How to Play Bastion Solitaire

A strategic solitaire with FreeCell-like cells and a unique tableau where cards build both up and down within the same suit. This flexibility makes it more forgiving than traditional solitaires, and two pre-filled cells provide starting resources.

Setup

1. Four foundation piles are created (one per suit)
2. Two cells are dealt one card each at the start
3. Ten tableau piles receive the remaining 50 cards dealt to them

How to play

• Build the foundations up by suit from Ace to King
• In the tableau, stack cards either up or down within the same suit (e.g., 5♠ on 4♠ or 6♠)
• Only the top card of each tableau pile can move at a time
• Use empty cells for temporary storage—any card fits in an empty cell
• Move cards from cells to the tableau or foundations as needed
• Any card can fill an empty tableau pile
• Cards automatically move to the foundations once there are no more tableau moves available for them

How to win

Objective: Move all 52 cards to the foundations in ascending suit order.

You win when all 52 cards are built onto the four foundation piles. You lose when no legal moves remain.

Tips

• The bidirectional tableau building gives you flexibility—use sequences like 4-5-6 or 6-5-4 as needed
• The two cells that start with a card already in them are valuable; plan ahead what you'll store there
• Look for long sequences in both directions to clear the tableau quickly

Play Bastion free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Bastion alongside 300+ other games. It saves every move as you play, so you can close the window and pick the game up later, replay any deal, and take on a new Daily Challenge deal every day. Browse every game in the Game Gallery.

Related games

More games from the FreeCell family:

• Private Lane — A Streets and Alleys game with two extra cells for temporary storage.
• ThreeCell — A streamlined version of FreeCell using just three temporary cells instead of four.
• Two Cell — Two Cell trims the usual FreeCell layout down to just two free cells, so you'll lean on smart tableau sequencing more than spare storage to get every card home.