Rules
Strategy Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use one standard 52-card deck.
- The four foundations start empty.
- Only an ace can start an empty foundation.
- Foundations build upward by rank from ace to king.
- Suits do not matter in this version.
- The current stock card is shown face up.
- The current card may move to a legal foundation or to any of eight waste piles.
- Only the top card of each waste pile is available.
- Waste-pile top cards may move only to foundations.
- Cards cannot move between waste piles.
- There is one stock pass and no redeal.
- Win by building all 52 cards onto the four foundations.
How to play
How to play Strategy Solitaire
Strategy Solitaire is a planner solitaire game from the same broad family as Sir Tommy and Calculation. The rules are plain, but every storage choice matters. A card appears from the stock as the current card. If it is an ace, or the next rank needed by an existing foundation, you may build it immediately. If it cannot build yet, or if you want to save it for later, place it on one of the eight waste piles.
After the current card moves, the next stock card appears automatically. The top card of any waste pile can also move to a foundation when it matches the next required rank. That is the whole game loop: build what is ready, store what is not, and try not to bury the cards that the foundations will soon need.
The "strategy" in the name is earned by the waste piles. Eight piles sound generous, and they are, but each pile behaves like a stack. A card placed on top blocks every card below it until that top card can be built away.
Layout
The Strategy Solitaire layout
This page uses four foundations, one current-card slot, one stock, and eight waste piles. The foundations are the destination. The waste piles are temporary storage, but they are not tableau columns: they do not build by color, suit, or rank.
Empty waste piles are useful because they let you start a new stack for a different part of the rank order. A shallow pile holding a 2 or 3 is very different from a deep pile capped by a queen. The first can unlock the foundations soon; the second may stay closed for a long time.
Legal moves
What moves are legal?
An empty foundation accepts only an ace. A foundation topped by an ace needs any 2. A foundation topped by a 9 needs any 10. Since suits are ignored, the 10 of hearts can build on the 9 of clubs.
The current card may be placed on any waste pile. A waste-pile top may move to a foundation, but it cannot move to another waste pile. A buried card is locked until the cards above it are built away.
Strategy
Strategy Solitaire strategy that actually helps
The strongest habit is to think in "next ranks." If your foundations need A, A, 2, and 4, then aces, 2s, and 4s are urgent. They should stay near the top of waste piles whenever possible. A king is not useless, but it is late; it can usually tolerate being buried more than a low card can.
Try to give different waste piles different jobs. One pile can hold very high cards. One can hold middle cards that will matter after the foundations reach 6 or 7. One or two should stay ready for low cards and immediate next ranks. This is not a rigid formula, because the shuffle will interrupt you, but it gives each new card a sensible home.
Avoid burying all copies of a rank that is coming soon. If every exposed foundation needs a 5 in the next few moves, covering the last visible 5 with a jack can freeze the entire position. The game rarely announces that mistake immediately; it simply waits until the stock is gone.
Do not auto-build every card without looking. Building is usually good, but sometimes the shape of the waste piles matters too. If a foundation can take a late rank while a dangerous low card is about to be buried elsewhere, it may be worth deciding which move protects more future cards.
Mistakes
Common Strategy Solitaire mistakes
- Using all eight waste piles as random discard spots instead of organized storage.
- Burying low cards under kings, queens, and jacks too early.
- Forgetting that suits are ignored and missing a legal foundation build.
- Assuming waste cards can be moved sideways later; they cannot in this version.
- Letting one pile become a mixed stack of every rank range.
- Ignoring duplicate ranks and accidentally blocking every copy of a needed card.
Examples
Legal and illegal move examples
If a foundation is empty, the ace of spades is legal there and the 2 of spades is not. If a foundation shows the 7 of diamonds, any 8 can build on it. The suit printed on the card is only visual information here.
If waste pile 3 shows a 4 on top with a 2 buried below it, only the 4 is available. The 2 cannot be pulled through the 4, and the 4 cannot be moved to waste pile 5. It must wait until a foundation needs a 4.
Winnability
Is Strategy Solitaire winnable?
Strategy Solitaire is more forgiving than Sir Tommy because it gives you eight waste piles instead of four. That extra room makes the game feel fairer and gives the player more chances to separate dangerous cards. It does not make every deal solvable.
The hard losses usually come from rank order. A deal can hide the ranks you need under cards that will not build for many turns. Good play reduces that risk by keeping near-term cards exposed and by using the waste piles deliberately, but the stock order can still produce positions where no exposed top card helps.
We do not publish a win percentage here because a useful number should come from measured play or a solver for this exact rule set: eight waste piles, no redeal, suits ignored, and current-card placement.
Variants
Strategy Solitaire variants and house rules
Strategy belongs near Sir Tommy, Old Patience, and Calculation: games where a one-card stock feeds foundations and waste piles. The exact amount of storage changes the feel. Four waste piles make the game severe. Eight waste piles give the player more room to plan without turning the game into a full tableau builder.
This site uses a clean no-redeal version. The current card appears automatically, aces start the foundations, foundations build upward by rank regardless of suit, and waste piles do not accept cards from other waste piles. A variant with redeals, suit-specific foundations, or waste-to-waste movement would be a different game and should be labeled that way.
Comparison
How Strategy compares with nearby solitaire games
Strategy is simpler than Calculation because every foundation follows the ordinary ace to king order. Calculation asks you to track four different rank sequences; Strategy asks you to manage more storage piles well. Compared with Klondike, there are no hidden tableau cards and no alternating-color building. Compared with FreeCell, there are more storage spots but far less movement after a card is placed.
If you enjoy compact planning without a large tableau, Strategy is a good next game after Calculation or Accordion. If you want more visible information and more freedom to repair mistakes, FreeCell or Eight Off will feel more spacious. If you want a harsher version of the same family, Sir Tommy is the stricter ancestor.