Solitaire.City

Solitaire variant

Tower of Pisa Solitaire

A nine-card solitaire puzzle also known as Tower of Hanoy. Move one bottom card at a time and rebuild the full Ace-to-9 tower.

Seed: 191819Moves: 0Timer: 00:00Status: in progress

Move the bottom card of a column to the bottom of another column under a higher rank.

Pile 1

Pile 2

Pile 3

How this variant works

  • Only the bottom card of a pile can move.
  • Bottom-to-bottom moves must place a lower rank under a higher rank.
  • If a pile is empty, you can move a bottom card from another pile to the top of the empty pile.
  • Win by forming one complete Ace-to-9 tower in a single column.

What is Tower of Pisa?

Tower of Pisa Solitaire (also called Tower of Hanoi Solitaire) is a card adaptation of the classic Tower of Hanoi mathematical puzzle. The game uses cards Ace through 9 (36 cards) arranged in columns, and the goal is to consolidate all cards into a single column ordered Ace at the bottom through 9 at the top. The distinguishing rule: only thebottom card of each column can be moved — not the top — which inverts the access model of every other solitaire game.

Full rules

Cards Ace through 9 (36 cards total, four suits of nine cards each) are arranged across multiple columns. Only the bottom-most card of each column is available to move. A bottom card can move to the bottom of another column, provided the card it lands beneath is of higher rank (to maintain the ascending-from-bottom order in the target tower).

Empty columns can receive any single card. The game is won when all 36 cards are in one column in order: Ace at the bottom, 9 at the top.

The bottom-card rule

Moving only the bottom card is the defining inversion of Tower of Pisa. In standard solitaire, you work from the top of each column. Here, you work from the bottom. This means cards at the top of a column are the hardest to access — they require removing every card below them first.

The Tower of Hanoi connection is direct: the puzzle requires moving smaller values to temporary columns to expose larger values beneath, exactly like the classic disk-and- peg puzzle. Planning three to five moves ahead — identifying which card needs to move where to clear a path for the target card — is essential.

Read the Tower of Pisa strategy guide →

Building the final tower

The final tower must have Ace at the bottom through 9 at the top in the correct order. Because only bottom cards move, building the tower is a sequential process from the largest card down: get all 9s arranged, then 8s beneath them, then 7s, continuing to Ace at the absolute bottom.

Empty columns serve as critical staging areas. With no empty columns, every move is a zero-sum swap; an empty column breaks the exchange cycle and allows sequences of productive moves.