How to Play Skippy Solitaire

A modern game with a clever mechanic: each deal starts with a random base rank for the foundations, making every game feel fresh. You'll use cells and multiple tableau piles to work toward building sequences that wrap around the deck.

Setup

1. One card is dealt to the first foundation pile to reveal this deal's base rank at random; all eight foundation piles share that same base rank, though only the first pile actually starts with a card—the rest begin empty until a matching card is played there
2. Four cells provide temporary storage for individual cards
3. Sixteen tableau piles each receive 4 cards face up
4. Remaining cards form the stock; click to deal cards to the waste pile one at a time

How to play

• Move cards to the foundations by building upward from the base rank. For example, if the base rank is a 5, foundations build 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, 2, 3, 4, wrapping around. Cards move to the foundations automatically once no other card could be built on them (you can change this in Settings to always send cards automatically or turn it off)
• In the tableau, build downward by rank in any suit (e.g., a 9 onto a 10). Only the top card can be moved
• Empty tableau piles can only be filled with a card one rank below the base rank (e.g., if 5 is the base, fill empties with 4s)
• Use empty cells as temporary storage for individual cards. Any available card can occupy an empty cell
• Draw from the stock by clicking it. There's no redeal, so once the stock runs out you can only keep playing the cards already dealt to the waste, tableau, and cells

How to win

Objective: Move all 104 cards to the foundation piles

You win when all eight foundation piles are complete. Each pile builds from the base rank upward through 13 ranks total, wrapping around. The game is lost if no more moves are possible.

Tips

• Remember your base rank and plan foundation sequences accordingly
• Cells are valuable—use them to unstick tableau piles and create maneuvering room
• Create empty tableau piles by moving cards to foundations or cells, then use them strategically

Play Skippy free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Skippy 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 FreeCell family:

• Lasker — A Chessboard variant where the foundation base rank is randomly chosen each deal.
• Opus — Opus is a harder variant of Penguin solitaire with a randomly chosen base rank each deal, five cells for temporary storage, and seven tableau piles where you build in the same suit one rank at a time.
• Big FreeCell — Play FreeCell with two full decks spread across ten tableau piles and eight temporary cells, building foundations up by suit.