How to Play Luckier Thirteen Solitaire

An open-tableau game where you build down in alternating colors across thirteen piles, with the friendly twist that any card can fill an empty pile. The goal: Move every card to the four foundations in suit from Ace to King

Luckier Thirteen is also known as Thirteen by Zero.

Setup

1. Four foundation piles start empty, one per suit, and build up from Ace to King
2. Thirteen tableau piles arranged in a row, each dealt four face-up cards
3. Only the top card of each pile is playable

How to play

• Build the foundations up in suit, from Ace to King
• In the tableau, build cards one rank lower in alternating colors
• Only move the top card from a tableau pile
• Empty tableau piles can be filled with any card
• Cards automatically move to the foundations whenever no other card can be built on them; you can change this in Settings if preferred

How to win

Objective: Move every card to the four foundations in suit from Ace to King

You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations. The game ends when no more moves are possible.

Tips

• Use empty piles as temporary storage to rearrange cards
• Build down in the tableau whenever possible to access buried cards
• Focus on exposing cards from different suits to keep foundation progress moving

Play Luckier Thirteen free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Luckier Thirteen 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 Baker's Dozen family:

• Martha — Build four foundations from aces while managing twelve tableau columns that start with a mix of face-up and face-down cards.
• Morehead — This single-deck game plays like Somerset but with a twist: you build on the tableau into a different suit rather than a matching color, moving only one card at a time as you work toward the foundations.
• Stewart — A Martha variant where you can only move single cards, not sequences.
• Vineyard — A patience game with no stock or waste pile—all cards are dealt at once across ten tableau columns.
• British Canister — A stricter Canister layout: cards move one at a time, tableau piles build in opposite colors, and only a King can claim an empty spot.