How to Play Stalactites Solitaire

A minimal tableau puzzle where you clear 48 cards arranged in eight columns using only two temporary holding cells. There's no building allowed on the tableau, making this a pure sequencing challenge.

Setup

1. Four cards are dealt to start the foundations with any card beginning a pile
2. The remaining 48 cards are arranged in eight columns of six cards each
3. Two empty cells are available to hold individual cards temporarily

How to play

• Build the foundations upward by one rank at a time in any suit; each card moves to the foundations automatically once no other card can be built on it (you can change this in Settings)
• You can't build on the tableau columns at all — move only the top card of each column, to a cell or a foundation
• Use the free cells to temporarily store cards that block your progress
• Ranks wrap around from King back to Ace in the foundations
• Empty tableau columns stay empty and cannot be refilled

How to win

Objective: Move all 52 cards to the foundation piles.

You win when all cards are built onto the four foundation piles. You get stuck when you run out of cells to store cards and can't make productive moves.

Tips

• Plan several moves ahead, as limited cell space makes it easy to paint yourself into a corner
• Free cells are your only flexibility, so use them sparingly for blocking cards
• Look for longer sequences in the tableau that you can expose and play to foundations

Play Stalactites free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Stalactites 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:

• Tuxedo — Tuxedo deals every card face up across seven tableau piles right from the start, and gives you seven free cells to help shuffle cards around while you build foundations by suit.
• Antares — Antares blends two classic tableaus into one game: four piles play by FreeCell's alternating-color, single-card rules, and four piles play by Scorpion's same-suit, flexible-group rules, all feeding the same foundations and free cells.
• Baker's — A strategic solitaire in the FreeCell family, with four temporary storage cells and eight tableau piles where you build sequences in descending order by suit only—no alternating colors.
• Chinese FreeCell — A streamlined version of FreeCell using only Hearts, Spades, and Diamonds.
• Double Sea Towers — A two-deck FreeCell variant where nine temporary cells hold single cards, helping you maneuver through 11 tableau piles.