How to Play Haystack Solitaire

A single-deck game with a small 8-card reserve pile and a unique diamond-shaped tableau. Move cards strategically from the reserve and tableau to build foundations in suit from Ace to King.

Setup

1. Deal a reserve pile with 8 cards, all face-up
2. Deal 9 tableau piles in a custom diamond pattern: outer piles hold more cards, inner piles fewer, and the middle pile starts empty
3. All tableau cards are dealt face-up
4. Create 4 foundation piles

How to play

• Move only the top card from the reserve pile onto the tableau or to foundations
• You can also move a tableau card onto the reserve pile, as long as it has fewer than 8 cards
• Build tableau piles downward: place a card one rank lower and opposite color on top of another
• Move only single cards (no sequences) between tableau piles
• Cards move to the foundations automatically once nothing else can be built on them (you can change this behavior in Settings); build in suit from Ace to King
• Fill empty tableau piles, including the one that starts empty, with any card from the reserve or another tableau pile

How to win

Objective: Build four foundation piles in suit from Ace to King

Move all 52 cards to the four foundation piles in suit sequences. You're stuck when no legal moves remain anywhere on the board.

Tips

• The reserve is small, so plan carefully before playing reserve cards to the tableau
• Every tableau card starts face up, so plan several moves ahead—there are no hidden cards to reveal, only awkward ones to dig out from under a run
• Don't waste reserve cards on the tableau unless it frees up a crucial foundation card

Play Haystack free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Haystack 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 Klondike family:

• Imperial Guards — A two-deck solitaire where you build tableau piles downward by alternating color and move all cards to foundations.
• Milligan Cell — Build eight foundations using two decks while managing eight tableau piles and four temporary storage cells.
• Seven Devils — Seven Devils is widely considered one of the toughest solitaire games.
• Triple Minerva — A tactical game combining tableau building with a 15-card reserve and 2 total passes through the stock.
• Zerline — This two-deck game flips the usual card order: foundations start on Kings and climb through the ranks with Queens as the top card.