Play Bear River Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)

Bear River Solitaire packs eighteen tableau piles into three tidy fans, lets you build up or down in suit, and never lets a pile grow past three cards.

Bear River Solitaire is a Fan variant played across three fans of six columns each. You build up or down within the same suit, but every pile tops out at three cards, so the layout stays tight the whole game.

If you enjoy Bear River, the original Fan Solitaire is worth a look, and our full games library has plenty more three- and four-suit puzzles to dig into.

If you run into anything odd or have an idea that would make the game better, please contact me.

Enjoy!

How to play Bear River Solitaire

Foundation:

There are four foundation piles.

The four foundations start on a random rank: whatever card lands on the first pile sets the rank, and the other three piles begin with that same rank in their own suit.

A card joins a foundation pile only if it's one rank higher than the pile's top card and the same suit, so the only card that can land on a four of clubs is the five of clubs.

The top card of any foundation pile can be moved back into play if another pile will take it.

Tableau:

Bear River deals eighteen tableau piles across three fans of six columns. Five columns in each fan hold three cards; the sixth, called the hole, holds just two. Every card is dealt face-up.

A card joins any tableau pile, hole included, if it's one rank above or below the pile's top card and the same suit, so a seven of diamonds can take either the six or the eight of diamonds.

Any uncovered tableau card can move to the foundation or to another tableau pile, hole included.

Empty holes can be refilled with any card; the other tableau piles stay empty once cleared.

Only one card moves at a time here too; there's no moving sequences.