Play Ripple Fan Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)

You get one deal, no stock, no redeal: read all thirteen face-up piles right the first time and chase an 85% win rate.

Ripple Fan Solitaire takes Cruel's tight four-suit puzzle and gives it a little more room: the deck is dealt across thirteen tableau piles instead of twelve, four cards to a pile, every card face-up from the first deal. The bigger change is that there's no stock and no redeal at all — you get one deal and one shot at it, so how carefully you read the board before you touch a card matters more than luck.

It's a lighter, friendlier puzzle than its parent: about 85% of deals can be won. It's played with a single deck, and since there's no second pass through the cards to fall back on, your result comes down to skill.

If you enjoy Ripple Fan, try Cruel Solitaire, the twelve-pile game it expands on, or Spider Solitaire, another game built around same-suit runs.

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

Enjoy yourself!

How to play Ripple Fan Solitaire

Layout:

4 foundation piles: Build up from Ace to King in the same suit.

13 tableau piles: Build down within the same suit, one card at a time — sequences don't move as a group. Every card is dealt face-up, four to a pile, and there are no empty spaces to fill.

Foundation:

There are four foundation piles.

Any ace may be moved to an empty foundation pile.

A card can be added to a foundation pile only if it's one rank higher and the same suit as the pile's current top card, so the only card that fits on a 7 of hearts is an 8 of hearts.

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

Tableau:

Thirteen tableau piles, four cards each, all dealt face-up.

A card can be added to a tableau pile only if it's one rank lower and the same suit as the pile's current top card, so the only card that fits on a 4 of spades is a 3 of spades.

Cards on the tableau that are not covered by another card can be played onto the foundation or any non-empty tableau pile.

The tableau's empty spaces may not be filled.

Only one card may be moved at a time; sequences are not permitted.