How to Play Willow Solitaire

This Klondike-style layout adds four fan piles on the side, each stacking cards of one matching rank. They give you extra places to unload cards, but be careful—once a fan pile is empty, it's gone for good.

Setup

1. A pyramid of seven tableau piles is dealt (one card to the first, two to the second, up to seven to the seventh), with all cards face up
2. Four fan piles to the side, each dealt six cards face up
3. Four foundation piles start empty—an Ace placed there begins each one

How to play

• Build the foundations from Ace up to King in the same suit
• In the tableau, place a card one rank lower and opposite color on any card (a red 6 on a black 7)
• Move a run of tableau cards together when each one is one rank lower and opposite color than the card below it
• Empty tableau piles can receive any card or sequence
• In the fan piles, place only cards of the same rank on top of each other (any 5 on any 5)
• Only the top card of each fan pile can be moved
• A fan pile that becomes empty cannot be filled again, so it's out of play for the rest of the game
• Cards that can no longer be built on in the tableau or fan piles automatically move to the foundations—you can change this in the settings if you prefer

How to win

Objective: Move every card to the four foundation piles, building each from Ace to King in the same suit.

You win when all cards are in the foundations. You're stuck when no more moves remain.

Tips

• Fan piles only take matching ranks, so watch for opportunities to unload cards there instead of burying them in the tableau
• You can still pull the top card off a fan pile to play it elsewhere, but an emptied fan pile stays empty—don't clear one out by accident
• Balance your moves between the tableau and the fan piles to keep options open

Play Willow free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Willow 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 Klondike family:

• American Canister — American Canister uses a single deck distributed across 8 tableau piles in a balanced pattern.
• Aunt Mary — A challenging solitaire where you build complete sequences on six tableau piles instead of the usual seven.
• Somerset — A Klondike variant that trades the stock and waste piles for a larger tableau.
• Thoughtful — A see-everything take on Klondike: every card starts dealt face up in the tableau, so there's nothing hidden to plan around.
• Titan — A challenging two-deck variant where eight tableau piles start with three face-up cards each.