A quick single-player card game may not be your go-to option to pass the time, but we’re convinced that these are such an underrated version of card games often ignored.
Card games are awesome to play as they’re versatile, with Rummy (see our guide to the Conquian Rules) and the Chase the Ace card game, among others, ready to play at a moment’s notice.
But on those rare occasions you find yourself on your own with 10 minutes spare, why not put down those electronic devices and whip out a solo card game that’ll improve your skills instead?
Continue reading to discover 23 of our favorite solo card games that we’re sure you’ll love, we may even convince you that a second person to play a great game of cards with isn’t needed too!
Related: 2 Player Card Games | 3 Player Card Games |4 Player Card Games
Single-player card games using 1 deck
SOLITAIRE
Players: 1
Ages: Kids, Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 10 – 30 minutes.
Objective: Arrange a deck of cards into their suit order.
Solitaire in a nutshell:
The most famous solo card game, start playing Solitaire by shuffling the deck and laying out the cards on the tableau, and placing the rest of the cards on the stock.
Players can move cards from the stock to the tableau to access different cards underneath and move cards between the tableau as long as they are placed on the opposite color suit. Once all 4 suits are sorted from Ace to King, the player wins.
SEE ALSO: Solitaire rules.
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FREECELL
Players: 1.
Ages: Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 20 – 40 minutes.
Objective: Successfully arrange a deck of cards by moving cards in a certain pattern.
Freecell in a nutshell:
Played very similar to other solitaire games; the key difference with FreeCell is that there isn’t a stock, and all cards are initially placed face up on the Tableau.
Cards can be moved into free spaces or on the card next to it in its sequence of the opposite suit. The player wins if they can sort the deck via suits from Ace to King.
SEE ALSO: Freecell rules
MARCH SAME RANK
Players: 1.
Ages: Kids, Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 10 – 20 minutes.
Objective: Make a successful chain with a single deck.
March Same Rank in a nutshell:
Played similar to Solitaire, the player needs to sort the cards into descending and ascending order alternating between the red and black cards to win. The critical difference between Solitaire is that players need to get rid of their cards by matching the rank while ignoring the suit rank or color.
CLEAR THE DUNGEON
Players: 1.
Ages: Kids, Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 10 – 20 minutes.
Objective: Remove all of the face cards, or monsters, from the game tableau.
Clear the Dungeon in a nutshell:
Shuffle a deck of cards, but keep the face cards separate and shuffle those ones too. Lay out the face cards in a row of 4, with the bottom 3 cards face down, and the top 4 cards face up on top. Shuffle the rest of the deck as this is how you attack.
Jacks have 11 health points, Queens 12, and Kings 13 points. Players need to draw 2 cards from the deck to attempt to take out the monsters, but the last card must match the enemy’s suit in order to defeat them. Once all monster cards are defeated, the player wins.
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SEVENS
Players: 1.
Ages: Kids, Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 10 – 20 minutes.
Objective: Arrange all cards in a deck using 7 spades as the starting point.
Sevens in a nutshell:
Sevens played solo is a race against the clock to organize a deck of cards. Take out the 7 of spades and shuffle the deck; place the 7 in the middle.
Drawing cards one by one, the player can only play another 7, a 6, or an 8 to continue the game. Every time a card is placed in the middle, the player can place the next card along in the sequence when they come across it. Set a timer and beat the clock.
Pro-tip: This is the perfect game to play if you ever want to properly sort out a messy or shuffled deck of cards.
SEE ALSO: How to play Sevens.
TRI-TOWERS
Players: 1.
Ages: Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 15 – 30 minutes.
Objective: Gain the highest positive score possible.
Tri-Towers in a nutshell:
Tri-towers follow similar gameplay to solitaire, but each successful move gains a point, the second successful move gains 2 points, etc. Set the cards up in 3 tower formations of 6 cards face down and lay 10 cards at the bottom faced-up.
Players need to get rid of cards from Tableau to gain points, but if they cannot make a move, then they are penalized 5 points to take a card from the stock and break the sequence. As soon as the player clears all the cards on the Tableau, add up how many points were won and try to break that score in subsequent games.
BAKERS DOZEN SOLITAIRE
Players: 1.
Ages: Kids, Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 15 – 30 minutes.
Objective: Move the deck of cards into 4 foundation stacks in order from Ace to King.
Bakers Dozen in a nutshell:
Shuffle the deck of cards and leave them in a pile face up. The player needs to create 4 columns of cards in sequence order using the classic solitaire moves of moving cards between columns. The game ends once the cards are successfully sorted.
Pro-tip: Although not needed to be sorted into alternating red and black suit order, to make the game more challenging, you can introduce this rule.
ACCORDION
Players: 1
Ages: Kids, Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 10 – 20 minutes.
Objective: Organize a deck of cards and then pile them into 1 stack like an accordion.
Accordion in a nutshell:
Shuffle a deck of cards and lay them out 1 by 1, left to right, in an ‘S’ shape. Cards must be swapped around so that it’s next to either the same suit, the same number, or the number next to it. Cards can be switched up to 3 places away. Once all cards and next to the correct card, gather them all up into a pile.
Easy single-player card games
- Devils Grip
- Roll Call
- Golf Card Game
- The Amazon Queens
- Joker Jailbreak
- Memory
- Wish
- Hope Deferred
DEVILS GRIP
Players: 1.
Ages: Kids, Teens.
Length of Play: 10 – 20 minutes.
Objective: Organize a deck of cards in a certain way as quickly as possible.
Devils Grip in a nutshell:
Gather 2 decks of cards and give them a good shuffle. Players need to arrange the cards into piles on a grid quickly. Jacks go on top, Queens in the middle, and Kings at the bottom. Only 1 card can be moved at a time. Try to do this as quickly as possible.
SEE ALSO: Devil’s Grip card game
ROLL CALL
Players: 1.
Ages: Kids.
Length of Play: 5 – 15 minutes.
Objective: Quickly remove all the cards in a deck by saying the card that gets drawn.
Roll Call in a nutshell:
Begin by taking out all of the cards from 2-6 out of a deck of cards, but keep the aces and shuffle. Players need to turn the cards over one by one while saying out loud the order of the cards ‘seven, eight, nine, ten, jack, queen, king, ace’. If they draw a card that they’re also saying at the same time, they can remove that card. Keep going until all cards are removed.
GOLF CARD GAME
Players: 1.
Ages: Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 10 – 20 minutes.
Objective: Score as low a total as possible by gathering the right cards.
Golf Card Game in a nutshell:
Shuffle a deck of cards, including the jokers, and deal out 6 cards, lying them face-down in a 3×2 formation and using the rest of the deck as the draw pile. Each card is worth a different score, including combinations of cards.
The player overturns their first card and can choose to keep it or swap for a card from the draw pile. Once 2 cards have been turned over, that hole is done, so add up your score. Try to get as low a score as possible.
SEE ALSO: Golf Card game rules.
JOKER JAILBREAK
Players: 1.
Ages: Kids, Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 10 minutes.
Objective: Match opposite color cards to ensure the Joker escapes from jail.
Joker Jailbreak in a nutshell:
Set up the joker card in the middle, and place 8 cards face-down surrounding the joker. Place another 8 cards face up on top of these cards. Players need to draw 3 cards and try to match the opposite color card with the same number to help free the Joker. Once a side of the jail has been matched, the Joker is free. Discard cards and redraw if you need to.
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THE AMAZON QUEENS
Players: 1.
Ages: Kids, Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 5 – 10 minutes.
Objective:
The Amazon Queens in a nutshell:
Using a 32 Piquet deck of cards but without the Kings, deal the cards out in rows of 4. Every time you see an Ace, move it to the top of the tableau.
Once all 4 Aces are in play, players need to deal out the rest of the cards, moving the next card in the sequence (2’s) on top of the Aces. Repeat this until you get to the highest card, which is the Queens.
MEMORY
Players: 1.
Ages: Kids.
Length of Play: 5 – 10 minutes.
Objective: Match all of the cards by guessing and remembering where the pairs of cards are.
Memory in a nutshell:
Memory played with either a deck of cards or with a specialized memory card game is the game where players overturn hidden cards to try to match the same ones together.
Lay down the cards in an equal grid i.e., 6×6, and overturn 2 cards to see if they match. If they are different, place them face down and have another guess until you match all the pairs.
SEE ALSO: How to play Memory game.
WISH
Players: 1.
Ages: Kids.
Length of Play: 5 – 10 minutes.
Objective: Match cards to their suits in the quickest time possible.
Wish in a nutshell:
Best played with young kids, Wish is the game that starts by removing all cards higher than the 7s and keeping the aces, so you’re left with 32 cards. Put these cards into 4 equal piles and overturn the top card of each. The player needs to match the cards in pairs by their suit and overturn the below card when a suit is matched. Continue until all cards get paired up.
HOPE DEFERRED
Players: 1.
Ages: Kids, Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 15 – 25 minutes.
Objective: Get rid of all the clubs in a deck.
Hope Deferred in a nutshell:
Played with a 32 Piquet deck of cards, ranging from Ace to 7 and nothing above 7. Players shuffle the deck before drawing the top 3 cards of the deck. Any clubs drawn are set aside, and this gets repeated 5 times in total. If all 4 clubs have been drawn, then the player wins but loses if they fail.
Hard single-player card games
- Canfield
- Napoleon at St. Helen
- Beleagured Castle
- Pyramid
- Forty Thieves
- Arabella
- Poker Squares
CANFIELD
Players: 1.
Ages: Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 5 – 20 minutes.
Objective: Place all the cards onto the ‘foundations.’
Canfield in a nutshell:
A game known for being very unlikely for the player to win, start Canfield by dealing 13 face cards face up and then turned down to form the reserves. Only the top card of each row can be played.
Place a card on the first of 4 foundations next to the reserve. All the cards of the same rank have to be found and placed to start the other 4 foundations.
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NAPOLEON AT ST. HELEN
Players: 1
Ages: Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 10 – 20 minutes.
Objective: Organize the cards from Ace through to King 8 times over.
Napoleon At St. Helen in a nutshell:
Gather 2 full decks and give them a good shuffle to begin the game. Place them top right of where you’re playing, and draw the cards until you find all 4 aces to act as the start. Place all cards together again, and find ways to build up the 8 suits from ace to King. Players can only move 1 card at a time to achieve this.
BELEAGURED CASTLE
Players: 1.
Ages: Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 10 – 20 minutes.
Objective: Move all the cards to the foundations from the tableau.
Beleagured Castle in a nutshell:
Start by separating out the 4 aces from the deck, give the rest of the cards a shuffle, and lay them next to the 4 aces to create 4 rows of cards. Leave the top card exposed. Cards can only be moved 1 card at a time, and the player must finish with the cards Ace through to King in order, from left to right.
Pro tip: This game is incredibly hard. To make it easier, allow yourself to move multiple cards at once.
PYRAMID
Players: 1.
Ages: Kids, Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 5 – 15 minutes.
Objective: Collect pairs of cards that total 13 until the Pyramid is clear.
Pyramid in a nutshell:
Shuffle a deck of cards and lay out the top 28 cards face up in a pyramid formation; the rest of the deck becomes the stock. Any 2 cards that are exposed (not being covered by cards on the lower rows) that add up to 13 can be paired and set aside. Players can draw from the stocks when they cannot make a move. Once the pyramid is cleared, the player wins.
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FORTY THIEVES
Players: 1.
Ages: Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 10 – 30 minutes.
Objective: Build 8 foundations in suit order from Ace to King.
Forty Thieves in a nutshell:
Gather 2 decks of cards together and give them a good shuffle. Forty Thieves is played in the same way as Solitaire, except supercharged with 2 decks of cards.
Cards can also only be moved if it matches the suit of the card that it’s next to in the sequence as well. If a player can create all 8 foundations, they win the game.
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ARABELLA
Players: 1.
Ages: Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 15 – 30 minutes.
Objective: Build 12 foundations in suit order from Ace to King.
Arabella in a nutshell:
Take the exact same rules as Forty Thieves, add an additional deck to the proceedings, and you’ve got yourself a game of Arabella. More challenging than its solitaire and more difficult cousins, Arabella is for real experts of the games. Once all 12 foundations have been sorted with the correct suit, the player wins, but it’s not always possible to do.
POKER SQUARES
Players: 1.
Ages: Teens, Adults.
Length of Play: 5 – 15 minutes.
Objective: Score as many points as possible by making poker hands.
Poker Squares in a nutshell:
Start playing Poker Squares by shuffling a deck of cards and drawing the first 30 cards, setting the rest aside as they aren’t needed. Put 25 of the cards in a 5×5 grid position face-up and the last 5 to the side as a reserve.
Players need to move the cards around to create the 10 best poker hands possible, getting a score depending on what hands they were able to create. The final score is the total score of the hands that were created, with a pair being 2 points and a royal flush 100 points.
