Plan the Osmosis deal from the first card to the final foundation.
Read the base rank and suit first. That rank is the key that opens the other three foundations; look for it among the reserve tops before cycling the stock.
Last updated: September 2026
Understand the opening deal
Four reserves hold four cards apiece. The top card of each is exposed, and a seventeenth card starts the first foundation. The other 35 cards form a draw-three stock.
Read the base rank and suit first. That rank is the key that opens the other three foundations; look for it among the reserve tops before cycling the stock.
Choose moves that open useful cards
The first foundation accepts any card of its own suit. Each lower foundation begins with the same rank as the first base and may accept a rank only after that rank appears immediately above it. Only reserve and waste tops may move.
When several cards are playable, advance the upper foundation before lower ones. Every rank added above permits the same rank below, so opening a rank can start a useful chain.
Avoid the main trap
A card visible deep in a reserve is still blocked. Do not count it as available until the cards above it have actually entered a foundation.
When two moves look equally productive, prefer the one that leaves more playable pile tops or exposes another card. Check the destination against the next foundation ranks before committing.
Convert the position into a win
After a stock pass, compare newly exposed reserve tops with the entire foundation ladder. A foundation play justifies another pass through the waste.
Build all four suit foundations. The waste may be redealt after foundation progress has been made.
Practice the decision points
Use Undo to compare two plausible moves from the same deal. The visible seed lets you restart and test whether a different opening creates more available cards later.
Peek: visible reserves, same rank dependency
Peek reveals every card in its four four-card reserves, while Osmosis hides cards below each top. Only a reserve top may move in either game. Use the visible order to plan which top cards must leave before a buried rank becomes available.
Each lower foundation still needs a rank already present in the foundation above. A card seen deep in a reserve is not yet playable; advance the upper foundation and clear the cards over it. Check all four reserve tops before a draw-three stock turn covers the current waste top.
Follow one rank through the foundations
If the starting foundation base is a Nine, a Nine of another suit can open the second foundation. A Nine in the third foundation must wait until the second foundation contains a Nine too. After its base, each foundation may take its own suit's ranks in any order, provided the foundation immediately above already has that rank.
In Peek, inspect the visible cards beneath each reserve top to choose which blocker to release first. In Osmosis, those cards remain hidden until their tops move. Both games draw three stock cards at a time, so a waste top may be covered before the rank chain is ready.