Golf Solitaire — Play Online Free

How to play Golf Solitaire

Golf Solitaire is a quick one-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. It is also called Golf patience, since patience is the British name for solitaire games, and sometimes One Foundation, because every card goes to a single pile. The idea fits in a sentence: play cards from seven columns onto the waste pile, one rank up or one rank down, and clear as many as you can before the stock runs out. Like real golf, the score counts what is left, so the lower the better.

The layout

• The columns: 35 cards dealt face up in seven columns of five. Each column overlaps, so you can see every card, but only the front card of each column (the one nothing is covering) can be played.
• The waste pile: one card dealt face up to start it. This is where every card you play goes, and only its top card matters.
• The stock: the 16 cards left over, face down. Turn them over one at a time onto the waste.

Playing a card

You can move the front card of any column onto the waste when it is exactly one rank higher or one rank lower than the top waste card. Suits and colors don't matter. On a 7 you can play any 6 or any 8. Once it lands, that card becomes the new top of the waste, so you can keep going: 7, then 8, then 9, then 8 again, then 7. A string of plays like this is called a run, and long runs are how you get a good score.

Playing a card uncovers the one behind it, which becomes the new front card of that column. Cards never move from one column to another; they only go to the waste.

Kings and Aces

Ranks go from Ace (low) up to King, and in the standard game they do not wrap around. That has two effects:

• Nothing can be played on a King. A King can go onto a Queen, but once a King is on top of the waste, the run is over and you need a new card from the stock.
• An Ace only connects to a 2. You can play an Ace on a 2 and a 2 on an Ace, but an Ace never goes on a King, and a King never goes on an Ace.

Turning the stock

Whenever you like, and certainly when nothing fits, turn the top card of the stock face up onto the waste. It becomes the new card to play on. You get only one trip through the stock, with no redeal.

The end of a deal

A deal (a "hole") is over when every column is empty, or when the stock is used up and no front card fits on the waste. Then you count your score.

Playing on BieGames

Tap or click a front card to play it onto the waste, or drag it there. Cards that fit right now have a gold outline, and when nothing fits, the stock lights up instead. Tap the stock to turn a card. With a keyboard, the number keys 1 to 7 play the front card of that column, D turns the stock, H shows a hint, and Tab, the arrow keys and Enter work too. Undo (Ctrl+Z, or ⌘Z on a Mac) takes back plays from the columns, but not a card turned from the stock, so nobody can peek at what is coming next. Your game saves itself, so you can close the page and finish later.

Golf Solitaire scoring and the 9-hole round

Golf Solitaire is scored the way golf is: you count what is left, and a low score wins. Each deal is one hole.

So a deal that ends with 6 cards stuck in the columns scores 6, and a deal where you clear the table with 3 stock cards to spare scores −3. Clearing every column doesn't happen often under the standard rules, so most of the game is about getting as close to it as you can.

A round of nine holes

Golf Solitaire is traditionally played over nine deals, like the nine holes of a short golf course, with your scores added together. A total of 45 or less for the nine holes is the usual target, and it is the par on the BieGames scorecard: 5 a hole, 45 for the round.

Rounds are the default here. After each hole the scorecard shows your score next to par, with a circle for a hole under par and a square for one over, just like a real card. A hole one under par is a birdie, two under is an eagle, and one over is a bogey. Tap Next hole to deal the next one, or open the scorecard any time from the button under the table. If you close the page in the middle of a round, it will be waiting for you when you come back.

Prefer one deal at a time? Choose Single deals in Settings. The daily deal is always a single hole with the standard rules.

Wins, bests and stats

For your stats, a hole counts as a win when you finish at par or better: 5 or fewer cards left, or a cleared table. BieGames also keeps your best single deal and your best round for each King rule, and the Stats button shows your win rate, streaks and achievements.

Golf Solitaire strategy tips

Golf is a quick game, but it rewards a few seconds of planning before each run. Every card in the columns is face up, so the only thing you can't see is the order of the stock.

1. Find the whole run before you play the first card. When several cards fit, trace where each one leads. On a 6, a 5 that leads to a 4 and then a 3 is worth more than a 7 that leads nowhere.
2. Choose which copy to play. If two columns both show a 9, play the one that uncovers a more useful card. A 9 sitting in front of a 10 is often the better one to take, because the 10 may be the next card you can play.
3. Keep bridges for later. When a run has to end anyway, look at what you leave behind. Front cards that connect to the ranks still in the stock give the next stock card something to start on.
4. Count what is still in the stock. There are four cards of each rank. Anything not in the columns and not already on the waste is in the stock. If all four 10s are already on the waste, a Jack in the columns can only leave on a Queen.
5. Spread your plays across the columns. Each column you keep alive is another front card that might fit. Digging one column to the bottom leaves you fewer chances on each new stock card.
6. Plan for Kings. A King can only leave the columns on a Queen, and nothing follows it. When a Queen is on the waste and a free King is waiting, it is often worth making that King the last card of the run.
7. Watch the Aces too. An Ace leaves only on a 2, and only a 2 can follow it. Try to clear Aces while 2s are still around.
8. Play out every run before you turn the stock. Turning a new card buries the old one for good, so make every useful play first.
9. Use Hint to learn. The Hint button plans whole runs from the cards you can see and the mix of ranks left in the stock. It never looks at the order of the stock, so it plays fair, and following it for a few holes is a good way to pick up the habits above.

Golf Solitaire variations

BieGames plays the standard rules by default: seven columns of five, one trip through the stock, Aces low, no wrapping and nothing on a King. Two well-known variations are in Settings under Playing on a King:

• Queen on a King: a Queen may be played on a King, so a King no longer ends the run. Aces and Kings still don't connect.
• Ace–King wrap: the ranks go around in a circle, so a King can take a Queen or an Ace, and a King can be played on an Ace. This version is often called Putt Putt, and it is much easier to clear.

A round keeps the rule it started with, so a change in Settings begins with your next round. The daily deal always uses the standard rules, so everyone plays the same game.

Other house rules you may meet

• Empty start: no card is dealt to the waste at the start, and you begin by moving any front card there.
• Jokers: one or both jokers are shuffled in as wild cards.
• Bigger layouts: two decks and more columns for a longer game.

Related games

Tri Peaks uses the same one-up, one-down play from a layout of three overlapping peaks with face-down cards, and Black Hole is a similar game where every card goes to one central pile. Golf Solitaire has nothing to do with the multi-player card game also called Golf, where players try to keep a low total in a grid of face-down cards.