How to Play Ripple Fan Solitaire

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. The goal: Move all cards to the four foundations, building upward in suit from Ace to King.

Setup

1. Use one standard deck (52 cards).
2. Four foundation piles begin empty and build upward in suit.
3. Thirteen tableau piles each receive four cards, all face up.

How to play

• Build foundation piles upward in suit from Ace to King.
• In the tableau, build downward in the same suit—only the top card of each pile can move.
• Empty tableau piles cannot be refilled, so plan your moves carefully.
• Play cards from the tableau to the foundations as soon as they become available.
• When a card can't be built on the tableau, it automatically moves to the foundations if allowed by its suit—you can adjust this behavior in Settings.

How to win

Objective: Move all cards to the four foundations, building upward in suit from Ace to King.

You win when all 52 cards are built onto the foundations. You're stuck when no cards can move and empty piles cannot help you.

Tips

• Since empty piles don't accept new cards, think several moves ahead before clearing a pile.
• Focus on freeing up cards that are blocking others, especially Kings and high cards.
• Build foundations steadily from available cards—don't hold back cards hoping for better plays.

Play Ripple Fan free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Ripple Fan 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:

• 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.
• Demon Fan — Demon Fan deals the whole deck across 18 tableau piles, with just the top card of each pile face up.
• Indefatigable — A single-deck solitaire where the entire deck is dealt out at the start, four Aces already in the foundations.
• Linus — 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.