How to Play Dragon Solitaire

This same-suit cousin of Chinese spreads the whole deck across seven tableau piles right away. Clear face-up cards to uncover the ones stacked face down beneath them and send everything up to the foundations.

Setup

1. Four foundation piles are laid out (one for each suit).
2. The entire deck is dealt across seven tableau piles: the first three piles get 8 cards each and the remaining four get 7 cards each.
3. Each tableau pile has a different number of cards face down at the bottom (from none in the first pile up to six in the last), with the rest dealt face up on top.
4. A reserve sits beside the tableau, though the full deal already uses every card.

How to play

• From the tableau, play cards to the foundations (Aces start each pile) and build up in suit.
• Build tableau sequences downward by one rank in the same suit.
• Move groups of face-up cards together, as long as the bottom card of the group lands correctly.
• When you clear the face-up cards off a pile, the face-down card beneath it turns face up.
• Empty tableau spaces can receive any card.
• If any cards remain in the reserve, click it to deal one onto each tableau pile; you only get one pass.
• Qualifying cards automatically move to the foundations when no other play can be made; you can adjust this in Settings.

How to win

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

Win by moving all cards to the foundations. You're stuck when no cards can be played and the reserve is empty.

Tips

• Focus on clearing face-up cards from the shorter piles first to expose hidden cards sooner.
• Look for moves that free a face-down card, not just ones that reach the foundation.
• Plan sequences ahead of time since only the bottom card of a moved group needs to fit.

Play Dragon free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Dragon 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 Yukon family:

• Moosehide — A Yukon variant where tableau building requires different suits instead of opposite colors, and you can freely move any group of face-up cards together—creating puzzle-like rearrangement challenges.
• Russian — A challenging game where hidden cards drive the strategy and any face-up card can move with its entire fan.
• Triple Russian — Build up 12 foundation piles one suit at a time from a tableau of 13 piles dealt with varying amounts of face-down cards.
• Brisbane — A variation of Yukon with a staggered deal that lets you build the tableau regardless of suit, making it accessible and strategic.
• Double Russian — A two-deck variant where face-down cards are gradually revealed as you play.