How to Play Black Hole Solitaire

One card (the Ace of Hearts) starts a single wrapping foundation. Move every other card there by matching a rank one higher or one lower, ignoring suit, with King continuing to Ace to cycle through the 52-card sequence. No stock—win only by clearing the entire tableau.

Setup

1. The Ace of Hearts is dealt to the foundation as the starting card
2. The remaining 51 cards are dealt into 17 tableau piles, 3 cards per pile
3. All cards are visible face up from the start
4. No stock or waste—play is limited to tableau moves only

How to play

• Only the top card of each tableau pile is available for play
• Move a card to the Black Hole foundation if its rank is exactly one higher or one lower than the current foundation top (suits don't matter)
• The foundation wraps around from King back to Ace, allowing a continuous sequence where all 52 cards can eventually be placed
• Plan ahead by looking several moves ahead to avoid dead-end sequences
• Cards move to the foundations on their own once nothing else could be built on them; you can change this in Settings
• Continue moving cards until all reach the Black Hole or no legal moves remain

How to win

Objective: Move all 52 cards to the single Black Hole foundation, starting with the Ace of Hearts and building by rank (up or down) regardless of suit, with the foundation wrapping from King back to Ace to complete the full sequence.

You win when all 52 cards rest in the Black Hole foundation. You're stuck when cards remain but none match the current top card's rank plus or minus one.

Tips

• Always look a few moves ahead; immediately playing the first available card often closes off the winning path
• Since the foundation wraps from King to Ace, watch for the wrap opportunity to continue sequences that would otherwise be blocked
• Deal ends often decide the game—study the tableau before making your first moves

Play Black Hole free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Black Hole 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 Golf family:

• Eliminator — A Golf-style challenge with six foundation piles that build up or down regardless of suit, wrapping from King to Ace.
• Lincoln Greens — Lincoln Greens is a demanding tableau-clearing game using four decks where you build a single foundation pile that wraps around in rank, while carefully managing a large tableau.
• Putt Putt — A single-foundation game where you build up or down by rank, and the run wraps from King back to Ace so you're rarely stuck for long.
• Up and Up — A relaxed solitaire variant where you try to use up the entire stock by building ascending sequences in the tableau.
• Ants — Move all cards to four foundation piles by building up or down in any suit.