How to Play Muse Solitaire

A King Albert variant that replaces the reserve with flexible free cells, letting you temporarily hold cards and maneuver complex tableau sequences across a stair-step pyramid layout. The goal: Build all 52 cards onto four foundation piles in suit from Ace to King.

Setup

1. One standard deck is shuffled (52 cards).
2. Four foundation piles are placed to collect cards by suit.
3. Seven free cells are dealt with 7 cards, all face up. Each cell holds one card, and any card can be placed in an empty cell.
4. Nine tableau piles are created with a pyramid deal: the first gets 1 card, the second gets 2 cards, and so on up to 9 cards, all face up.

How to play

• Move cards from the tableau to the foundations, building up in suit from Ace to King.
• In the tableau, build down by rank with opposite colors (a red 7 goes on a black 8).
• Move sequences together if each card is one rank lower and opposite color from the card above it.
• Move any card to an empty free cell to hold it temporarily; play it later to the foundations or tableau.
• Fill empty tableau piles with any card.
• When a card no longer fits in the tableau, it moves to the foundations automatically (you can adjust this in Settings).

How to win

Objective: Build all 52 cards onto four foundation piles in suit from Ace to King.

You win when all cards are built onto the four foundations. You're stuck when no more cards can move and all cells are full.

Tips

• Free cells are powerful—use them strategically to expose buried cards and maneuver complex sequences.
• Don't fill all cells at once; keep at least one empty to maintain flexibility.
• Plan several moves ahead, since cells let you temporarily rearrange the tableau.

Play Muse free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Muse 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 Raglan family:

• Big Bertha — A two-deck game with a unique separate Kings foundation.
• King Albert — A challenging solitaire where you build down in alternating colors on a triangular tableau, drawing from a reserve pile instead of a stock.
• Queen Victoria — Queen Victoria takes King Albert and adds one big convenience: whole sequences of cards can move together instead of one at a time, which makes the tableau far easier to untangle.