"Solitaire" is not one game but a whole family of them. They share a table, a deck of cards and the same broad goal — sort everything into ordered piles — yet each variant feels completely different to play. Some reward patient calculation, others hinge on the luck of the deal, and a few sit somewhere in between.

This guide lines up the five games you can play on 247solitaire.my and compares them on the things that actually matter: how many decks they use, how the board is laid out, the core mechanic that drives each one, how hard they are, and how much of the outcome is luck versus skill. By the end you should know exactly which game suits your mood right now.

Klondike: the classic everyone knows

If you picture solitaire, you are picturing Klondike. It uses a single 52-card deck dealt into seven tableau columns, with a stock and waste pile to draw from and four foundations to fill. You build down in alternating colours on the tableau and up by suit on the foundations, from Ace to King.

The core mechanic is uncovering face-down cards while feeding the foundations. Klondike leans toward luck: the order of the stock and which cards hide behind others can make a deal easy or impossible, and in draw-3 mode a notable share of hands simply cannot be won. That unpredictability is part of its charm — each deal is a quick, self-contained puzzle you can finish in a few minutes, which is exactly why it became the game people reach for during a coffee break. Because the rules are so light, it is also the ideal place to learn the vocabulary — tableau, stock, waste, foundation — that every other variant reuses. Difficulty: moderate, and very approachable for beginners.

Spider: the two-deck marathon

Spider is the big one. It uses two full decks — 104 cards — spread across ten columns. Instead of foundations you fill by hand, you win by assembling complete runs from King down to Ace in a single suit; each finished run is removed automatically. When you get stuck you deal a new row of ten cards across the whole tableau.

The core mechanic is building long descending sequences and keeping them tidy enough to lift as a group. Spider scales its own difficulty by suit count: one-suit Spider is gentle and mostly about tidiness, two-suit is a real test, and four-suit is one of the sternest challenges in the family. It rewards skill and forward planning more than Klondike, though the forced deals still inject luck. Difficulty: moderate to very hard, depending on suits.

FreeCell: almost pure skill

FreeCell is the thinking player's solitaire. It uses a single deck dealt into eight columns with every card face up from the start — nothing is hidden. Its signature feature is the four free cells in the corner, each a temporary parking space for a single card. You build down in alternating colours on the tableau and up by suit on the foundations, using the free cells to shuffle cards around obstacles.

Because there is no hidden information and no stock to draw, FreeCell is almost entirely a game of skill. Famously, nearly every FreeCell deal is winnable — so a loss is usually down to a misstep rather than a bad shuffle. Difficulty: challenging to think through, but immensely satisfying because good play is reliably rewarded.

Yukon: Klondike with more freedom

Yukon looks like Klondike — a single deck in seven columns — but it removes the stock and waste entirely. All the extra cards are dealt straight onto the tableau, and many face-up cards sit exposed at once. The twist is movement: you can pick up any face-up card along with everything piled on top of it, even if that group is not a neat sequence, and drop it onto a card of the opposite colour and the next rank up.

That freedom to relocate messy stacks is the core mechanic, and it makes Yukon a busier, more tactical cousin of Klondike. With everything on the table there is no drawing luck once the deal is set, so outcomes tilt toward skill, though the initial layout still matters. Difficulty: moderate, and a great next step once Klondike feels routine.

Scorpion: the toughest tangle

Scorpion is the family's knot to untangle. It uses a single deck, mixes face-up and face-down cards across seven columns, and keeps a small reserve of three cards to deal out when you are completely stuck. Like Spider, you aim to build full King-to-Ace runs in a single suit, and you may move any card along with the pile on top of it — ordered or not.

The core mechanic is the same suited-sequence building as Spider, but on one deck with several buried cards, which makes untangling the opening position genuinely hard. Scorpion demands careful sequencing and a bit of nerve; freeing the wrong card early can lock the whole board with no way back. Because you can drag disordered piles, a single bold move can transform the layout — or ruin it — so it rewards players who plan several steps ahead. It leans skill-heavy but is unforgiving, and few games feel as satisfying to finally crack. Difficulty: hard.

Which one should you play?

Match the game to your mood:

  • Want the familiar comfort read? Play Klondike — quick, classic, low commitment.
  • Want a long, absorbing session? Settle into Spider and pick your suit count to taste.
  • Want a pure brain workout with no bad luck? Open FreeCell, where almost every deal can be solved.
  • Want Klondike with more room to manoeuvre? Try Yukon.
  • Want a real fight? Take on Scorpion when you want to be challenged.

The beauty of the solitaire family is that one deck of cards hides all of these different experiences. Spend an afternoon rotating through them and you will quickly feel the difference between a luck-driven deal and a puzzle you can reason your way through. Pick the one that fits your mood and deal a hand — every game on the site is free and ready to play, 24/7.