Solitaire is a great card game that perfectly combines relaxation with a mental challenge. While many players are familiar with the popular version of Klondike, there is a wide range of other solitaire games, each offering varying degrees of difficulty.
They test your patience, strategic thinking, and adaptability, and they are often a tough nut to crack, even for experienced players.
If you are curious what the hardest solitaire game is, take a look at these 10 most difficult variants that will truly challenge your skills. Are you ready to master them all?
10. Klondike Turn 3 Solitaire
Win rate: 11.08%
Klondike Turn 3 is a hard solitaire game, although it looks very similar to the standard version. The layout looks the same as in the Classic Solitaire, but it has one significant twist – every time you use the stockpile, three cards are drawn instead of one.
As a result, there are significantly fewer movement options than in Klondike Turn 1, which has a much higher win rate (33%). You need to make sure that no crucial card gets stuck and plan your future steps carefully.
9. Canfield Solitaire
Win rate: 8.94%
The next difficult solitaire game on our list is Canfield Solitaire, where just a single card is dealt into the foundation, and it becomes the base for arranging the rest of them in ascending order by suit.
What’s more, apart from the stockpile, you also have a reserve pile, which you can use to place cards in the tableau or in an empty column. The great difficulty of this variant stems from its setup, where only a few cards are dealt into the tableau, leaving many potentially crucial cards hidden in the stock or reserve pile. The limited movement options make it easy to get stuck, and winning often requires careful planning several moves ahead.
8. Scorpion Solitaire
Win rate: 6.28%
In Scorpion Solitaire, all cards are dealt face-up, except for a few hidden ones at the bottom of each column. The challenge lies in uncovering and organizing cards while managing limited available spaces. With fewer ways to break up sequences and move cards freely, you can quickly hit dead ends.
Prioritizing clearing columns and creating empty spaces is really important in this game, as it allows greater flexibility in moving sequences later in the game.
7. Spider Solitaire 4 Suits
Win rate: 6.08%
A significant feature of Spider Solitaire 4 Suits is using two decks of cards in the game. To win it, you need to create descending sequences by suit in the tableau twice. Every time you succeed, these cards are transferred to the foundation. You can place a card on top of another one of any suit as long as it is one rank higher.
The main difficulty comes from the need to keep track of multiple suits, which makes forming complete sequences far more complex. What’s more, you need to deal with a lot of cards, which also makes this game more difficult.
6. Alaska Solitaire
Win rate: 5.08%
Alaska Solitaire requires players to build sequences both upwards and downwards by suit, which makes it especially difficult to predict and plan the available moves.
Unlike traditional solitaire games, where you only build in one direction (usually descending), in this variant, players need to constantly think ahead and consider multiple movement directions to avoid a dead end.
5. Batsford Solitaire
Win rate: 4.14%
This variant is one of the rarest and most difficult solitaire games, which requires a high level of strategic thinking. Here, you use two decks of cards, and only Kings can be moved to empty spaces.
The cards need to be arranged in descending order and alternating colors, like in traditional Klondike Solitaire. However, the large number of cards and fewer available moves make this a real challenge.
In Batsford Solitaire, you need to carefully think your future moves over and avoid unnecessarily blocking critical cards needed to progress.
4. Double Russian Solitaire
Win rate: 3.77%
In this variant, you must build sequences in descending order by suit using two decks. Similar to Spider Solitaire, the game requires all the cards to be arranged into perfectly ordered suits before they can be moved to the foundation.
The complexity of managing so many cards, combined with the strict sequence-building rules, makes Double Russian Solitaire hard even for advanced players.
3. Russian Solitaire
Win rate: 3.00%
In Russian Solitaire, players must build sequences in descending order by suit. The inability to alternate colors when stacking cards increases the difficulty level and requires thorough planning.
Players often run into situations where critical cards are blocked under others, with few options for freeing them, so every movement should be well thought out.
2. Las Vegas Solitaire
Win rate: 2.45%
Las Vegas Solitaire follows mostly the same rules and layout as Klondike, with two additional features. Most importantly, in each session, you wager 52 coins and get 5 coins every time you transfer a card to the foundation.
Apart from that, you are allowed to go through the deck only once, so you need to leave it just for the moments you have no other movement option.
Interestingly, you don’t necessarily lose in this difficult solitaire game when you fail to move all the cards to the foundation. Here, your goal is to earn more coins than you wagered, so it’s enough to move just 11 cards which gives you 55 coins.
Nevertheless, due to the stockpile limitation, it is the second hardest solitaire game in of win rate.
1. Quadruple Yukon Solitaire
Win rate: 2.36%
Here’s the ranking’s winner – the most difficult solitaire game with the lowest win rate recorded! This variation of Yukon Solitaire is played with as many as four decks of cards, all of which are placed in the tableau with no stockpile. Sounds like an incredible challenge!
Fortunately, contrary to Klondike, you are allowed to move a group of cards in the tableau without sequencing them. The only requirement is that the top card of such a group needs to be put on a card of the opposite color and one rank higher.
In this game, it is crucial to carefully plan your moves to avoid blocking essential cards while managing multiple columns and finding ways to clear additional space.
The Bottom Line
Solitaire may seem like a simple card game, but these hard variations prove that it can be a true challenge! Playing the most difficult solitaire games is highly mind-stimulating, so it can boost your brain power and improve your strategic skills.
Solitaire can be made harder by adding various rules, like increasing the number of cards or limiting your movements, so you will never be bored. Try out multiple variants, see how you enjoy them, and maybe you’ll discover a new favorite way to spend your spare time. Thanks to our website and mobile app, you can easily access solitaire games for free. Start with Classic Solitaire, and when you master it, proceed to more difficult solitaire games and check how you perform!