo compares with Memory, Accordion, and Pyramid
Monte Carlo and Memory Solitaire both match ranks, but Memory hides information and lets any same-rank pair clear once found. Monte Carlo shows the board but restricts the pair by position, so the puzzle is spatial rather than memory-based.
Accordion also uses matching and compaction, but it folds piles left by rank or suit and keeps every card in the line. Pyramid is a different kind of pair game: cards leave by adding to thirteen, and only uncovered cards are available. Monte Carlo sits between them: quick like Memory, positional like Accordion, and pair-focused like Pyramid.