How to Play Eight On Solitaire

This tougher cousin of Eight Off starts with all eight reserve cells already full, so you have no free storage until you clear one. The goal: Move all 52 cards to the four foundations, building up from Ace to King in each suit.

Setup

1. Four foundation piles are laid out (one for each suit).
2. Eight reserve cells sit above the tableau, all containing starting cards.
3. Eight tableau piles contain the remaining cards, all face up; the first four piles each start with an Ace anchoring the bottom.
4. Only Kings may fill empty tableau piles.

How to play

• Build tableau sequences downward by one rank in the same suit.
• Only the top card of each tableau pile can be moved.
• Move a card out of a reserve cell to an empty tableau space (only if it's a King), a valid tableau sequence, or a foundation.
• Use freed reserve cells as temporary holding spaces for cards blocking your sequences.
• Play cards to foundations, building up in suit.
• Work strategically—with no empty cells at the start, every move matters.
• 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 sequences are blocked and reserve cells are full.

Tips

• Free reserve cells early by moving their cards to the tableau when legal.
• Focus on exposing the aces and low cards you need to start sequences.
• Plan several moves ahead to avoid filling all reserve cells with unplayable cards.

Play Eight On free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Eight On 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:

• ForeCell — An early ancestor of FreeCell: use four cells and build the tableau with King-only spaces to work all cards onto the foundations.
• FreeCell — All 52 cards deal face-up into eight tableau piles, with four open cells alongside them for shuffling cards while you build the foundations up by suit.
• Sea Towers — Sea Towers is a popular FreeCell variant with a different starting layout and stricter building rules.
• Stalactites — A minimal tableau puzzle where you clear 48 cards arranged in eight columns using only two temporary holding cells.
• Tuxedo — Tuxedo deals every card face up across seven tableau piles right from the start, and gives you seven free cells to help shuffle cards around while you build foundations by suit.