A whole city
of patience.

How solitaire works, and how the families differ

Nearly every solitaire is won the same way: get all the cards out of the layout and onto the foundations, one suit per pile, built in order from Ace to King. The layout (the tableau) is where you work: cards are built on one another in descending rank, usually one card lower and either the opposite colour, the same suit, or any suit at all depending on the game. Cards you cannot place yet wait in the stock, the waste or a reserve. Empty columns are the most valuable thing on the board, because they are the only place to put a card that is in the way.

The families change one part of that. FreeCell deals every card face-up and gives you four holding cells instead of a stock, so it is pure planning and almost every deal can be won. Klondike hides most of the deal and rations the rest through a stock you turn one or three cards at a time. Spider has no foundations at first: you assemble same-suit runs on the board and lift each complete King-to-Ace run off whole. Canfield feeds a tiny tableau from a reserve and starts its foundations on whatever rank was dealt. Pyramid and the pairing games remove cards in pairs instead of building anything, and Golf plays cards one rank above or below the waste.