How to Play Ceiling Fan Solitaire

A single-deck Fan-family game that spreads all 52 cards face up across 18 tableau piles and builds down by alternating color, making for a more open layout than standard Fan. The goal: Move all 52 cards to the foundations, building each suit from Ace to King.

Setup

1. Four foundations start empty (one per suit)
2. Eighteen tableau piles spread across the table, holding all remaining cards face up
3. All cards are visible from the start—no stock or redeal

How to play

• Build tableau piles down in alternating color: a red 6 on a black 7, a black 3 on a red 4
• Only the top card of each pile can be moved to another tableau pile or foundations
• Matching cards automatically move to the foundations once no other move is available for them; you can configure this in Settings
• Empty tableau piles accept only a King, so use them strategically
• All 52 cards are visible from the start—plan your moves carefully to free up buried cards

How to win

Objective: Move all 52 cards to the foundations, building each suit from Ace to King.

You win when all four foundations are complete with all 13 cards in each suit. You're stuck when the tableau is blocked and you cannot move enough cards.

Tips

• The 18 piles give you plenty of exposure—only the top card of a pile can move, so plan the order you'll clear cards in
• Kings are valuable for creating new piles, so use them strategically
• Empty spaces open up as you send each pile's cards to the foundations one at a time

Play Ceiling Fan free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Ceiling Fan 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 Fan family:

• Fan — A one-deck game with 18 tableau piles arranged in a fan pattern where only Kings can fill empty spaces and the entire deck is dealt at once.
• FreeFan — A single-deck game combining Fan solitaire with two temporary storage cells, adding flexibility to the traditional fan layout where only Kings can fill empty spaces.
• Intelligence — A two-deck solitaire where you arrange 18 piles of 3 cards and build them upward or downward within suit.
• Midnight Clover — Build four foundations from aces while managing a 16-pile fan where cards can only be moved from the top.
• Three Shuffles — A fan variant of La Belle Lucie: every card is dealt face up into 18 tableau piles, with the option to reshuffle and redeal twice, plus a final draw of a buried card.