How to Play Penta Solitaire

Penta splits its layout in two: the left foundations build up while the right foundations build down (each side's tableau builds the opposite direction from its foundation), and everything starts from a Five. The goal: Move all 104 cards to eight foundations—four building up and four building down, all starting from Five.

Setup

1. Create 8 foundation piles split into two groups: Left Foundations (build up) and Right Foundations (build down)
2. Foundations start empty—the first card played on each must be a Five; ranks wrap around with no fixed top or bottom
3. Deal 1 card to each of 3 Left Tableau piles and 1 card to each of 3 Right Tableau piles
4. Stock pile contains remaining cards; deal one at a time to the waste

How to play

• On the Left Foundations, build up in any suit starting from Five (5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K-A-2-3-4)
• On the Right Foundations, build down in any suit starting from Five (5-4-3-2-A-K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6)
• In the Left Tableau, build down by rank in any suit; in the Right Tableau, build up by rank in any suit
• Ranks wrap in the tableaus too, so a King can be placed on an Ace in the Left Tableau, and an Ace can be placed on a King in the Right Tableau
• Move only the top card from each tableau pile
• Empty tableau spaces on either side accept any card
• Click the stock to deal one card at a time to the waste; play only the top waste card
• You only get one pass through the stock—there's no redeal once it runs out

How to win

Objective: Move all 104 cards to eight foundations—four building up and four building down, all starting from Five.

You win when all cards reach their respective foundations. You're stuck when the stock runs out and no legal moves remain.

Tips

• The mirrored layout means you're building toward each other—track both sides carefully
• Empty spaces in either tableau give you flexibility; create them when needed
• Watch for cards stuck in one direction that need the opposite tableau to access the foundations

Play Penta free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Penta 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 Foundations family:

• Twenty — Twenty runs two decks through a dual-foundation system: Ace foundations climb upward while King foundations count down.
• Aces and Kings — Use a double deck to build four foundations up from Aces and four foundations down from Kings simultaneously.
• Acey and Kingsley — A variant of Aces and Kings where foundation base cards (Aces and Kings) are dealt to you at the start instead of appearing as you draw them.
• Alexander the Great — A fan-layout game with four foundations split between Aces (red suits) and Kings (black suits), each building in opposite directions.
• Alternate — Alternate uses a single deck with four foundations that build in opposite directions: two ascending in alternating colors and two descending in alternating colors.