How to Play Grandfather Solitaire

A distinctive two-deck game where half the foundations build upward and half build downward simultaneously. You have twenty small tableau piles and one redeal to help you reach a win.

Setup

1. Deal one card to each of 20 tableau piles (maximum 2 cards per pile)
2. Create 8 empty foundation piles: 4 will build up starting from an Ace (each a different suit), 4 will build down starting from a King (each a different suit)
3. Set aside the remaining deck as the stock

How to play

• Click the stock to draw one card at a time to the waste pile
• Play the top card from the waste pile onto the tableau or foundations
• Build ascending foundation piles in suit from Ace upward to King
• Build descending foundation piles in suit from King downward to Ace, wrapping from Ace back to King so a pile can keep going
• Play cards from the waste onto any tableau pile that has fewer than 2 cards—any rank and suit is allowed there; empty tableau piles refill automatically from the stock
• Cards move to the foundations automatically once nothing else can be built on them (you can change this behavior in Settings)
• When stuck, redeal: the waste turns back over as the new stock (you get 1 redeal, for 2 passes through the stock in total)

How to win

Objective: Build four foundations in suit from Ace to King (ascending) and four from King to Ace (descending)

Move all 104 cards to the foundations—half going up, half going down. The game ends when your one redeal is used up and no moves remain.

Tips

• Balance your foundation builds: don't focus too heavily on the ascending or descending piles
• Tableau piles hold only 2 cards each, so they fill quickly—plan which cards to play to the foundations, and remember you can move a foundation's top card back if you need it again
• Use your one redeal strategically; look ahead before exhausting the stock

Play Grandfather free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Grandfather 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 Foundations family:

• Little Billie — Little Billie is a two-deck game featuring dual foundation piles that build in opposite directions.
• Penta — Penta splits its layout in two: the left foundations build up while the right foundations build down (each side's tableau builds the opposite direction from its foundation), and everything starts from a Five.
• Twenty — Twenty runs two decks through a dual-foundation system: Ace foundations climb upward while King foundations count down.
• Aces and Kings — Use a double deck to build four foundations up from Aces and four foundations down from Kings simultaneously.
• Acey and Kingsley — A variant of Aces and Kings where foundation base cards (Aces and Kings) are dealt to you at the start instead of appearing as you draw them.