What’s the Deal?: Microsoft Solitaire Games Ranked

On the 22nd of May, 35 years ago, Windows 3.0 was released, and with it, Microsoft Solitaire, the classic single-player card game. Ever since, many have wasted their time playing it (I know, I am one of that many), alongside the other Solitaire games added to Microsoft Solitaire Collection, procrastinating instead of doing more important things. However, today I want to celebrate these games’ long history by ranking them from worst to best. Admittedly, none of them are bad, but I definitely like some more than others. Without further ado, let’s get into them!

5. TriPeaks

Originally created in 1989 by Robert Hogue, TriPeaks started as a game in the Microsoft Entertainment Pack 3, alongside other such classics as SkiFree and WordZap, simple games you might not know the name of, but you’ve likely seen them iterated on or mimicked by other developers. TriPeaks itself would later become the most boring part of the Microsoft Solitaire Collection. I don’t have much against it, and I even like it more while I’m playing than the fourth entry on this list, but it simply doesn’t have enough going for it to keep me engaged in the long term.

To play a game of TriPeaks, three “peaks” of six cards each are dealt face down next to each other. Then, 10 more are dealt out face up in between each, so that every visible card covers two that are face-down (except for the two at either end). The remainder are kept in the deck face down, to be turned over as needed. You then turn the top card over and move it to the discard pile. At that point, you can then either turn over another or grab one on the board that is of one value higher or lower than the topmost discarded card, and put one away. Once no face-up card is covering a given face-down one, it is turned face up. The goal of the game is to reveal and discard every card on the board before your deck runs out.

Sure, it’s satisfying to get a long chain going where you don’t have to use your deck, but with an undo button, any given game of TriPeaks is far too easy to brute force. I’ve only ever played the game to complete my daily challenges in Microsoft Solitaire Collection and, while it’s not unpleasant by any means, it doesn’t do anything for me. I find myself just tapping along and then hitting undo and trying a different route to the end. Sometimes that route is annoying to find, but even then, I don’t feel like I’m solving a puzzle.

4. FreeCell

The Microsoft version of FreeCell was released back in 1991 in the Microsoft Entertainment Pack 2, though versions of the game can be dated back to the ‘60s and possibly even earlier. Compared to TriPeaks, FreeCell plays a lot more like traditional Klondike Solitaire, with the goal being to put all the cards from each suit into the above foundations, from the Ace at the bottom to the King at the top.

Notably unlike Klondike, however, every card is face up at the start of the game and they’re all also already dealt out, with four sets of seven laid out and another four with six. Additionally, you can only move one at a time, and you still only move the bottom-most card to either a free slot or on top of a card one value higher and of the opposite colour. Well, technically, you can still move multiple sequentially-ordered cards together, but only in situations where a given multi-card movement could be easily accomplished with the current available spaces, in which case you can move multiple to save time.

There are also four free “cells” where you may place a single card. Hence the name FreeCell. It’s named after the free cells.

As you can see, there’s a lot going on with FreeCell, and the game has garnered a lot of popularity. That’s easy to understand, especially considering how very unlikely you’ll be tossed into an unwinnable deal, which is not something Klondike can say. However, I’ve never enjoyed it much myself. The “one card at a time” rule is sometimes hard to keep in mind and I never get the sense that I’m making much progress until I’ve already won. Yes, it is a nice feeling when I’ve been able to puzzle out a solution, but if I want to play a game over and over again, I’d rather go with something that’s fun all the way through, not just when I figure it out. I don’t begrudge anyone for being a FreeCell stan, but it’s frankly overwhelming and I don’t plan on playing any more if I don’t have to.

3. Pyramid

Back to another simpler game, we have Pyramid, originally named Tut’s Tomb in 1991’s Microsoft Entertainment Pack 2 alongside FreeCell. In the current version playable in Microsoft Solitaire Collection, it features 28 cards dealt out face up in seven rows, with one at the top and seven at the bottom. Those remaining are left face down in the deck to be played face up one at a time. If a given card cannot be played, it is sent to the discard pile, where the one at the top can still be used. This means you’ll have access to two cards outside of the titular pyramid most of the time. Any two cards whose values add up to 13 can be played together and set aside, cleared from the board.

In this version of Pyramid, you win by merely clearing the pyramid, and you don’t have to worry about leaving cards in the decks. Additionally, you may turn the discard pile back into the deck twice for two more attempts at finding matching cards. Other, non-Microsoft versions of the game can be a bit more strict, but I find this works to the game’s favour. Sure, the multiple chances, lack of need to clear the deck, and face-up cards make Pyramid significantly easier than it can be, but it makes plotting out a route in this simple game all the more satisfying and doable. Pyramid manages to be simpler to pick up and play than FreeCell while offering more complexity and planning than TriPeaks, striking a sweet balance between the games. It’s not my favourite, but I enjoy more rounds than I don’t.

2. Klondike

Here’s the classic you’ve all been waiting for! Klondike is what most people think of when they think about Solitaire: seven sets of cards, each with an increasing amount thereof; a deck of the remainder that’s drawn three at a time, sequences made of alternating colours and descending value, and the ultimate goal of placing every card per suit into stacks from Ace to King. It’s all here!

As stated in the introduction, Klondike got its start with Microsoft back in 1990, 35 years ago now, as a game simply titled Solitaire that was included with Windows 3.0. It was programmed by then-intern Wes Cherry, with cards designed by Susan Kare. It has since been a staple of Microsoft computers and online gaming as a whole, serving as an excellent time-waster when you’re supposed to be designing spreadsheets.

I, however, know most of my Klondike memories come from playing it offline, with a real deck of cards. Most of these other games can be a tad unwieldy to set up in real life, whether due to complicated arrangements of cards or rules that are tough to keep in mind when a computer isn’t doing so for you. Yet Klondike has a beautiful simplicity to it that makes it easy to just deal out a game and play on your own.

Admittedly, while I do have a lot of love for Klondike, I am also quite bad at it, and I fail to finish a game more often than not. My opinions on it versus Pyramid tend to swap back and forth, but I feel that the nostalgia that surrounds this classic edges out the simple yet delightful Pyramid. However, neither of them hold a candle to my number one…

1. Spider

Spider has been around since 1949, traditionally being played with two decks. Microsoft’s videogame version was first released in 1998 on Windows 98, and it’s stuck around, for the most part, ever since. You deal out 54 cards in 10 columns, revealing only the one on the bottom in each column. The remaining 50 cards are left in a deck to be dealt out whenever the player wishes. These are dealt 10 at a time, one to each column. The aim of the game is, once again, to clear every card from the board. With two decks, this means eight suit-specific stacks of cards instead of four, hence the name Spider.

However, instead of setting cards off to their own spaces as you go along to slowly clear them, like with FreeCell or Klondike, you have to make your stacks among the 10 columns themselves. This way, you have to be careful of positioning, as you might otherwise lock yourself off from your own stacks. Additionally, you can now play cards of any suit onto any of one value higher, regardless of their suit. You’ll want to make sure you play cards of the same suit onto each other, however, as you’ll not only need them to complete your stacks, but you can also move any contiguous set of cards of the same suit as one.

As an example, say you have a 9 of Clubs, an 8 of Hearts, a 7 of Clubs, and a 7 of Hearts. If you play your 7 of Hearts onto your 8 of Hearts, you’ll then be able to play the 8 and 7 together onto the 9 of Clubs. However, if you play your 7 of Clubs onto the 8 of Hearts, you won’t then be able to move the 8 at all. Similarly, once that 8 is on the 9, that 9 of Clubs cannot move either.

While having to manage which sequences of cards are available to move around can get tough, I adore the way you can feel yourself gaining more and more control of the board and setting up multiple big runs of cards to keep your options open. Even when there’s little room to move, I keep finding ways of keeping the game going and trying to turn things around. The roadblocks are never as severe as Klondike’s, nor are the wealth of options overwhelming like in FreeCell. I deeply love Spider and, more than any other Solitaire game, I will turn to it if I need to kill a few minutes. It just tickles my brain in the exact right way.

So there you have it! Spider Solitaire is definitively, objectively the best and there’s no possible way to argue that. Beyond that, do you agree with this ranking? Have you even played cards before? What is a 3 of Spades, really? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments below.