How to Play Fan Solitaire

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. The goal: Move all 52 cards to the four foundations by building up in suit from Ace to King.

Setup

1. Four foundation piles ready to receive cards built in suit from Ace to King
2. 18 tableau piles arranged in a fan pattern, dealt all 52 cards - the foundations start empty

How to play

• Build foundations up in the same suit, one rank at a time
• In the tableau, build down by one rank in the same suit (e.g., a 5♦ goes on a 6♦)
• Only the top card of each tableau pile can move
• When a tableau pile empties, only a King can fill that space
• All cards are dealt at once—there is no stock pile or redeal
• Cards automatically move to the foundations once they can no longer be built elsewhere in the tableau (you can change this in Settings to always move or never move automatically)

How to win

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

You win when all four foundations are complete (Ace through King in each suit). You lose if you run out of moves and cards remain on the tableau.

Tips

• Plan ahead carefully since every card is visible from the start
• Empty spaces are valuable—use them only when needed to unblock key cards
• Focus on creating tableau sequences to expose buried cards

Play Fan free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes 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:

• 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.
• Ceiling Fan — 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.