Somerset Solitaire

What is Somerset Solitaire?

Somerset Solitaire is a fully open patience game: all 52 cards are dealt face-up across ten tableau columns with no stock and no waste pile. Every card is visible from move one. The goal is to build four foundations from Ace to King by suit. The game is a pure tableau manipulation puzzle with complete information — closer in character to FreeCell or Beleaguered Castle than to Klondike.

Full rules

One 52-card deck. All 52 cards are dealt face-up across ten columns in varying counts (implementation varies, typically 5 columns of 5 and 5 columns of 6, or similar). Only the top card of each column is available.

Tableau columns build downward by some rule (alternating color or rank-only — check the in-game rules for the specific version). Foundations build upward by suit from Ace to King. Empty columns accept any card. No stock, no redeal. Win by moving all 52 cards to the foundations.

Complete information strategy

With all cards visible from the start, Somerset rewards methodical look-ahead. The challenge is not managing unknown information — it is finding the correct sequence of moves among many legal options. Every tableau column top is available, but the order in which you clear them determines which cards surface and when.

Locate all Aces at the start and trace the path to freeing each one. The same 2s- liberation discipline that applies to Beleaguered Castle applies here: the cards just above the foundation starting point are the primary bottleneck.

Read the Somerset strategy guide →

Related open-tableau games

• FreeCell — complete information; four free cells for temporary storage
• Beleaguered Castle — complete information; rank-only sequences; no free cells
• Simple Simon — complete information; same-suit run completion

Related games and reference

• Somerset strategy guide
• FreeCell strategy guide
• Solitaire glossary
• All solitaire games