Alternations Solitaire

How to play Alternations

Alternations is a solitaire for two decks: 104 cards, seven columns and eight foundations. It takes its name from the deal — the cards in each column go down face up and face down by turns — so from the very first move you can see half of what stands in your way. It comes from the classic patience collections of the mid-20th century and is a close cousin of Klondike, only longer and with more room to plan.

Play Alternations here free with no sign-up, right in the browser on your phone, tablet or computer. There are two ways to play — building on any suit (this page) or in alternating colours — with hints, unlimited undo, a timer and numbered hands you can replay.

The goal

Move all 104 cards to the eight foundations, two for each suit, building each one up from ace to king.

The layout

The table has three areas:

• The tableau. Seven columns of seven cards. The first, third, fifth and seventh card of each column are face up and the others face down, so every column ends on a face-up card.
• The stock. The other 55 cards. Tap it to turn the next card face up onto the waste beside it. The stock goes round only once: there is no redeal.
• The foundations. Eight places, two for each suit. Each starts with an ace and builds up in suit to the king.

Alternations rules

You play the face-up cards at the bottom of the columns and the top card of the waste:

• Build down, on any suit. A card goes on one a rank higher: a nine on any ten, a jack on any queen. Colour and suit don’t matter.
• Move runs as a whole. Cards in descending order can be moved together, however many there are. A face-up card that doesn’t follow the one above it splits the column: only the cards from there down move as one.
• An empty column takes any card. A cleared column can be filled with any card or run, not only a king as in Klondike.
• One pass through the stock. Cards come off the stock one at a time. The waste’s top card can go to a column or a foundation; once the stock is used up, it doesn’t start again.
• Bring the cards home. Aces go up as soon as they are free, then each foundation builds up in suit to the king. Face-down cards turn over by themselves once nothing is left on top of them.

Any suit or alternating colours

On this page columns build on any suit, as in the game’s oldest rules: a run is any descending sequence, and most hands can be won with some care. In Alternations in alternating colours a card must go on one of the other colour, red on black and black on red, as in Klondike. That makes runs much harder to build, and only a few hands in a hundred are won.

Strategy: how to win at Alternations

These habits help you win more often:

• Free the face-down cards. Every face-down card sits under a face-up one. Moving that card, or the run below it, turns another card over — usually the most useful move on the board.
• Don’t rush the stock. You see each stock card only once. Before dealing the next one, make every move the table already offers, so the waste doesn’t bury cards you could have played.
• Keep an empty column for later. An empty column lets you move a long run, or park a card while you dig out the one beneath it. Fill it only when that gains you something.
• Remember there are two of each card. Every card has a twin, so a blocked card often has another way home. Check which ones are already on the foundations before you give up on a suit.
• Use hints and undo. Hint shows a move that leads towards a win, Undo takes back as many moves as you need, and Redo plays them again. Tap a card and it goes to a foundation or the best column by itself.

Questions and answers

More solitaires

пасьянс.укр also has classic Klondike Solitaire, FreeCell, where every card is face up from the first move, and Spider Solitaire, another game for two decks.