How to Play Linus Solitaire

Linus deals all 52 cards across 18 small tableau piles and challenges you to free them one at a time into suit-ordered foundations, building tableau sequences in alternating colors along the way. The goal: Move every card to the foundations by suit, building from Ace upward

Setup

1. Deal all 52 cards face-up to 18 tableau piles in a custom pattern: most piles get 3 cards, the last pile gets 1
2. Four empty foundation piles wait to receive Aces, then cards built up in suit order
3. No stock is used in this game

How to play

• On the tableau, build downward in alternate colors: red on black, black on red (9♣ on 10♥, for example)
• Only the top card of each pile can be moved
• When an Ace appears, play it to the foundation
• Build foundation piles upward by rank and suit (Ace to King)
• Cards that can't be built on the tableau automatically move to the foundations when possible (you can change this in Settings to always or never)
• When stuck, use the Redeal button to shuffle the tableau cards and deal them back into their piles (you can redeal twice total, any time)
• No empty piles can be refilled, so plan carefully

How to win

Objective: Move every card to the foundations by suit, building from Ace upward

You win when all cards move to the foundations. Without a stock, winning depends entirely on revealing cards in the tableau strategically.

Tips

• Expose buried cards by moving the cards covering them first
• Plan several moves ahead to avoid blocking yourself
• Focus on building foundation piles from Aces to create space in the tableau

Play Linus free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Linus 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:

• Perseverance A — Perseverance A is a tableau-heavy game where the four aces start on the foundations.
• Perseverance B — Perseverance B is a companion to Perseverance A: the four aces start on the foundations, and you clear the rest of the deck from twelve tableau piles by moving same-suit sequences.
• Ripple Fan — A one-deck game related to Cruel, spreading the deck across thirteen tableau piles instead of twelve so you have a little more room to build same-suit runs down to the foundations.
• Royal Family — A forgiving single-deck game where all 52 cards are dealt out up front: foundations descend from Kings while tableau piles let you build both up and down in the same suit.
• Unusual — A two-deck solitaire challenge where you race to build eight foundation piles while managing 24 tableau columns.