How to Play Lincoln Greens Solitaire

Lincoln Greens is a demanding tableau-clearing game using four decks where you build a single foundation pile that wraps around in rank, while carefully managing a large tableau. The goal: Clear the tableau by playing all cards to the foundation or leaving them in the stock

Setup

1. Deal 12 cards face-up to each of 12 tableau piles
2. Start one foundation pile with a randomly dealt card
3. The stock holds 16 visible cards at a time for a single pass through the deck

How to play

• Build the foundation pile by playing cards one rank higher or lower than the top card, regardless of suit
• Ranks wrap around: after King comes Ace, and before Ace comes King
• The tableau cannot be built on at all—you can only move each pile's top card straight to the foundation
• Click the stock to deal one card onto the foundation; you get a single pass through the stock with no redeal
• Cards move to the foundation automatically once no other move is available for them (you can change this in Settings to always or never)
• Empty tableau piles cannot be refilled—plan your moves carefully

How to win

Objective: Clear the tableau by playing all cards to the foundation or leaving them in the stock

You win when you clear all cards from the tableau into the foundation. You're stuck if the stock runs out and no tableau card can legally play onto the foundation.

Tips

• Since ranks wrap around, you have more flexibility than typical games—both higher and lower plays are available
• With only one foundation pile and 12 tableau piles, focus on keeping the tableau flowing
• Empty piles stay empty, so manage your tableau space carefully

Play Lincoln Greens free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Lincoln Greens 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 Golf family:

• Putt Putt — A single-foundation game where you build up or down by rank, and the run wraps from King back to Ace so you're rarely stuck for long.
• Up and Up — A relaxed solitaire variant where you try to use up the entire stock by building ascending sequences in the tableau.
• Ants — Move all cards to four foundation piles by building up or down in any suit.
• Black Hole — One card (the Ace of Hearts) starts a single wrapping foundation.
• Eliminator — A Golf-style challenge with six foundation piles that build up or down regardless of suit, wrapping from King to Ace.