How to Play Tvete's Grandfather Solitaire

This tough one-deck game deals every card straight into seven uneven tableau piles, some far deeper than others. Use flexible group moves to dig out buried cards and build the foundations.

Setup

1. Use a single 52-card deck
2. Deal all 52 cards across 7 tableau piles in an uneven pattern: one pile holds a single face-down card, while the other six piles each have 5 face-up cards on top of a varying number of face-down cards (from 1 to 6)
3. Set up 4 foundation piles (one per suit)

How to play

• Build foundations from Ace up to King in the same suit
• On the tableau, place a card one rank lower in the same suit on another card
• Move any group of face-up cards together, even if they're not in sequence—only the bottom card must fit where it lands
• Turning over a face-down card once it's exposed reveals a new option
• Only a King can start a new tableau pile
• When a card cannot be built on anything, it moves to the foundation automatically
• Use the Redeal button up to 2 times to shuffle the tableau and deal it back out

How to win

Objective: Move all cards to the foundations in ascending order by suit

You win by moving all cards to the foundations. You're stuck when no legal moves remain.

Tips

• Use flexible group moves to strategically expose face-down cards
• Since every card is dealt out at the start, plan several moves ahead before committing to one
• The uneven tableau layout rewards patience and thorough planning before each move

Play Tvete's Grandfather free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Tvete's Grandfather 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 Yukon family:

• Ukrainian — Ukrainian only lets you send a full run of 13 cards, Ace to King in one suit, to the foundations at once, so you'll need to build the whole sequence in the tableau before it counts.
• Yakutat Bay — A Yukon variant with the same seven-pile layout and the same freedom to move face-up cards as a group regardless of their order.
• Yukon One Suit — A relaxing variant that combines the Spades from four decks into one 52-card deck.
• Ace of Hearts — A single-foundation puzzle: all 52 cards must land on one pile starting with the Ace of Spades.
• Odessa — Odessa is a Russian solitaire variant with a tableau of seven piles containing a mix of face-down and face-up cards.